His accent was more blue Danube than green Liffey. Though Louk Sorensen became the first “official” Irishman to win a round at a grand slam tournament at the Australian Open today, it did seem a little incongruous when he spoke. If you had asked him what a shillelagh was, goodness knows what sort of look he would have thrown you.
Listening to Sorensen speak, in his clipped Germanic tones, one’s mind drifted to Camden-born Terry Mancini’s first appearance for the Republic of Ireland in 1973 having learned from his QPR team-mate Don Givens that through his Irish father he could play for them. Mancini knew neither the words nor tune of the Irish national anthem and apparently asked his team-mates after it had been played “what does ours sound like?”.
Sorensen’s father, Sean, is the current Davis Cup captain and is, to quote his 25-year-old son, “100 per cent Irish”. His mother has both Norwegian and Austrian blood.
Louk, the world No 284, spends most of his time in Stuttgart, Germany, the base from which he travels to play on the ATP Challenger tour. His career is in the Bundesliga, the German Tennis League, in which he stars for a third division team TC Doggenburg, preferring to be a bigger, well-paid fish lower down than a smaller, less well remunerated version higher up.
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Preparing for his second round appearance here, it would be better if Sorensen had a head for heights, for the elfin-like figure is next playing Jack to John Isner’s Beanstalk, two players a foot different in height, engaging in a match neither had anticipated on one of the world’s four grand tennis stages. Sorensen senior’s only grand slam apearance was at Wimbledon 33 years ago when he lost to Rod Laver, a more than useful Australian.
Matt Doyle, of Irish descent, reached the fourth round of the US Open in 1982, where he was beaten by John McEnroe, also of Irish descent, but played under the Stars and Stripes and did not become a citizen of the Republic until 1985. Doyle used to be a regular guest at the Sorensen household: Louk recalls him vaguely and that he looked like a tall building. That may help him against Isner.
He has received helpful texts from his coaching pals back home to talk him through how he might play against Isner and is pumped by the multiplying number of people asking to be his friend on Facebook.
Isner - who has become America’s second highest-ranked player at No 28 - won the title in Auckland at the weekend, so he came into this championship in good nick. “My legs are stronger than they were because that was an issue with me, especially given my height” Isner said. “Fitness should not come into it.”
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Therefore, Sorensen, the 25-year-old, will hope that the element of surprise works in his favour for he is a chunky block, whose resistance from the back of the court was too much today for Lu Yen-Hsun, of Taiwan, a man who has spent pre-season on the African veldt attempting to attain peak fitness. Obviously, running with okapi was one thing, being pursued by an Irishman, something else. Sorensen won 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.
There is a very real chance that Ireland and Great Britain could meet in the Davis Cup later this year. Both nations are in the Euro African zone two of the event, where Britain are away to Lithuania and Ireland entertain Turkey in March. Should both nations win, or both lose those matches, they will face off in Dublin in July. If he maintains this level, Sorensen would be an unnerving opponent.
The second day surprises did not end with smiling Irish eyes. Robin Soderling, last year’s French Open runner-up, had said that any one of the top ten could win this event and obviously meant to include himself in that equation. Unfortunately, the No 8 seed could not vault the first hurdle, losing from a two set lead against Marcel Granollers, the world No 113 from Spain. Granollers’ legs were cramping in the final set but the Swede’s mind was equally non-responsive as he went down 5-7, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
Roger Federer saved three set points at 6-5 in the third set against Igor Andreev, the Russian thrashed 6-1, 6-0 by Andy Murray in the Hopman Cup the week before last. Three times Andreev aimed for the famed Federer forehand, three times the point was on his racket, three times he missed. A reprieved, relieved world No 1 won 4-6, 6-2, 7-6, 6-0. “It was just one of those moments where anything can happen,” Federer said. “You need a bit of luck. I definitely got that in the third set today.”
Richard Gasquet was not so fortunate. The Frenchman, who has dropped to No 52 in the world rankings, lost an epic five-set match after Mikhail Youzhny, the No 20 seed, battled cramps to come from two sets down. Novak Djokovic, the No 3 seed, from Serbia, overcame a spirited start from Daniel Gimeno-Traver, of Spain, to win 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.
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Katie O’Brien beat Patricia Mayr, of Austria, to join Elena Baltacha, her fellow Briton, in the second round of the women’s draw. The 22-year-old won 6-3, 6-3 to set up a second-round match with Jelena Jankovic, the No 8 seed, overnight. Baltacha was due to play Kateryna Bondarenko, the No 30 seed from Ukraine.