It’s not recorded just how well Rinky Hijikata played in practice on the eve of his first Wimbledon second-round match against American big gun Ben Shelton – but if the Australian was rubbish, he will probably have been whooping with delight.
The Sydneysider says it’s become a bit of a habit with him to practise dismally one day and then produce an impressive performance the next, particularly in big matches.
Indeed, before his first-round match against David Goffin on Tuesday, he played a set-and-a-half in practice against his fellow Australian, the country’s No.1 Alex de Minaur, and got filleted 6-0 3-0.
What happened the next day was that he produced perhaps his best match of the season to destroy the tough veteran Belgian 6-3 6-1 6-1 and power into the last-64.
“Over my career, it hasn’t been abnormal for me to be practising pretty poorly and then be able to come out into a match, especially an important match, and be able to perform,” smiled Hijikata, who’s seeking to get to the third round for the first time since his fine run to the US Open last-16 two years ago.
“It’s happened a lot before. The day before I played Rafa (Nadal) in my first ever grand slam match, I got bagelled in practice,” recalled the 24-year-old of a match in which he distinguished himself, even taking a set off the great Spaniard.
“I feel like it happens quite a bit, but then I feel like I manage to kind of lock in for for the actual match and put in a good performance. I just try to remind myself of that if I have a bad session.”
Perhaps he will need to have had a horror session as he faces the formidable task on Thursday of halting Shelton, who’s already knocked out one Australian, qualifier Alex Bolt, in the first round in straight sets.
“He’s got a massive game,” says Hijikata of the 22-year-old Shelton, who reached the semi-final at the Australian Open this year.
“Maybe the biggest serve on tour, and being a leftie makes it’s an even extra dimension of awkwardness, trickiness. He’s a quality grass court player, and it only helps his serve.”
“You only ever really get a handful of looks against players like that, and hopefully I can take a few of those.”
Content Source: www.perthnow.com.au