If Steve Johnson's emotional French Open run had to end somewhere, he couldn't have asked for a better stage than the theater-in-the-round of the Bullring.

Johnson faced young, fiercely talented 6-seed Dominic Thiem of Austria in the game's most intimate and obviously gladiatorial venue, under stormy skies the color of a darkening bruise. The 27-year-old is playing with a fresh, deep and permanent divot in his life after the sudden death of his father last month.

Johnson grappled gallantly during a 64-minute second set, but ultimately lost 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-3. Afterward, with the crowd in the 3,800-seat stadium standing in appreciation, Thiem said some warm words at the net and Johnson nodded and thanked him.

Technically and more prosaically known as Court No. 1, the circular concrete stadium will be razed after this year's tournament as part of an overhaul to open up and modernize the cramped grounds at Roland Garros.

The Bullring is not even 40 years old, but it has always had a vintage, campy feel. Fans and reporters in courtside rows are as close as they would be in a basketball arena, and the enhanced soundtrack of ball strikes, grunts, groans and not-so-inner dialogue is audible in the upper reaches. There isn't a more fitting place to hear the traditional tennis incantation of "Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba, Olé!" echo around the stands.

Thiem, 23, was conscious of the poignant nature of his surroundings and savored what could be his one and only appearance in the Bullring. "It's a legendary stadium,'' he said. "I think it's really bad that they bulldoze it. It's one of the nicest courts, I think, on the whole tour. I'm very glad that I had one match there, at least. But, of course, I'm also sentimental that it's gone.''

Johnson, who lost to Stan Wawrinka in the Bullring two years ago during Wawrinka's march to the title, called it "a fun court,'' but he made it clear he considered Friday a workday. "Trust me, I wanted to win just as bad as he did today,'' Johnson said.

Architect and former tennis pro Jean Lovera told The New York Times in a 2010 interview that he knew the court he had designed would be acoustically as well as geometrically distinct from the rectangular show courts in Paris.

The match started in bright sunshine and soaking humidity that gave the heavy hitting in the Bullring a bass-drum tone. The flags of many nations that fly from the rim of the stadium hung motionless, but began to stir after Thiem made short work of the first set.

Five games into the second, with clouds massing overhead and a few raindrops splattering, a thunderclap and lightning flash prompted a brief discussion of whether to continue. The wind picked up considerably, rattling a promotional banner on the looming crane set up to anchor the overhead camera.

"It was a bit loud, a bit scary,'' Johnson said. "We're not golfing. We don't have our steel clubs in the air attracting lightning. But yeah, it kind of catches you off guard. I'm a Southern California guy so, when we see rain, we kind of panic.''

The show went on, and it was an entertaining one, with rallies featuring power, change of pace and ardent gets. Johnson saved 11 of the 15 break points he faced and finally managed to wrestle Thiem's serve away once in the third set. But Thiem largely kept his service games efficient and extended Johnson's with laser groundstrokes that were often too good, as athletes say.

Win or lose, for some time to come, Johnson doubtless will field questions about his personal loss. He's been asked to do an awful lot of sharing, but he said he's getting more than enough in return.

"You don't realize what he was able to do, who he was able to reach out and touch beyond his family's life,'' Johnson said of Steve Sr., who was a prominent coach in Southern California. "I could have told you bits and pieces of it, but now I'm getting stories of what he was able to accomplish through tennis, through kids, he was able to help out along the way. It's just remarkable. He was a remarkable man.''

Johnson said he'll take a break before resuming play on grass. A celebration of his father's life will be held after he returns from Wimbledon, at the same high school where two generations of the family have played tennis.

"I'm just trying to honor his name as best I can and just be a competitor and just give it my all every day,'' Johnson said. That will be his standard no matter where he is, no matter how many people are watching.

Source:
courtesy of ESPN

by Bonnie D. Ford

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