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Victor ‘Earth’ Ward keeping focus as he plays this backhand shot.

Victor ‘Earth’ Ward sinks Terry ‘TC’ Francis with epic comeback victory

 

With a celebration which saw him leaping through the air and sprinting around the court, Victor ‘Earth’ Ward completed one of the greatest comebacks in the Barbados Public Workers’ Co-operative Credit Union Limited 2016 Monarchs of the Court road tennis tournament which was played at the BET grounds on Monday evening.
 
In the third and deciding set after both players had won a game each, Ward was trailing Kerry ‘TC’ Francis by as many as five points in the critical moments of the game. With the score reading 18-12, one could hear Julian ‘Michael Jackson’ White telling Francis, that it isn’t over yet he needs to play and win the rest of the points before he can ease off the gas.
 
‘TC’ is ranked #13 while Ward comes in without a ranking but is known for his ability and fitness on the court, however it was Ward who buckled down, moving the ball to each side of the court as well and some short ones and then deep ones to show his control over the ball with his unique styled racquet.
 
Ward had found himself in this hole, 18-12, because he had stopped moving his feet to get to the ball and was only stretching and spoiling to give his opponent that big a cushion.
 
Francis looked equalled to the task and many thought he was well on his way to victory but then one by one it happened. Ward started to win point after point as the sweat from both players dripped on the court and had to be wiped up between almost every point.
 
Ward took a time out to change his drenched shirt for a dry one while he still trailed 18-14 and when he came back he was the picture of concentration.
 
Francis seemed to be unravelling as the long rallies were ending not with winners but with Francis spoiling each time as he either hit the ball long or wide. The scores continued to move in favour of Ward, 18-15, 18-16, before Francis finally got a chance to break Ward’s charge when a back hand shot was dragged into the net.
 
That was the last point Francis would win, as the crowd watched him unable to break Ward’s strangle hold and with yet another ball beyond the baseline by Francis, Ward had levelled the scores at 19-19.
 
Still there were no winners being played by either player but maybe Ward has sensed a weakness in Francis armour and he was definitely exploiting it as Francis continued to make unforced errors.
 
Game point and the comeback was complete as ‘TC’ put his back hand wide and as he sunk to the ground in disbelief Ward flew through the air in and then took off for a sprint around the court in a celebration worth of a championships title match.
 
Ward stopped when he got to ‘TC’ to console the visibly shaken player who sat on the ground for some time before moving as Ward moves on to the next round with a 21-11, 14-21, 21-19 victory.
 
In other matches on the night #8 Emar Edwards easily defeated Anderson Smith 21-15, 21-7, while David Arendell defeated Simon Bayne 21-16, 12-21, 21-17; Dario Hinds won over Jamar ‘Bob’ Best 21-11, 21-14 and Julian ‘Michael Jackson’ White and Jeffrey Best never got started.

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