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Sporting Life
Two fairy-tale figures exit the Open, but leave behind lovely lessons
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An exhausted Gael Monfils (left) congratulates Ben Shelton at the Australian Open.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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MELBOURNE – A young man has stumbled, an old hero has run out of steam. Two separate fairy tales fall apart on a mournful Monday in the fourth round and the Open feels a little emptier. Cut-throat skill is rightly what determines champions, but sport is lost without romance. It was provided at this Open by two men: one a 19-year-old American with Vietnamese roots, the other a 38-year-old French father. Neither earned trophies, only ovations.
Learner Tien, a qualifier ranked No. 121, has played seven matches in his first Australian Open, beat the No. 5 seed last week, and on Jan 20 his evident limp while entering his press conference spoke of the excessive miles he’d run. Unused to such physical examination, he grinned when asked how his body felt.
