Swede's success comes at a price
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Following Thomas Johansson's victory on Saturday over Israel's Harel Levy by 7-5, 6-3 in the final of the Samsung Open here – his 10th successive win in the space of 13 days – he announced an urgent new priority in his life: "I've got to do some laundry."
It was hardly surprising that the day-to-day minutiae of life on the tour had caught up with the Swede amid the hectic business of becoming the first man in two years to win back-to-back tournaments on grass.
Last weekend's title in Halle may have been his first on the surface, but it suits his game – as his record at Wimbledon confirms: 10 wins to five defeats, and two appearances in the fourth round, the most recent of them coming last year, when he defeated the fifth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov (also his victim in the Halle final) before going out to Pat Rafter.
This year he could come up against Greg Rusedski, whom he outgunned in the Nottingham semi-final on Friday, if both men progress to the fourth round again. Johansson, seeded 11th, starts on Court Two today against the Australian Andrew Ilie, and will discover whether there is a negative side to having won 10 matches, £147,000 and 85 tour ranking-points in so short a space of time.
"It's tough, but grass is not like playing on clay or hard courts when it's really hot," he said. "I've only been out for maybe an hour or an hour-and-a-half, normally playing short points, so I'm not too tired."
A bonus was feeling no discomfort from his troublesome shoulder, whereas the elegant Levy must hope that the hip injury sustained in beating Andy Roddick in the semi-final has cleared up before today's match against Spain's Tommy Robredo, who reached the last four in Den Bosch on Saturday.
Levy, who has been promoted to 34th seed at Wimbledon, believes Johansson will be a threat there: "He's serving very consistently and returning well, so he's tough to play on grass. He might be a little tired but, if he wins his first one or two matches, he can do really well."
The Swede's view of his prospects is: "I've won back-to-back tournaments before, in Copenhagen and St Petersburg [in 1997] but I've never played this solid," he said.
"Ilie I've played a couple of times before and although he's maybe not a grass specialist, it'll be a very tough match." Nobody will be more match-tough than Johansson – whether or not his kit is the cleanest.
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