Sam Groth (left) and James Duckworth share a coach, travel together on the tour and have been living in a rented flat in Wimbledon for the duration of the tournament.
AFP/London
Sam Groth may have won the clash of the Wimbledon flat-mates, but the Australian knows his second round victory over James Duckworth will leave him with an expensive dinner cheque to pick up.
Groth and Duckworth share a coach, travel together on the men’s tour and have been living in a rented flat in Wimbledon for the duration of the tournament. So the close friends were put in an awkward position when the draw left them as opponents.
And, with the prize of a dream third round showdown with seven-time champion Roger Federer on offer to the winner, there was much more than breakfast table bragging rights to play for when they met on Court 17 yesterday.
It was world number 69 Groth, ranked 18 places above Duckworth, who took the spoils, using his powerful serve to grind out a 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) victory.
There were no hard feelings from Duckworth when they got back to the locker room, but the 23-year-old made it clear that Groth, 27, should buy him a good dinner to make amends for ending his Wimbledon campaign.
“I think so for sure,” he said when asked if that was the least Groth could do in the circumstances.
Groth jokingly expressed surprise when told of Duckworth’s dinner request. But he is confident their relationship won’t be damaged by a result which extended his 100 percent record in their personal rivalry to seven wins.
“Is that what he said?” Groth laughed. “We saw each other 15 minutes after the match in the locker room and spoke about the footie and how our SuperCoach fantasy teams did. It seemed OK. James is a good mate. We’ve got six months left together with our coach and travelling so hopefully everything is fine.”
Despite his disappointing display, Duckworth insisted facing Groth wasn’t as stressful as he imagined it might have been. “It was actually fine. I know we were both thinking about the match a bit, but we joked around and acted like usual really,” he said.
“We had different times that we like to get here and prepare. I had breakfast and was here a bit earlier, so we didn’t cross paths much. Hitting up before hand was a bit difficult but I don’t think I really thought about it once I got out there.”
The only bone of contention between the friends came when Groth, who had already enjoyed a surprise victory over American 31st seed Jack Sock in the first round, questioned Duckworth’s claim that he has had the better of their fantasy AFL game.
“We mostly just talked about the SuperCoach competition. I’m beating Sam,” Duckworth said about their post-match chat.
But Groth said: “Nah, he’s lying. He knows nothing about Aussie Rules Football! He just hopes he has a win each week.”
With their friendship still intact and the dinner date set, all that remained for the duo was to track down coach Ben Mathias, who had been so unsettled by the unexpected meeting of his players that he watched the match on television instead of sitting courtside.
“I don’t know where he watched it. He did a practice with me and a practice with ‘Ducks’ yesterday then he left us to do our own thing,” Groth said.
“It was a difficult situation for him. I can’t imagine it’s easy watching your two guys going out to battle.”
