Lewis aiming for place in last eight

Press, 28 June 1983, Page 40

Lewis aiming for place in last eight

NZPA staff correspondent London Chris Lewis of New Zealand, puts his newly found good form to the test when he meets a Nigerian, Nduka (“call me the Duke”) Odizor in the fourth round of Wimbledon this morning. This last 16 is the furthest Lewis has progressed at the prestigious tournament since he was the best junior player in 1975. On the first day this year he avenged his third-round loss last year to the burly Texan, Steve Denton, by defeating the No. 9 seed in five sets. After the match he said it had been his biggest test at Wimbledon and his greatest win. Lewis has had to fight two of his matches into five sets — against Denton and Mike Bauer — and his encounter against Odizor is likely to be no exception. “I have played Nduka once before when I beat him on clay, but he has improved a lot since then,” said Lewis yesterday. The Aucklander, who has dropped over 20 places in

the A.T.P. international rankings this year to be overtaken by a fellow New Zealander, Russell Simpson, as the country’s No. 1 player, has also found his form for Wimbledon. “I was working to peak for Wimbledon and the New Zealand-Sweden Davis Cup tie which follows the week after and it seems to be happening,” he said. Lewis could, however, be at a moral disadvantage when he meets the 24-year-old Nigerian. Every year Wimbledon crowds pick a favourite outsider to gun for and this year it is the turn of the quietly-spoken Odizor. However, the unexpected adulation has left Odizor thankful, but unaffected. He makes no apologies when he says tennis comes only third on this list of priorities behind God and his wife and family. If Lewis can overcome Odizor, he would probably meet the No. 13 seed, Brian Gottfried, in the quarterfinals, with a chance of a place in the semi-finals against the top seed, Jimmy Connors.