8th February 2010
Anthony Clark achieved a record-breaking ninth successive national men's doubles title and Nathan Robertson achieved two national titles for the third time in his career, as England's two most famous players capitalised on one of the greatest escapes that even they can ever have had.
Clark and Robertson completed all that with a 21-14, 21-19 win in the final over Robert Blair and Chris Adcock, which avenged a loss in the Denmark Open four months ago, and which caused people to marvel at the resilience of the two 32-year-olds.
Robertson and Clark had faced each other in the mixed doubles final earlier in the afternoon and had had four tough matches the previous day, the last of which involved an amazing escape from a game and 13-19 down to Chris Langridge and Robin Middleton and had a body-hammering finish at 10 o'clock at night.
"My body felt good when I woke up," claimed Robertson. "But my wrist felt worse. It was badly bruised after being hit by Anthony's racket and I had to ice it a lot. Fortunately it doesn't hurt when I hit the shuttle – only when someone touches it."
Nevertheless, the two old-timers suffered an alarming wobble at the end, when Blair and Adcock suddenly got into it, coming back from 5-15 down in the second game to 19-all, with all the momentum hurtling in their favour.
At this stage some of the rallies were brilliant and thrilling and roused the crowd to great excitement for the first time. Previously Robertson and Clark had the edge in the flat exchanges and changed the pace around better too. But had the younger pair pushed through into a final game, it was possible to imagine a different outcome.
Instead at 19-19 Clark played a tight low return to Adcock's serve and managed a well-placed push which caused Adcock to jab the shuttle in the net. Then at match point Robertson came up with an audacious flick serve, and followed it with a testing jab which caused Blair to lift the shuttle long.
Clark and Robertson embraced immediately, Clark looked at the ceiling in relief, and after shaking hands with the umpire, the two friends embraced again. "It's fantastic for Anthony to win nine, and I think we are one of the top pairs in the world," said Robertson.
Inevitably Robertson and Blair were watched closely for signs of bad vibes following the hostile remarks between them before last year's European team championships.
Once in the first game Robertson stared aggressively after his smash had set up a chance for Clark to hammer the shuttle through Blair's defences, and on another occasion Robertson uttered an ostentatious noise after producing a brilliant flick-block from the net over Blair's head.
Blair by contrast was icy and ruthlessly focussed all through, taking the chance offered by their spectacular surge in the second game to produce some brilliant badminton, and indicating that he remains one of England's more valuable and least vaunted players.
In fact it was Adcock who erupted into aggression which landed him in a little trouble, when he reacted strongly to having his smashed unluckily called out at 6-2 in the second game. The young left-hander swore and was shown a yellow card. "No, no - it was a terrible call," he complained.
"It doesn't matter who is on the other side of the net when you are playing," Robertson reckoned, when asked about the atmosphere in which he thought the match had been played. "It's no secret there have been differences between Robert and me, but you still play professionally all the same.
"There will always be rivalries, and hopefully we will get some new coaches in soon and develop the squad," he added pointedly.
Blair politely acknowledged that Robertson and Blair "played very well" and self-effacingly thought that he and Adcock should be "grateful for getting to the final" after their scare the night before against Andrew Ellis and Dean George. And with that the tournament ended on a restrained and dignified note.
Article by Richard Eaton - www.nationalbadmintonchamps.co.uk