Boise State tennis star Wesley Moodie and partner Dick Norman were knocked
off last night in Moodie's attempt at a second Grand Slam title in Paris, France
at the French Open. Moodie and Norman captured the first set 6-3 at Roland
Garros before falling 6-3, 6-2 in the final two sets to Lukas Dlouhy and Leander
Paes.
Dlouhy and Paes won the match on the strength of their first serves,
converting 37 of 44 (84%) to 57% (30 of 53) for Moodie and Norman. The
French Champions reached the final by upsetting #1 seed Daniel Nestor and Nenad
Zimonjic in the semifinal.
Moodie and Norman arrived at the Paris Final by downing Max Mirnyi and Andy
Ram (7-6, 6-3) in the first round, topping Jan Hernych and Christophe Rochus
(6-4-6-4) in the second round, winning a thrilling 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 third round
match over Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley, getting a "walkover" over
Jose Acasuso and Fernando Gonzalez in the quarterfinals and shocking Mike
and Bob Bryan 0-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the semifinals despite facing three match
points themselves.
Ironically, it was the Bryan brothers whom Moody and partner Stephen Huss
beat to win the 2005 Wimbledon Final. The 6-foot eight-inch Norman owns
some celebrated victories as a singles player, including a second round shocker
over former #1 Stefan Edberg at the 1995 Wimbledon.
Moodie transferred from Auburn in 1998 to Boise State and played for Coach Greg Patton, one of the most respected tennis coaches in the nation. In 1997, Boise State was ranked as high as second in the nation and went on to the NCAA National quarterfinals, where they finished fifth.
Patton has a 625-285 record as head coach, including nine conference titles at Boise State. Patton is a member of the Boise State Hall of Fame, won the NCAA National Coach of the Year in 1987 and 1997, won Regional Coach of the Year honors from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association in 1994, 1997 and 2004 and Conference Coach of the Year in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009. Patton led the United States National team to the 2003 World Cup Championship and has coached some of the top players in the world, including Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, Andy Roddick, Michael Chang, David Wheaton and Malavai Washington.
Moodie has won one singles title and eleven doubles championships in his
nine-year career, including the 2005 Wimbledon Championship. He reached
the third round of Wimbledon as a singles player in 2003, losing to Sebastien
Grosjean, whom he beat later that year. He also qualified for Wimbledon in
2004 and 2006 in singles, reached the third round of the U.S. Open in 2006 and
played in 2003 and 2005, played in the Australian Open in 2004 and 2006 and the
French Open in 2006.
Besides the Wimbledon Championship in 2005, Moodie reached the third round of
Wimbledon in 2006 and 2007 and the second round last year, the third round of
the Australian Open in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and qualified last year, qualified
for the U.S. Open in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and played in the Roland Garros in
2006-2008.
Moodie has won 58 matches, reaching as high as #57 in the world following his
Japan win and #14 in doubles in November of last year. His career prize
money is approaching $2 million ($1,832,907).