Novak's great month comes to an end

A great month finally came to an end for Czech journeyman Jiri Novak when Swden's Thomas Johansson outlasted him 7-6, 0-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals of the Australian Open on Thursday.

Novak, 26, has never figured among the top players during his eight years on the men's tour but he built a tidy career with four singles titles and pushing $4 million in prize money.

Sure, two of those titles were in lesser tournaments like Auckland and Mexico City but somebody has to win them and the tall right-hander was in the right place at the right time.

Things started to change for Novak last year and he added a couple of European claycourt titles in Munich and Gstaad.

But he will never forget the first three weeks of 2002, when he reached the semifinals of a grand slam after never before making it past the third round since his inauspicious first round defeat at the 1995 U.S. Open.

"I'm really disappointed that I lost in the semifinal," Novak told reporters.

"But I'm very happy because I had a very nice road. I reached the quarters in Doha, semis in Auckland and semis in Melbourne and it was always my dream."

"I think that I made a very nice result, and I made a very nice month."

TENSE MATCH

His Melbourne cause was helped by the culling of seeds through injury, illness and poor form. The top five failed to make the third round for the first time in the tournament's 97-year history.

Novak had his chances during an often tense semifinal. Johansson, seeded 16, suffered an alarming mid-match slump and littered the court with 63 unforced errors, but finally regained control as Novak began to tire.

Despite the importance of the match, Novak had no hesitation in conceding a point at 40-15 in the third game of the third set when a ball from Johansson clipped the line but was ruled out.

"I saw that this ball was definitely before the line, was in, and I didn't have any reason to show him the ball was out," Novak said.

Having done his duty on the court, he immediately did the same off it when the hard-working father of three called his wife Katerina back in the Czech Republic. She had watched the match with friends at their local tennis club.

"There was like a room of 40 or 50 people and definitely everybody was disappointed," he said.

"But everybody sent me a message that I was great, that I played a very nice tournament."