It’s gotta be the shoes.
Mikael Pernfors captured the $100,000 LastMinuteTravel.com Masters Championship yesterday at Wollman Rink in Central Park, sailing past France’s Henri Leconte, 6-2, 6-2.
Wearing red, women’s tennis shoes (size 71/2), Pernfors danced around the court in the park, having little difficulty in putting away Leconte in straight sets.
“I thought they were cool,” Pernfors said of his footwear after winning his first tournament since last year.
While the other players in this sponsor-saturated tournament were spending energy razzing his ruby-slipper-like shoes, Pernfors spent all of his on the court, sweeping all four sets that he played in the semis (defeating Andres Gomez, 6-4, 7-6) and yesterday’s finals.
Playing much to the crowd and never able to get any real momentum going, Leconte won the opening game of each set, but fell victim to himself, struggling with his control and a more-focused opponent in Pernfors.
“He played very well,” Leconte said. “I was tired today. I was not there physically.”
Pernfors rode a five-game winning streak to capture the first set, using his speed against Leconte’s power.
Pernfors, who resides in Atlanta, said that he was trying to keep the Frenchman pinned on the baseline and that he could see that Leconte was not at his best yesterday.
“I didn’t think he was there physically and mentally today,” Pernfors said of his opponent.
Leconte was coming off a grueling 6-3, 7-5 marathon against Mats Wilander Saturday, which he said drained him for the Championship.
“I’m not sure if it’s the best I’ve played,” Pernfors said, “but I know I couldn’t play any better. When I woke up I said, ‘I’m going to play good today.'”
Leconte was choked with unforced errors while Pernfors lost only two points into the net or out of bounds.
“I couldn’t miss,” Pernfors said, “and Henri could.”
Pernfors, who said that playing in the finals came as a surprise to him, last won a championship on the Senior Circuit at the Citibank Champions, here in New York, in 1999.
“I know I’m not one of the biggest names, but I like to come here and I love to play,” Pernfors said to the crowd after winning the tournament that marketed names like Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Mats Wilander to draw crowds.
Connors was forced to withdraw from the tournament because of injury earlier in the weekend, while McEnroe fell to Leconte in three sets Friday.
“It was a fairly easy match,” Pernfors said. “I’m very happy.”