Chang’s Stroke of Genius Had a Bit of Magic

Paris is a veritable ocean. Throw in the plumb line and you will never know the depth of it . . . --HONORE DE BALZAC Changmania?

Whatever it was, it gripped the heart of the city on the Seine, where on a sunny, breezy, Monday afternoon, Michael Chang won a match that will live on for . . . what, ages?

“You have to do more than knock off a player in a Grand Slam to be a genius,” Ivan Lendl said. “You have to win one of them.”

Of course. What Chang did to Lendl was not merely the work of a genius, it was also the act of a magician.

From the upper stands at center court, you can see the Eiffel Tower, and Chang’s 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 win over Lendl, the world’s No. 1 player, looked very big. It was not simply a routine fourth-round victory in the French Open. No, this one was different.

The crowd at Roland Garros knew it, too, as they watched Chang defeat Lendl in five sets despite painful muscle cramps in his legs that made every move painful.

From a seat in a baseline box, Betty Chang clapped her hands in encouragement as her son’s will prevailed.

Chang did not move from his chair for several minutes after the match, but he received a huge ovation as he walked off the court.

“When I started to cramp, I knew that the longer the points went, the harder it would be for me to win,” Chang said. “When I would go for it, I did.

“It was hard for Ivan to play because you have this mental thing in your head: ‘OK, he’s cramping, try to move him around.’ You go for winners, but you don’t want to miss because if you miss, you give him a free point.”

Chang, 17 years 3 1/2 months, became the youngest male to reach the quarterfinals of the French championships.