FROM THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 20–She
yelled, she danced, she charged and she scalded one ball after another.
Justine Henin sent out the biggest smoke signal so far that she’s
serious threat to win another Australian Open when she survived No. 5
Elena Dementieva 7-5, 7-6 (6) in the second round.
In one of the most well played second round matches on the WTA tour in
a long time, Henin fought off set points in both sets by being the more
willful performer and didn’t allow her tired and nearly cramping
legs to discourage her in the second set, when she took a series of pace
and strategic changes by the Russian and swallowed them whole.
“It was a great match,” said Henin, the 2004 Aussie champ.
“ It was very emotional for me on the court at the end because there
was so much intensity. To play this kind of match after two years off
in a Grand Slam, it's just the kind of situation that I needed.
The crowd gave me so much. So respectful at the end. It was a special
night tonight. That's why I probably came back on the tour, was to live
this kind of matches.”
Henin won the match by shocking Dementieva with a serve and volley attack,
and threw every shot and ploy she has been practicing with her coach Carlos
Rodriguez against the cagey Russian. She leapt into her forehand, topped,
flattened out and sliced her backhand. She went hard after second serves,
refused to get into too many crosscourt rallies with the crosscourt queen
by frequently going down the line, and came to net again and again, volleying
with precision of Martina Navratilova.
Dementieva also performed admirably well and refused to concede the net
or the corners, but after climbing back into the contest again and again
and even after getting her trademark visor in front a few times, she played
too passively on some key points. For the second year in a row, the Russian
came into Australian Open red hot after winning Sydney and she’ll
again leave disappointed and Slam-less. The clock is certainly ticking
on her chances, but not on Henin, who wasn’t perfect, but creative
enough.
“We can see that I miss the competition a little bit,” Henin
said. “When she came back to 5 All, I thought about Brisbane and
the opportunities I got over there [against Kim Clijsters]. Already playing
well, and got the opportunity to finish the match and I couldn't, because
my nerves wasn't probably solid enough. And today I thought it was going
to happen again. I really thought in the tiebreak I wouldn't be strong
enough. And when I got the opportunities, and the way I finished on serve
and volley, I mean, it was the best I could dream of. Physically I was
a bit exhausted at the end so it was the good thing to do.”
Playing in the quarter of death, Henin’s draw is simply brutal.
Her third-round opponent will be the powerful Alisa Kleybanova, who beat
Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-3. She could face her young and rising countrywoman
Yanina Wickmayer in the fourth round, who upended Flavia Pennetta. Then
she might face Clijsters again, who edged Tamarine Tanasugarn and that
will certainly be rough. It not even worth speculating who her semifinal
foe could be.
“ If we talk about consistent in a whole Grand Slam, well, I don't
have any answer now,” she said. I just try to enjoy my game out
there. I think I'm already at an amazing level for not having played 18
months, and the draw was pretty tough. But it's the kind of thing I need
for my confidence. I go step by step. Every match is a bonus that I can
play here in Melbourne. If I stay healthy, that's the main important thing.
“The bottom half of the women’s draw will have series of intriguing
third rounders including Clijsters v. Petrova, Safina v Britain’s
Elena Baltacha, Kuznetsova v. Rezai. American Vania king went down, leaving
the Williams sisters as the only US women in the draw after only three
days.
On the guys side, outside of Roddick v. Lopez and Isner v, Monfils, third
rounders to look are Nadal v. Kohlschreiber, Murray v. Serra and Karlovic
v. Ljubicic.
Safina Just Wants to Have Fun,
Roddick Pulls Through
FROM THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN – With
Maria Kirilenko's upset her friend Maria Sharapova, the hope that Sharapova
would clash with one of her top rivals, Dinara Safina, in the fourth round,
disappeared. It was supposed to be the slumping Russian who went down
on day one, not the revived Sharapova, but it wasn’t, when former
No. 1 Safina registered a clinical yet spotty 6-4, 6-4 victory over Magdalena
Rybarikova.
As talented and powerful as she is, there are serious questions as to
whether Safina will ever regain her confidence again after a questionable
2009. Yes, she reached two Grand Slam finals at the Australian and French
Opens and got to the Wimbledon semifinals, but she was smoked in all those
matches. At the US Open, she was upset in third round by young Petra Kvitova
in a match she should have been able to close out.
The 23-year-old Safina had plenty of positives in 2009, until she got
to the big stages at the majors. She, and no other player was able to
stand up against the will of the Australian fans and best Jelena Dokic
in the quarters of the 2009 Aussie Open and then put down a red hot Vera
Zvonareva in the semis. But then Serena Williams devastated her 6-0, 6-3
in the final, as Safina played scared. She was terrific on the spring
clay, winning Rome and Madrid back to back with wins over the likes of
Venus Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Caroline Wozniacki. Safina then
put down four successive ambitious teenagers at the Frenchm but in the
final – her third at the majors and one where she shouldn’t
have been nervous – she collapsed in a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Kuznetsova.
“I have to have another chance to get there,” said Safina,
who also reached the 2008 French final and was run over by Ana Ivanovic.
“Those three mistakes that I made in all the previous finals, I
just have to put everything together and not make them. Just be yourself
and play my game, I think this is the most important Not thinking that
this is the final and wining, losing - just this is another match."
Safina played better than some thought she would at Wimbledon, overpowering
former champion Amelie Mauresmo and then surviving the powerful young
German Sabine Lisicki, but then, with her shoulder aching, she was totally
embarrassed by Venus Williams 6-1, 6-0.
Somehow, in Cincinnati , she managed to score a win over eventual US Open
champion Kim Clijsters, but she disappeared after that, losing early in
New York. Despite her fairly consistent, high level results from the spring
of 2008 through the mid summer of 2009, many said she didn’t deserve
the No. 1 ranking and week after week, she faced that question publicly.
For an insecure person, that was too much to bear.
Her brother, Marat, took to telling her critics to f—off, as it
was getting to be too much for his baby sister. Her coach, the hyper intense
Zelijko Krajan, couldn’t stand to watch her play in the later stage
of the season. But was enveloped by the dark side.
“It was a great season,”’ Safina said. “ I didn't
make a Grand Slam. But I still won a big tournaments. I was again in two
finals. So every year I'm doing better. So why I even have to be sad or
something? I reach No. 1 in the world. Some people never reach this and
they have to finish their career. I did more than many people expected
me to do, so I think it was a great season from my side.”
Safina went 1-2 in the fall, retiring in her fits match at the WTA Championships
and saying she was mentally wasted. She was also hurt as she was diagnosed
with swelling on her spine and was only able to begin full practice again
in mid-December.
But Safina remains positive, saying that her body is healing. With Sharapova
out of her segment, she’s favored to reach the quarters. She says
she has fire in her belly and if she gets there, maybe she’ll show
herself to be a true contender again."
“At the end of the last year I was tired, exhausted, like I had
no more fun on the court,” she said. “But now I feel like
I'm back and I'm enjoying every moment on the court. That was missing
a little bit last year. Last year I was every time like pushing myself,
like, Okay, I have to do it. But now I do it with a much more desire.”
sportlibrary.com.au
Roddick cruised and said he's open to a tennis Wolrd Cup.Roddick Through
Andy Roddick played solid in a 6-1, 6-4, 6-
4 victory over Theimo De Bakker, but had a scare when he ran into a linesnam
who didn't move and pinched his knee, th same knee which took him out
of action last fall. he was none to thrilled that the man didn't move.
“I felt like he was trying out for WWE or something, just letting
me go. He wasn't giving up any ground.”
Roddick weighed in on the proposed 32-nation World Cup of tennis, which
is has received a bit of support from is Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.
Some think the concept won't fly and the ATP has yet to back it. But Davis
Cup stalwart Roddick is open to it.
“It's certainly a lot more conducive to our schedules, which is
a big plus,” Roddick said. “It's a lot easier to carve out
10 days every two years as opposed to, if it's an away tie, that's 10
days in lead up four times a year. It certainly is an intriguing prospect.
But we all have a lot of ideas. The tough part is making it work.”
When asked whether it be a bit of a risk to go that way given the long
and successful history of Davis Cup and that if it didn’t succeed,
Davis Cup might lose part of its allure, a huge risk for the sport, Roddick
responded: “It has been in the sport for a long time. You know,
I wish there was a little more cooperation from Davis Cup, and then we
would probably be a little bit more sympathetic to that question.”
NOTES
The famous and controversial American football
player Terrell Owens is at the Aussie Open as a guest of Roddick.
Kirilenko was asked about her longtime boyfriend Igor Andreev’s
chances against Roger Federer. “Igor said before my match that we
can start the year like loud. I already started the year loud so now it’s
his turn.” Kirilenko had this to say on Sharapova's oddly colored
new Nike dress: "It was blue, I think, like Powerade."
