THE SCOOP: U.S. OPEN DAY 3, AUGUST 28

John McEnroe, Brad Gilbert weighing in on Bovina’s game

By Sandra Harwitt
tennisreporters.net

Susan Mullane Camerawork USA, Inc.

FROM THE U.S. OPEN –
On day three of the U.S. Open, fifth-seeded Jelena Dokic became the first highly seeded casualty in the women’s draw to befall this event. The upset maker was giant killer Elena Bovina of Russia, a 6’, 2” Russian who first showed signs of being a contender last year.

There is no doubt that the talented Dokic, a ’00 semifinalist at Wimbledon, has been playing too rigorous a schedule of late and the result is she’s spent when it comes to the important outings. However, it was quite impressive to see how Bovina had her way with Dokic to move into the third round against Stephanie Foretz of France.

“I just found my rhythm from the beginning,” Bovina says. “I just tried to make a lot of balls, especially at the beginning of the match, make her play. I’m trying to move forward (to the net) as much as I can. That’s what I have in mind right now. That’s what I’m working on. Women’s tennis is progressing. It’s moving forward. It’s more physical, It’s power; so you have to follow it, you have to make adjustments to your game and improve it.”

The 19-year-old Bovina first came to notice at the Indian Wells tournament in March 2001 when she collected her first Top 10 scalp with a win over then No. 6 Conchita Martinez of Spain.

Now, with her ouster of Dokic, Bovina has left a big gaping hole in the bottom quarter of the top half of the draw. This could certainly work in her favor as she possibly continues on her way to a fourth-round encounter against countrywoman and 12th seed Elena Dementieva.

In March, Bovina hooked up in a new coaching relationship with Joey Guiliano and that alignment offers her some extra special counseling. Guiliano is a long time friend of John McEnroe and Brad Gilbert (although it must be noted that McEnroe and Gilbert have never seen eye-to-eye on things, so the term best of friends would not apply). In recent months, Bovina has had some talks and spent some time with both McEnroe and Gilbert.

JOHHNY MAC OFFERS PRACTICE AND ADVISE
As for McEnroe, Bovina says, “I really admire John. I met him. I was so happy and excited. We even hit at Roland Garros a few times and Wimbledon. He’s really clever. He’s really smart. I mean, he’s been the best player in the world. I had a great experience just talking to him. He told me a few things here and there. I’m thankful for this.

Bovina, however, allowed that McEnroe did not have one major piece of information to impart.

“You know, there was not such a thing as the most important thing,” she said. “Everything that he says is important because he’s just a legend of tennis. It was a lot of stuff. It was not like one thing that he said, ‘This is the most important.’ ”
Gilbert, the former coach of Andre Agassi, spent even more time with Bovina than McEnroe.

“Brad Gilbert has been helping me a little bit also,” Bovina reports. “I’ve been practicing at his house in California for a few weeks before Los Angeles. He knows so much that it’s just scary. He’s a really good friend of my coach;they’re like unbelievably good friends. Brad invited us for a couple of weeks to prepare for the series of tournaments in the States. He has his court at his house. It was just great. Unbelievably experience for me. I think from that point on, I improved with my game, unbelievably.”

Bovina, who spent two years as a junior training at the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Fla. before returning home to Moscow, certainly has come a long way in just a weeks’ time. As a qualifier at the New Haven tournament last week, Bovina was serving to win a second round encounter against Amelie Mauresmo, but surrendered to the Frenchwoman 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-1).

“I got a little nervous there,” Bovina admits. “Not that nervous; I got confused a little bit because of the situation, I wasn’t familiar with it, it was something new to me, to play a Top 10 player. Especially, it was a long match and I got a little tired. Of course, you know, I was thinking about serving for the match, which was probably a mistake. But, definitely, today it helped me a lot, the last match against Mauresmo. I was feeling comfortable.”

Bovina is not perturbed that after the ’01 Indian Wells tournament her improvement stalled a bit, noting that every player develops at their own speed. That said, however, she is not shy to reveal that she, as well as other Russian compatriots such as Dementieva and Panova, have lofty ambitions in the game.

“Every Russian girl’s mind, you know, is to reach a higher level, to become a Top 5 player,” Bovina says. “I mean, we’re all trying. We’re all going to try to do our best.”