Two women, once on top of the tennis world and now struggling to return to the game’s elite, exited the Australian Open on Tuesday evening suffering contrasting defeats, further delaying and, perhaps derailing, their comeback efforts. While Ana Ivanovic, looking leaner and fitter than she has been in recent years, was being beaten by Russian Ekaterina Makarova in the Hisense Arena in a thrilling third set, Dinara Safina was being bludgeoned by consensus favorite Kim Clijsters next door at the Rod Laver Arena. The two women will now pack their bags from Melbourne and head to their next tournament destination hoping and praying for some good form and maybe some good luck as well.
To be fair to Ivanovic, she has managed to get herself out of the freefall that Safina currently finds herself in. In 2008, Ivanovic was the new darling of women’s tennis – winning her first Grand Slam in Paris and ascending to the world #1 position. Injuries and the pressure of living up to her top billing soon saw her spiral down the rankings. The losses and tears became all the more frequent. But not giving up hope, Ivanovic struck a purple patch towards the end of 2010 – winning 2 of her last 3 events of the year (13 of her last 15 matches) and climbing back from #65 to inside the world’s top 20. Many picked her with an outside chance to go all the way in Melbourne in a draw left wide open by the absence of an injured Serena Williams. But an abdominal strain during the Hopman Cup ten days ago meant Ivanovic would be fighting her own fitness concerns heading into Melbourne. Still, she started off strong on Tuesday winning the first set 6-3. Makarova, a left hander who qualified and went on to win the Eastbourne Championships last June, fought back to take the second 6-4. When Ana surged ahead 3-1 in the third, many of her fans must’ve heaved a sigh of relief. But not Makarova. Instead, she put her foot on the accelerator, and managed to break back. Reeling under the pressure serving at 4-5, Ana went down triple match point but saved every one of them - holding serve for 5-5. One more match point at 5-6 and 7-8 were also saved by the Serb; each save ending with an even more desperate fist pump. The Russian, however, kept the pressure on while Ana seemed to be playing on the backfoot. Makarova reached double match point again at 9-8 and this time she needed only one to complete a thrilling victory in 2 hours and 37 minutes. The loss is certainly a setback for Ana who was hoping a good result in Melbourne would launch her return to the world’s top 10. Ana appeared positive in her post match conference, “This match, this loss is tough. But I had a lot of positive things come out of this match. I really stay positive throughout the whole match. I gave my best. That's all I can ask for.
You know, today she was better. All credit to her. But, uhm, I still have lot of room to improve and lot of things to build on. And I certainly still believe I can get back to top 10, and I believe I can do it in this year.” It will certainly be interesting to see how she rebounds from this loss in the next few months.
The woman Ana beat for her first and only Grand Slam title in Paris 2008 was none other than Safina herself. And while Ana’s stock was plumetting in 2009, Safina's was quickly rising. She reached 3 Slam finals between the French Opens in 2008 and 2009, beaten each time in straight sets by her opponents and her nerves. In spite of that, she managed to attain the world #1 ranking in April 2009. The relentless questioning of her top billing by the sports media only added to her nerves; and coupled with a serious back injury and a severe loss of confidence, Safina now finds herself in the midst of a free fall that she admittedly does not know how to get out of. She lasted all of 45 minutes against Clijsters on Tuesday and was unable to win a single game off the Belgian – losing 6-0, 6-0 and winning only 16 points in the encounter. This on the back of a 6-0, 6-1 drubbing at the quirky hands of top 20 Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli in Hobart last week– and Safina is now in the midst of a five match losing streak. She is down to #75 in the rankings and after failing to defend her points from Melbourne last year where she reached the 4th round, Safina is expected to drop to around #115 in the next WTA rankings. She could rely on wild cards to compete in bigger events for the rest of the year or take a step back and play the lower rung events in an attempt to win her confidence back. I’m not sure which the right answer is. Neither does Safina. Speaking in her post match conference, Safina said, “ If I would know the answer, I guess I would do different things. I don't know. I didn't know how to win a point. Basically came to this thing. I didn't know. I was sitting in the changeover and I was like, okay, at least how can I get a chance to hurt her? There was nothing that I could hurt her. . I've been doing two months of pre season. I'm fully motivated. I practiced hard. I cannot say that I didn't practice hard.
But I guess something was not right. I don't know. I have to figure out the answers. But first week, okay, was bad luck against Yanina. She played some good tennis. It was 6 1 in the third. It was close. But to lose two tournaments in a row 6 Love, 6 1, 6 Love, 6 Love. It's really to scratch the head and to think what the hell I'm doing. It's not that I don't want. I want. There's no doubt about. I want to come back and I want to play better. But now to find answers how I can come back.”
One can only hope that Ana and Dinara will get that winning feeling back. They are too nice, as people, and too good, as players, to be languishing among the also-rans in a sport that is overdosing on personalities but lacking on star peformers. Two other women with compelling storylines also lost on Tuesday. Mirjana Lucic, back in the top 100 after spending years in wilderness, was beaten 4-6, 2-6 by pretty Romanian Sorana Cirstea while 40 year old Kimiko Date-Krumm nearly pulled off another incredible upset, letting go of a 4-1 final set lead over world #14 Agnieska Radwanska, who finally won 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. There was some reason to smile for the sentamentlaists though as Alicia Molik pulled off a 1-6, 6-3 8-6 win over Roberta Vinci, an Italian ranked nearly 100 places higher than Molik’s current rank of #134. The Australian, also struggling to get back to her former glory days after injuries sent her into premature retirement, has fond memories of Melbourne Park. It was here in 2005 that she upset Venus Williams en route to a quarter-final finish and a top 10 ranking. And it will be here on Thursday that she will hope to upset the applecart once again when she takes on the seeded Russian Nadia Petrova in what is likely to be a headlining evening session encounter. That encounter should likely kick off 24 hours after Jelena Dokic plays her second round match at the Rod Laver Arena tomorrow evening against Barbora Strycova. Dokic, once ranked as high as #4, has struggled in the past with an abusive father and crippling depression that made her drop out of the game for a few years in the mid-2000's. She will now be hoping for a repeat of her magical 2008 run when, as the 187th ranked wild card entrant, she marched on to the quater-finals and was beaten by Safina herself. Every win in Melbourne for Molik and Dokic will go a long way in re-establishing themslves as legitimate top 100 players; and hopefully will serve as a remider for Safina... that sometimes you have to fall really hard before you can rise again.
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