Henin Ready to Prime; Kuznetsova, Jankovic Unsure
of Themselves
By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net
Henin is ready for stage 2.
FROM THE BNP PARIBAS OPEN AT INDIAN WELLS - Former No. 1 Justine
Henin stole the show on day one by smoking Magdalena Rybarikova
6-2, 6-2 in the first round of Indian Wells, but there was more reflection
off court with players who haven’t taken the court yet, when both
Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova
talked about their struggles with form and motivation as of late.
Jankovic is sick again, this time the victim of the a cold, and she doesn’t
quite understand where her steely focus has gone either. But in a blog
that will shortly appear on Fox, she’s discusses what does make
her happy these days: a 20,000-foot house in San Diego that she’s
building with her parents, which includes a pool, a 10-car garage, gym,
tennis court and theater that she hopes to move into at the end of the
year. “It gives me another perspective, it’s a dream home
and it shows me that I’ve done a really good job to be able to have
the money to have this house,” she said. “I don’t know
why I’m getting upset losing tennis matches now. It like I’m
really sick, and it isn’t going to take away that I was No. 1 or
what I’ve done in my career.”
She also touched on Serbia’s 3-2 loss to Russia at home in Fed Cup,
where she and Ana Ivanovic were out of there depth against
Kuznetsova and Alisa Kleybanova in doubles, who beat them 6-1 6-4. FYI”
This might sound like a harsh assessment of Ivanovic, but there’s
was no bite in JJ’s voice.
“It was unfortunate that Ana couldn’t win one of her singles
matches because that’s what we were going for, to win the three
singles matches because we weren’t counting on doubles. I was really
happy that I beat Svetlana and Kleybanova, whom I had never beaten before.
Ana was nervous, but everyone is nervous and you care so much because
you to want to win, but she couldn’t get her game together. But
she’s not the only one who is struggling…. We’re not
really good doubles players. We didn’t know each other’s games,
what ball to take, and we got confused. We were all over the place.”
Kuznetsova has pretty much had it with daily grind of the tour, too, but
says she know how to manage herself better now. “I’m different.
I like to analyze a lot,” she said. “I’m taking a different
way. Some days I don’t have great days, but I love tennis. Some
days I’m depressed, but when I take a rest, I’m hungry again.”
Kuznetsova is not planning on playing Fed Cup against the US in Alabama
next month and went into her dispute with Russian captain Shamil Tarpischev,
which will also appear in a blog on Fox. Here’s a sneak peak. Recall
that before their tie against Serbia tie, Tarpischev accused her of being
egotistical.
“We never communicate. If you need something you ask him or he never
communicates, only to call you and ask you to play Fed Cup,” she
said. “That’s it. I just wanted to be respected and that’s
all I ask from people. I never walked around and said I was star. I never
go behind people’s back.”
Back to Henin, who says she sustained a small hamstring injury in early
February, but is recovered now. She’s still has set her schedule
post Fed Cup in April, but it appears as if she won’t play more
than two tournaments leading into Roland Garros and maybe only one.
“My priority is to be fresh,” she said.
Reflecting on her loss to Serena in Melbourne, Henin said she wasn’t
quite ready to rock yet.
“I was still a bit short mentally, emotionally and physically,”
she said. “I was close and far away at the same time. I had always
had the feeling that we had to go step by step and maybe it was a little
early. She was better mentally and I wasn’t used to it anymore.
Had I won the game [to go up 2-0 in the 3rd set], no one knows what would
have happened, but she’s a real champion the way she served. An
hour later, I felt that maybe it’s better this way because it’s
going to help me work on new things, take my time and relax.”
None of the seeds have played yet, but here are some notable results:
Sorana Cirstea d. Kaia Kanepi 67(1) 63 64
Vera Dushevina d. Jelena Dokic 60 63
Polona Hercog d. Ioana Raluca Olaru 75 64
Kimiko Date Krumm d. Melinda Czink 62 62
Vania King d. Christina McHale (USA) 75 63
Elena Baltacha d. Alexa Glatch 63 67(3) 64
Alicia Molik d. Tatjana Malek 61 63
Anna Chakvetadze d. Anne Keothavong 26 63 61
Pavlyuchenkova Moves On to Indian Wells as Draw
Out; Chile Bests Israel
MONDAY, MARCH 8 - Just as she came off the
first title run in her career at Monterrey, 18-year-old Anastasia
Pavlyuchenkova had to hop a flight to the California desert to
defend her points from her ’09 semifinal appearance at the BNP Paribas
Open at Indian Wells, which starts Wednesday. On Sunday, the powerful
and chatty Russian beat Anastaija Sevastova 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 in the semis
and the Daniela Hantuchova 1-6, 6-1, 6-0 in the final. She pushed her
ranking up to No. 25 with a fine display of her top 5 potential, but now
she’ll have to prove herself against most of the elite players again,
as she could face Sam Stosur in the 3rd round of IW, then defending champ
Vera Zvonareva or 2009 finalist Ana Ivanovic and even
if she gets through there, very likely Victoria Azarenka or Yanina
Wickmayer. We’ll really see who the WTA’s most promising
young player by sometime next week.
The Indian Wells main draw is out, without, of course, the Williams sisters,
but with everyone else of note including Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters
and Maria Sharapova. On the top half, Clijsters has decent draw
with potential matches against Alisa Kleybanova in R3, Sveta Kuznetsova
or Agnes Szavay in R4 and in the quarters, anyone out of these seeds:
Jelena Jankovic, Dominica Cibulkova, Flavia Pennetta or Shahar Peer. It
could be much worse. If you consider Clijsters the favorite on in that
quarter of the draw and she’s certainly been playing at higher level
than Kuznetsova has since September outside of her major Aussie Open hiccup,
then its bottom quarter of the top half that will likely produce her greatest
threat, possibly in the form of the winner of the quarter between Azarenka
and Wickmayer, or maybe even “Papillion” (one of Pavlyuchenkova’s
nicknames).
The bottom half of the draw appears set for a showdown between the unseeded
Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova. Henin is looking at the sporadic Maggie
Rybarikova in R1, Gisela Dulko in R2, Aggie Radwanska in R3, Sabine Lisicki
or Marion Bartoli in R4 and then maybe Elena Dementieva, who doesn’t
always play well in the desert. Not so bad, but Henin is sure to be pushed
somewhere. Sharapova could face Jelena Dokic in R2, then
Jie Zheng, then Na Li, then Caroline Wozniacki, should the Dane survive
Maria, Kirilenko, Alona Bondarenko or Nadia Petrova. It’s a much
tougher draw fro Sharapova than in Memphis.
Ivanovic will have to likely have to face Sevastova to earn a rematch
Zvonareva and then we’ll take it from there. There are no easy contests
for Ivanovic anymore. Melanie Oudin plays Roberta Vinci
to get to two-time IW winner Hantuchova, which will be a very rough match
for the American, but a winnable one.
Chile got something to cheer about when its Davis Cup team outlasted Israel
4-1 on clay. Fernando Gonzalez bested Dudi Sela 6-4 6-4
6-3 to seal the tie. “The important thing was to win, whichever
way,” Gonzalez said. “We are very happy with this victory,
and we hope it brings a little joy to Chile and to the victims of the
earthquake that must receive our support and feel that they are being
helped.”
Gonzalez is skipping IW to visit towns that were affected by the earthquake.
He’s planning on returning to play in Miami, although he says he’s
contending with a knee injury. Chile will take on the Czech Republic at
home.
The Lawn Tennis Association has denied a London Times by Neil Harman that
Greg Rusedski is set to replace British Davis Cup captain
John Lloyd after Britain went down in Lithuania.
“We have had no direct contact at all (with Rusedski),” LTA
player director Steve Martens told BBC Radio Five Live: “I think
it would also be very disrespectful to a guy like John to do that when
we haven't even finished the tie. Greg is a fantastic coach, he works
with us, he's fully on board working with some of the male players and
John so far has been fully in the loop in everything we do. Clearly we
have to be swift and decisive. But it is very important that in the heat
of the battle you don't do anything emotional. We have to be looking at
this together with the captain, reviewing where we were with our players,
where we were with our selection, where we were with the preparation of
the players. That is exactly what we'll do over the next few days and
the captain will be a full part of that."
Rusedski has spoken publicly about his desire for the job, but it is unknown
how top British player Andy Murray feels about playing under Rusedski
and Murray’s opinion is critical.
