THE SCOOP: AUSSIE OPEN, DAY 1

Granville gets unstuck with first-round win
Kim's ankle is still a question

By Douglas Robson
Special to tennisreporters.net

Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA Granville needs to get moving up in the rankings.

FROM THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN – Laura Granville is that rare breed: a college standout with the talent to make an impact on the pro tour.

Since capturing back-to-back NCAA titles in 2000-01 and turning pro, Granville has ridden her flat, powerful ground strokes and surprisingly effective serve to two solid years on the pro tour. She reached the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2002 and the third round of both the Roland Garros and the US Open in 2003 on her way to a career-best ranking of No. 28 last summer. On Monday, the Chicago native took another step in the right direction by upending 31st-seeded Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand 6-1, 6-3 in the first round of the Austalian Open.

But the transition from college to pro hasn’t been without its obstacles. Granville has yet to win a WTA Tour title, and her 2003 year-end ranking of No. 46 was basically stagnant after finishing her rookie season at No. 47.
Coming out of her sophomore year on tour, the 22-year-old Granville knows that the transition period is behind her. It’s time to step it up.

“The past two years I finished in the Top 50,” she said after her easy win over Tanasugarn in blustery conditions. “But I think the first year I was just happy to be up there. This past year was a little disappointing. I don’t want to be one of those players who is just kind of stuck there. I think it’s really important that I move up.”

But stuck is where legions of US players have found themselves after opting for a few years of schooling instead of jumping straight onto the tour. The last female to successfully navigate the road from books to backhands dates back a decade. That would be Lisa Raymond, a former Top 20 singles and No. 1 doubles player, who won NCAA singles titles in 1992-93 for the University of Florida.

“I think the first year or two … it’s a matter of getting comfortable with the tour and with the Grand Slams and being at this level,” Granville said. “But for me, you’re right, this is starting my third year. I’m definitely comfortable. Instead of just being happy just getting wins now I’m really trying to beat top-ranked players.”

To do so, Granville will have to improve her overall consistency her fitness level. Seeing the other bulging muscles around the tour has provided ample motivation, whose movement and strength can definitely improve.
“I see the other girls in the locker room and they’re in great shape,” she said. “At least between tournaments I’m really going to try training very hard.”

LOOKING FOR WARMER CLIMATE
The Chicagoan is looking at buying a place in Florida so she can train more regularly at the USTA training facility in Key Biscayne with other young Americans such as Ashley Harkleroad, Shenay Perry, Bethanie Matteck and Carly Gullickson. It will also allow her to work more regularly with her USTA coach Ola Malmquist.

Granville also intends to bring some needed aggressiveness to her game in 2004, while making small technical adjustments, such as changing the grip on her volleys … “not an easy thing to do,” she says.
With an urgency she has not expressed before, Granville says her goal is to break into the Top 30 this year.”

“I did OK in the Grand Slams, but there were a lot of matches throughout the year I should have won that I didn’t,” Granville concedes. “This year I’m going to try to be more consistent in my tournaments and not have let downs in smaller tournaments.”

Does she need some advice from Raymond? “I really should talk with her more,” laughed Granville.

A jump of 10-20 places in 2004 will definitely show she’s no longer stuck.

Kim's ankle is still a question
With her ankle untested in match play, Kim Clijsters remains a big question mark as she resumes her quest for her first major championship. Two weeks ago, the No. 2 hobbled off the court on crutches after twisting her left ankle badly at the Hopman Cup in Perth, forcing her to pull out of the Sydney tune-up last week.

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA Clijsters' injury could derail her shot at first Slam.

According to her coach, fellow Belgian Marc Dehous, if the inflammation in Clijsters’s ankle flares up at all, she’ll pack it in.

“If the pain comes back, she’ll have to stop,” said Dehous, who began working with the star player a year-and-a-half ago. “She needs one or two matches to see if everything is OK.”

That’s exactly what happened in Sydney. Although defending champ Clijsters practiced for two days without pain, the day before her first match it started to bother her. She still wanted to compete, and it took some strong talk from Dehous and even fiancée Lleyton Hewitt to keep her off the courts.

Dehous said X-rays showed a small piece of bone is poking into the ankle joint, causing swelling and irritation. Doctors aren’t sure if it was always there or is a small fracture from the injury. Either way, it’s something that will require extra care and could eventually need surgery down the road. If the 20-year-old’s body is suspect, her head is fine.

“Emotionally she’s very good,” said Dehous. “That’s one of her big plusses. Even an hour after a loss, she’s back as usual and smiling.”

Considering her tour-leading 102 matches in singles (and more than 150 in singles and doubles) last year and her penchant for leg-splitting retrievals, it’s a surprise Clijsters hasn’t been injured more often. That’s why, despite a rock-solid build and an athletic heritage – her father is a former soccer star – Clijsters’ handlers are making sure she’ll log less time on the court in 2004. Even before her injury, she opted not to play doubles with partner Ai Sugiyama in Melbourne.

Her first round match should offer a decent test of her fitness. She faces occasionally dangerous Marlene Weingartner of Germany, who last year upset two-time defending champ Jennifer Capriati in the first round.