FROM ROLAND GARROS IN PARIS – How many times, over the past five years, have the elite Russian women been asked about why their nation has produced some many terrific players? Perhaps thousands.
After her heady and gritty comeback from 1-3 down in the final set to best 10-time Slam champ Serena Williams 7-6(3), 5-7, 7-5, the not-always-nails-tough Svetlana Kuznetsova was asked a similar question and the Russian gave a thoughtful response, although one that should be soaked, washed and rinsed in the sink of history:
“I believe it’s not only coming when we grow up it was so difficult. It’s also coming through the war, because our grandparents they were fighting in the war and things were very extremely hard. They had to go with nothing, you know, without maybe bullets, only with knife, and still to go to war. They teach their kids to be always strong. Always we have difficult moments in Russia when we grow up, and we always learn to be strong. I think this is one of the keys.”
Kuznetsova went on to say that every May 9, Russians still celebrate Victory Day (the day that Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies and the Soviet Union) in a big way, perhaps much the same way that she celebrated after finally getting a win over Serena at a Slam.
“I’m very proud for my country that they made it,” she said. Everybody is proud for that. Russia is very big patriotic country for me. We still believe a lot in God. The war made big change in everybody even till this point. We will never forget about it.”
While this is an obviously heartfelt sentiment, the theory flies a bit in the face of tennis reality. Russia did not become a strong tennis nation until after the fall of Communism and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, some 46 years after Victory Day. As a group, its women players didn’t begin to have a major impact until 2004, the year that Kuznetsova won the US Open, Anastasia Myskina took Roland Garros, Elena Dementieva reached those two finals, and Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon. Perhaps a better theory, although a simple one, too, is that Russian women’s tennis rose because so many parents saw that their children could make a great living by playing it.
Kuznetsova has made such a living, but for the most part, has been uncomfortable in the spotlight, which is why, for example, outside of the ‘04 US Open; she has fizzled time and time again at the majors.
Think back to ‘04 Roland Garros, when she couldn’t convert two match points against Myskina. Or how about when in ’05 when Justine Henin saved two match points her in a 7-6, 4-6, 7-5 victory in Paris.
Henin could barely run after nearly three hours on court and looked like the more muscular Russian would dropkick her back to Paris. But Kuznetsova shook and strained when she held the match points at 5-3, missing an ugly backhand down the line and pushing a weak backhand slice into the net. She committed a slew of unforced errors in the next three games to lose the match, as Henin merely had to bunt the ball back in the court.
Even though she was exhausted, Henin sensed the match wasn’t over. “ I was seeing her very nervous,” Henin said. “She was afraid to win the match; that was very clear. And when you can see that in the eyes of your opponent, that is very good for myself.”
Or, like most fans this year, hearken back to this year’s Australian Open, when she had Serena on the ropes in the second set and couldn’t close it out.
Kuznetsova, who had a 1-5 record against Williams entering the match, remembered what happened in January.
“In the third set it was tough, but still I convinced I can make it,” she said. “ In the bottom of my heart I still believe that I with play. I was doing great. I wasn’t playing bad. Yes, I missed my moments, but she also was playing good. She served good in important moments, and I still believe I was fighting. So that was the key.”
Even though she was the more ambitious player, Kuznetsova nearly suffered the same fate when served for the match at 5-3 in the second set. She played a sloppy game and was broken on a backhand error.
Serena then took it to her, winning the set and opening up a 2-0 lead in the third. But moving much more comfortably, Sveta tied it at 3-3 and then it was Serena, who rarely chokes, who got tight.
“In the third I had an opportunity and I got really tight, and I pretty much gave it to her,” said Serena, who said she hadn’t gotten nervous since the 2007 Australian Open. “It was like, ‘Here, you know, do you want to go to the semis? Because I don’t.’ She was like, ‘Okay.’”
The Russian held two match points at 5-4, but couldn’t handle a Serena serve and then committed a shaky forehand error. But almost inexplicably, Serena didn’t put her foot down, and the Russian sensed it. At 6-5, she clubbed a forehand winner to grab a final match point and then bullied two big forehands and watched Serena push a backhand wide.
Serena didn’t give her friend much credit, even though it was clear that it was Kuzy who stepped up while she stepped backward. Williams major 2009 goal of winning her second French title was lost in overly conservative play.
“Honestly I think I lost because of me and not because of anything she did,” said Serena. “I don’t think that makes it easier, but it makes me realize that had I done different things I would have been able to win. I guess I was just on a hope and a dream, and now it’s over.”
Kuznetsova will meet the Australian Samantha Stosur, a shock semifinalist on dirt who wasted Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-3. “I’m just over the moon, happy, excited,” she said. “Every single positive emotion I think possible at the moment.”
Anyone who thought that the kick-serving, forehand- loving Stosur would reach her first Slam on clay might have had to have their Kool-Aid examined, but the 25-year-old has worked on improving her transition game, adding pop to her backhand and being more patient. With one of the tour’s heaviest serves, a fine volley and a ton of experience due to her doubles success, she’s finally come into her own. She can’t be counted out against Kuznetsova.
“The last few years I’ve had a lot of doubles success, which is great,” said Stosur, the first Aussie to reach the semis since Nicole Provis in 1988. “I’ve enjoyed every match I’ve gone out to play, and that’s fine. But this year I definitely made a conscious effort that singles was a priority. It always was, but I needed to change a few things to really make that happen. Now I’m starting to see good rewards for those decisions.”
From TennisReporters.net
