By Bill Simons
Maybe it was the heat.
This year’s Aussie Open was a bit sleepy and sun-dazed. Yes, Juan Martin del Potro lost early. Aussie Bernie Tomic pulled a “no mas” on us when he retired against Rafa. Tough Aussie Casey Dellacqua insisted she wanted even hotter, more punishing temperatures.
Now that’s crazy. But certainly no crazier things would blow up this tidy tournament. After all, the men’s big four—Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, and Murray—had skirted around the heat and were on mission. Presumably the women’s No. 1 and No. 2—Serena and Vika Azarenka—were marching to another final, just like in the US Open. Azarenka lost just one game in the third round.
Yet, something was in the suddenly-cooler air. Morning TV seemed to offer a warning. “Sports is the ultimate reality show,” one program said. “You never know what is going to happen.”
We thought that Serena, the Queen of RLA (i.e. Rod Laver Arena) would be marching to the quarterfinals. After all, commentators from Chris Evert to John McEnroe were saying Ms. Williams was the best of all time. Serena had won three of the last four Slams and pre-match, even her opponent Ana Ivanovic was deferential, saying “we all respect” Serena.
Certainly, the sleepy Open would remain drowsy. After all, Ana Ivanovic was part of a problematic, enigmatic cadre of WTA underachievers who either never really relished the spotlight or were never able to sustain greatness—think Jelena Jankovic, Caroline Wozniacki, Dinara Safina. Okay, she is still beloved. (And by far is the fastest talker on the women’s circuit.) She’s smart as can be, and her press conferences sometimes turn into mini-discussions on Freud. Along with the likes of Gabriela Sabatini and Maria Sharapova, she’s often touted as one of the most beautiful women players of the Open Era. And, of course, in 2008, she won a little tournament called the French Open.
But in the years since, what had she done? She’d only reached a single Slam quarterfinal. Although she’d briefly reached No. 1 in 2008, she finished the past five years with double-digit rankings and came into the Aussie as a modest No. 14. Ivanovic became a benign and appealing part of the WTA cast. Everyone was happy she was part of the show, but long ago she had been taken for granted. She was grist for the mill.
No wonder that as Ivanovic took to the court, she drew precious little attention. In the press room, reporters spoke about US juniors, and were still buzzing about the cool temps.
All seemed cool with Serena. She’d just set a women’s record for the most Australian Open singles match wins (61), and has been comfortable atop the WTA rankings since last spring. More to the point, in four meetings with Ivanovic, Serena had yet to drop a set. And all remained sleepy Down Under when Williams collected the first set 6-4. Serena is the best front runner in the game—she went into the match with a stunning 51-1 record in Melbourne in matches where she’d won the first set.
But then the beauty of sports kicked in. No one outside of the immediate Williams camp knew that Serena had jammed her back in practice before her second-round match. Or that her neck and much of her body were strained as a result, to the point that she almost pulled out of the tournament. At the end of a brief practice 30 minutes before today’s fourth-round match, Serena considered not playing against Ivanovic.
Even though Ivanovic faltered in the first set, the Serb felt she was in it. She told Inside Tennis that at two-all in the first set, “I felt if I keep doing the right things, I have a shot at this. And even though I lost that first set in a manner that I was a little bit disappointed in, I kept believing and I kept fighting and looking for my moments.”
Her moments came soon enough in the second set. At 2-2, she used her power forehand to score critical winners and a key break. She never looked back. Standing in and returning brilliantly, and moving with ease, she took it to Serena, who hadn’t lost a match since August.
Serena put up a good fight, and afterward, she gave Ivanovic—who is undefeated this year—full credit for her 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win. But from early on in the second set, Serena didn’t have a break point on the Serb’s serve.
She tried to blast go-for-broke forehands that most have felt great. But they didn’t do her any good. Critical let cords went against Serena, and time and again she was frustrated—stretching her hands out, palms up, as if she was pleading with the gods. She looked to her friends box. All they could do is scratch their heads and offer arcane signs. And the fans were less than supportive.
Ivanovic is beloved in Australia, where she has relatives and on-court she cuts a stunning figure: tall and lean in a striking blue outfit, her olive skin glistens. The Rod Laver Arena crowd shrieked at every brilliant Ivanovic forehand or service winner. They called out, “Take your time Ana,” and “Finish her off, ” or just chanted, “Ana, Ana, Ana.” Some were cruel, sarcastically shouting, “Feel the pressure, Serena.”
Maybe what Serena was feeling was her tight back. After the match, her coach Patrick Mouratoglou—who has done wide-ranging wonders with her—said maybe she should have pulled out. He, too, gave full credit to Ivanovic, saying, “Ana played unbelievably well. She improved a lot. Today,she was serving better, returning better. and was better in the rallies.”
But Mouratoglou admitted Serena could not really move or come in. “She was soft today,” he said, adding, “She had back problems just before her match against Hantuchova. She hurt her back in practice, [and] she was ten times worse than today. I don’t know how she won that match … When you are not [able] to do what you usually do, but the other one is succeeding every time … then the pressure is much bigger on you, because you don’t see any solution … I saw that the pressure got stronger and stronger on Serena … I don’t think it is a bad injury, I think it’s a very annoying injury. It annoyed her to not be able to move … and she could not hit the way she usually hits.”
When Serena’s staged her triumphant comeback at the 2007 Aussie Open. her mother Oracene said she hoped Serena would “get out of Melbourne.” She meant that she wanted Serena to come into the court, rather than camp out by the Melbourne sign painted behind the baseline. Today, Serena would surprisingly‘”get out of Melbourne’ way too early, and not the way she wanted. For the third straight year, the injury bug had bitten her in Australia.
Now the once-drowsy Aussie Open had come alive. In victory, Ivanovic admitted that Serena is a player apart, saying she “pushes” everyone and “creates challenges.” Make no mistake: A Slam is a very different animal without Ms. Serena in the draw.
Now wide awake, and wide open, the tournament once preoccupied with a heat wave was now waving goodbye to the best women’s player of our era.
