Tennis News

BRISBANE, Australia – Victoria Azarenka ended qualifier Samantha Crawford’s run at the Brisbane International with a one-sided victory in Friday’s second semifinal.

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In the previous round Crawford had blown away Andrea Petkovic, but it quickly became clear that toppling Azarenka would be a far sterner challenge. The Belarusian, who had dropped a combined 10 games in her opening three matches, hit the ground running, her precise return game prizing a succession of unforced errors and an immediate break.

With Crawford, appearing in a WTA semifinal for the first time, struggling to rein in her huge strokes, Azarenka efficiently went about her business, punching a backhand down the line to pocket the first set in only 25 minutes.

The American put up more of a fight in the second but was powerless to prevent the former World No.1 running out a 6-0, 6-3 winner.

“I think it was a pretty solid match for me, especially the first set,” Azarenka said. “I just think I should have been a little bit more in control in the end; she was going for, you know, everything, so I needed to be a little bit more aware of that.”

Azarenka won the Brisbane title in 2009 and in the final this time will face Angelique Kerber, a player whom has never beaten her in five career meetings.

As impressive as she has been, Azarenka, whose last title came in the summer of 2013, is refusing to get carried away: “I’m just trying to stay focused. There is one more match, and then you can just reassess how the tournament went and what was working, what is something still needs to be worked on.

“Right now I’m just trying not to overthink. I think sometimes it can be a trouble when you overthink too much.”

Every athlete starts with a dream, one she carries through her career, and one she aspires to achieve before that career comes to an end. Growing up in France, Marion Bartoli set her sights across the Channel and dreamed of winning Wimbledon. Finishing her career with a US Open trophy, Flavia Pennetta was over the moon, and yet still felt pangs of regret at having never won her home country’s tournament in Rome.

Sofia Arvidsson announced her retirement from tennis not long after New Year’s Day; her dream was somehow simpler and grander than the rest. Peaking at No.29 in the rankings with two WTA titles, the Swede wanted little more than to be an Olympian.

“When I was young, I watched so many sports on TV, but the Olympics was always special,” she told WTA Insider. “I would watch the opening ceremonies and think that those are the best athletes in the world, and I was dreaming I could be there.”

Arvidsson’s dream came true in 2008, when she qualified for the Beijing Olympics and played eventual gold medalist Elena Dementieva in the second round.

“It was a very special moment when I got to be at the opening ceremonies with 90,000 people screaming. I had to battle to be there because I had injured my knee at Wimbledon, but I always liked to play for my country.”

As the London Games loomed four years later, Arvidsson was playing some of the best tennis of her career, earning two Top 10 wins in 2011 and a title in Memphis to start the season in 2012. But her dream of returning to the Olympics became a nightmare when the Swedish Olympic Committee initially refused to send her.

“I remember I was practicing on grass somewhere and I was waiting for the call from the Swedish Federation to tell me if I got into the Olympics. I was in by the rankings for sure, but the Swedish Olympic Committee still had to say yes.”

Heartbroken by the rejection, she refused to stay down for long. 

“They called my coach to say, ‘no,’ and I sat down and was crying for five minutes, and then I stopped and said, ‘let’s practice again.'”

With the backing of former WTA CEO Stacey Allaster and a strong push from the International Tennis Federation, Arvidsson was eventually chosen to be doubles specialist Robert Lindstedt’s partner for the inaugural Olympic mixed doubles event. The loophole allowed her into the singles draw, but the irony of her selection was not lost on the thoughtfully articulate veteran.

“I was a mixed doubles specialist who really didn’t play mixed doubles,” she said, adding with a laugh, “I don’t think I ever won a mixed doubles match in my career! It’s just that there was a big chance of winning a medal back then because there were only 16 teams.

“As a country you should be proud of your athletes; if you’re Top 50 in tennis, it’s not easy to make the cut. So I was a bit disappointed, because in the end, I was there, but it felt like they didn’t want me there.”

There won’t be a third Olympic appearance for Arvidsson, who has hung up her racquets on the eve of the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Turning pro in 1999, the Swede, a former junior national champion in table tennis, was a stalwart in the Top 100 for most of her career before her ranking began to drop, her desire slowly ebbing along with it.

“Motivation is not something you can buy, and I just felt like, for the last one and a half years, the hunger to play hasn’t been the same. The last year I’ve been trying to just see if there’s something left. I’ve been trying, working hard, but I just felt like, no, I don’t want to do this anymore.

“It’s sad in one way, but in another way, I’m happy I can choose when to quit. Last month, I didn’t play at all, and I didn’t miss it; I didn’t even think about it. It’s very emotional, of course, because I’ve played for a long time. It’s been my life, and I’ve played full-time since I was 16.

“It’s a big decision but I feel it’s right.”

Retiring without ceremony or a long goodbye, Arvidsson quietly announced her decision on Twitter, a few days after another Swedish tennis star, Robin Söderling, confirmed his own intent to do the same.

“Of course, it would be nice to go out like Pennetta did, winning the US Open, and then being like, ‘bye, see you!’ I don’t know if I’d like so much attention; it would be too emotional to play a match and then retire.

“The last few days I’ve gotten a lot of messages and people calling. That’s kind of overwhelming that you have so many people that have been following you and appreciate you.”

Few appreciated her more than the fans that attended her favorite tournament. Three of her four WTA finals appearances came at the Racquet Club of Memphis, and that success earned her two trophies and a personalized parking spot at the venue itself.

“Memphis is always going to be special in my heart, that’s for sure. I had one good run there and when you come back, you have good memories. I remember when I won my first title there, they said, ‘we can send you the trophy, or ship it to you,’ and I said, ‘nuh-uh! It’s going to be on my knee the whole way home!'”

Another constant in her career was a rivalry with former No.1, Jelena Jankovic. The Serb and Swede first met in the finals of the junior Australian Open in 2001, a tournament that provided Arvidsson with the initial impetus to dream big on the tennis court.

“I was thinking how it was so nice to play the Grand Slams, because you saw all the big stars and thought, ‘maybe one day, I can be there!’ In the beginning, it’s hard; you transfer from juniors to seniors, and suddenly I was playing players that I’d only seen on TV!”

Jankovic won that meeting in Melbourne, but the two went on to split their WTA head-to-head at two three-set matches apiece, and Arvidsson still remembers the epic encounters they had as pros.

“I was up 6-3 in a third set tiebreaker [at the 2008 Miami Open], and then I had two more match points, but I lost. I was at the net and I had this pretty easy one, but the girl’s fast, so she ran it down. I was thinking that I should have hit it in the other corner!”

Their US Open rematch a few months later was equally electric, with the unseeded Arvidsson pushing the Serb to another photo finish, this time on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“That was just a fun game. During the match I was looking up and I could see John McEnroe sitting and commentating my match. I was like, ‘oh my god!’ That was kind of funny, and I was like, ‘come on, focus!’

“That’s really what you play for, to play the big players on the big stadiums. It was a really cool experience.”

Her biggest win came in Beijing, where she upset reigning Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova – who went on to win her next 12 matches – on a night she half-seriously expected to lose.

“We had plane tickets for the day after, and I was thinking, ‘this is perfect. I play a great player on a night match, and I think I was following Roddick and Anderson, really cool players, and that’s a good way to finish this trip!'”

Arvidsson admitted to feeling wistful when seeing photos of her fellow players in Australia, and though she may yet return to the sport in some other capacity, the Olympian is excited to move forward and find new dreams to pursue.

“They say there is a life outside tennis, but I’m really happy. I could not have imagined, when I picked up a racquet when I was eight that I would reach this level, to experience all that I have done.

“I feel really fortunate, because I have lived my dream.”

Follow Sofia’s post-tennis journey on Twitter @Sofia_Arvidsson!

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – WTA players made the most of their time away from the courts of the Alya WTA Malaysian Open on Tuesday, paying a visit to Permata Kurnia, a learning centre for autistic children aged 4-7.

Australian buddies Casey Dellacqua and Ashleigh Barty, who have teamed up in the doubles draw in Kuala Lumpur, were joined by wildcard Zheng Saisai and Malaysian player Theiviya Selvarajoo at the learning centre. Barty, who made the third round of the Australian Open in January after a recent hiatus from the sport, qualified for the singles main draw in Kuala Lumpur as well.

Rosmah Mansor, the wife of the Prime Minister of Malaysia, serves as the patron of Permata Kurnia, where the motto reads: ‘Autism is Not a Tragedy, Ignorance Is.’

Accompanied by representatives from the Prime Minister’s office, the players chatted to the children and joined them for an impromptu music session – Barty strumming on the guitar and Zheng on the tambourine.

All photos: © Alya WTA Malaysian Open

Tennis players are, by definition, intense individuals. Driven by a single desire at the start of each week, small victories are, at best, swiftly savored in the face of an ever-shifting goal post. Throw in external stressors and self-doubt and indeed, only the strong survive.

Ten days into 2016 and some of that doubt has already begun to surface among the game’s best, a caution that has kept them from completely committing to the very tournaments meant to ready them for the major glory they seek.

Two-time Wimbledon quarterfinalist Tamira Paszek has had to overcome much adversity, yet remains among the few standing strong to start the season. Once a fixture in the Top 30, Paszek took six months off from the end of 2014 to heal an adductor injury, one that was wreaking havoc on an already injury-addled career.

She refused to return until she was fully fit, starting slowly by playing Challenger tournaments once she was.

“I feel very grateful and I’m very thankful for being healthy again,” she told WTA Insider as she prepared for Australian Open qualifying. “Once you’ve experienced such a low and such a struggle, you start appreciating and enjoying everything a lot more. I’m just trying to be in the moment, have fun out there, and do my best every day that I can.”

Reuniting with former coach Andrei Pavel – a former Top 15 player himself – after playing her home tournament in Linz, Paszek added Iulia Moldovan as her full-time physio in September, and established relationships with two training facilities in her home town of Dornbirn – the Olympic Center and Tennis CAMPUS – all in the hopes of maintaining the physicality needed to unlock her potential and powerful ground game.

“I think I really found my base now. With Andrei, I have a great coach. He helps me a lot, and kind of leaves me my own instincts on the court, which I’ve always loved to deal with by myself.

“I spent the off-season at home in Austria, which was really nice, and had a great fitness preparation the first couple of weeks at the Olympic Centre back home. Last year was all about having the rehab done and starting from zero. Now I was actually starting from a fit base, so I think that’s a really big part of why things are running smoothly at the moment.”

A run to the semifinals of an autumn $100K Challenger as a qualifier set the stage for an even bigger result just one week ago in Auckland, an event where she first made the final four back in 2008, at just 17 years old.

“I’ve loved the tournament since I was a very young player. I think the tournament director does an amazing job at making a great tournament, bringing out all the best players. Auckland is a beautiful city as well; they’re really lovely people there. So I think the whole combination of everything attracts the players a lot.”

Paszek fought through qualifying once more to find a pair of former major champions in Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova – along with 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens – waiting for her in the main draw. Edging out Schiavone and cruising past Kuznetsova, the true test came against Flipkens, who forced her to face the self-doubt that kept her from closing out their quarterfinal encounter in straight sets, and overwhelm the Belgian with definitive intensity in the decider.

“I really had to work for those matches. We had long rallies and tough points; there were a few really tough battles out there, but that’s rewarding after a tough pre-season, knowing you’re healthy and that you’re ready to compete against top players.”

The semifinal finish puts Paszek in position to reach the Top 100 for the first time in nearly three years, but the Austrian will have to make it through another three rounds of qualifying in order to play the first major tournament of the season.

“The good part about playing qualies is that you get a lot of matches, and you get a good rhythm, which is especially important at the beginning of the year. I’ve always been the type of person that tries to see the positive aspect of things, so I’m really looking forward to it.

“We arrived in Melbourne on Sunday, so we had a good day off, recovering from all the tough matches in Auckland. It has been pretty good, a lot of workouts, getting ‘back to the business’ and we’ve had good practices, playing a lot of points and I had a good fitness session yesterday, so I’m getting ready for Thursday.”

After a short winter spent in the Dornbirn mountains, Paszek has one more hill to climb in Melbourne, where she will need every ounce of strength earned over the off-season – and her signature intensity – to take her to the summit of her 2016 goals by returning to the Top 50.

“I’m trying to keep my expectations as low as possible, but I’m ready, I’m happy, and I’m playing well, so anything can happen.”

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.