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• Born: May 2, 1985. • Birthplace: Rossville, Georgia. • Best Known As: Midriff-baring young tennis star. America’s top-ranked junior in 2000, the blonde-and-blue-eyed beauty was once hyped as “The Next Anna.” There were agents, a Nike contract, modeling gigs. But not long after her coming-out party at the ‘01 U.S. Open, where she was formally introduced to the tennis world in a more-than-skimpy two-piece outfit that left photographers elbowing for room in the pit, the pressures, the expectations began to get the best of her. |
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Married at 19, divorced at 21, she quit the tour for six months in ‘04, and all but fell out of sight. Now she has a new lease on life and has never been more at peace with herself. Happy to eschew the spotlight, the No. 69-ranked Harkleroad insists the focus is on “me, myself, the ball and my opponent.” IT recently caught up with the newly minted Fed Cup hero in La Jolla, where she clinched the U.S. team’s quarterfinal win over Germany. | ||
INSIDE TENNIS: Clinching the tie in your Fed Cup debut,
what was that experience like?
ASHLEY HARKLEROAD: It was a great opportunity. When [U.S. Fed Cup captain] Zina [Garrison] called, I was excited and hoping I could handle the situation. I think I did.
IT: You’re only 22, yet you’re already seven years into your pro career. Do you feel like a veteran?
AH: I feel young because I am. I also feel like I’ve been around for a while because I started on the tour when I was 16. I had a lot of expectations at the beginning that I don’t think I was mentally or physically ready for. I’m becoming naturally stronger. Mentally, I’m more relaxed. I’m more at ease and I know who I am. I know that tennis isn’t life or death. It’s not the end of the world if you lose. I enjoy life more and more as I grow up.
IT: Were those self-imposed expectations, or the expectations of others?
AH: I expected a lot of myself. So did a lot of people around me. Now I just run my own life. I know what to expect out of myself.
IT: You’ve said that the day-to-day grind of the tour can be lonely, that you’re not necessarily going to find your best friends in the locker room.
AH: A lot of girls enjoy the tour and have made a lot of friends. I kind of keep to myself. I have a few friends. I travel with my boyfriend [her coach and 36-year-old former touring pro Chuck Adams]. We just do our own thing and get ready for my matches. I’m business-minded when I’m out there. I’m not really out there to make friends. I guess it can be lonely, but not for me because I’m out there with him.
IT: What’s helped you the most as far as keeping it all in perspective?
AH: Everybody knows that I had a hard time when I was 17, 18. I shot up to No. 39 and everybody thought I was going to be whatever they thought I was going to be. I couldn’t live up to their expectations, so I wasn’t enjoying being out on tour with the pressure I was putting on myself and the pressure I was feeling from others. Then I took a step back and got a different perspective on life. I play for myself now and I’m enjoying it much more than I ever have.
IT: Talk about some of those pressures.
AH: Agents, taking losses too hard, amongst some other things. I just took a step back and stopped playing for about six months in ‘04. I made it to the final of my first WTA event in Auckland at the beginning of that year. But some things had happened and I just took a step back. Then I decided to come back on my terms.
IT: You’re not the biggest girl on the tour. What will it take for you to hang in there with the Sharapovas, Ivanovics, Jankovics of the world?
AH: I’m done growing now. That is a problem for me. I’m not six foot, so it’s difficult. But I play pretty smart. I’m trying to play close to the baseline and use their pace. As I get older I’m naturally going to get stronger. I just need to continue to come in and grind because I’m quick.
IT: What was it like being “The Next Big Thing?” Were the expectations unfair?
AH: It wasn’t really unfair because I was winning so much. I was the No. 2 junior in the world. When it’s like that and the U.S. hasn’t seen that since a Davenport or a Capriati, that’s what comes with it. But I didn’t grow much after that and my game didn’t get much better. Girls were growing a getting stronger. If I had been a little bit older I would have been able to handle it better. I was still immature mentally, and to handle all that, I didn’t have the team around me that could be positive enough. I didn’t have to be top 20 in the world at the time. You’re talking Sharapova status.
IT: Does that make you marvel at what someone like Sharapova was able to do at 17?
AH: Some girls just mature quicker than others. I was just a little bit slower — physically and mentally, probably. I mean, I’m from just, like, a small town in Georgia. We don’t really know what it’s like to be on tour and to sign a contract with Nike and be this and that, be the next Capriati or whoever I’m supposed to be. I just used to play tennis and win matches and go and have fun and play with my friends. I didn’t have this Russian father. I wasn’t a programmed tennis player.
IT: You weren’t around people who were used to that scene.
AH: No. My dad and mom were high school sweethearts. They’ve been together since my mom was 13. He told my mom he wanted to have a professional tennis player and that’s what he got. Nobody’s ever come out of the town I’m from [Flintstone, Ga.].
IT: Can you take us back to Court 11 at the 2001 U.S. Open? You come out in the flashy Nike outfit, the photographers are lined up...
AH: I picked an outfit that was riding up on me and I didn’t know what it was going to be like to play in it. I guess it was attractive. I was focused. I don’t really remember that there was a lot of people out there or that there was a lot of comments about my outfit. I was dubbed the next Anna Kournikova, but I was never really comfortable with that. I like to fly under the radar, just play tennis and hang out with friends. Now I like to wear a different sort of clothes, clothes that hide my body better. I like to go out and to wear cute things and I love the attention, but when I’m on the tennis court, it’s about me, myself, the ball and my opponent. I don’t really care what anybody else says about what I’m wearing or what I’m doing.
IT: Speaking of not caring what other people think, I’m guessing that when you married [ATP pro] Alex Bogomolov you probably got a lot of advice, people saying, “You’re too young.” “What are you doing?” Was there a lot of that?
AH: I’m very rebellious. I do whatever I want to do. [Laughs] People did tell me some things, but I’m from a very small town in Georgia. That’s the Bible Belt. Living with someone isn’t really part of the plan. You know what I mean? We got married because I was tired of hearing other things — that I was living in sin. Now they don’t tell me anything. I just don’t think they want me to go get married again. At the time, it really wasn’t a bad decision for me because it kind of relaxed me. He was a good friend, and we had a good time for three or four years. I enjoyed being around him. He was one of the reasons I decided to come back and play. He believed in me and wanted me to come back, as my dad did, too. But things change and you have different chapters in your life.
IT: A growing experience?
AH: Definitely. When you get married, it’s a totally different thing. All of a sudden, I don’t know...are you married?
IT: Yes.
AH: Okay [Laughs]. It’s just a whole different ballgame. Just to sign the papers to say you’re married changes things. Not that it changed for the worse or the better, it just changed. You really had to grow up and be a woman all of a sudden. It was good for me, and I think it was good for him, too. I have to take the positives out of it.
IT: Are you wearing an engagement ring?
AH: No. This is a really nice ring, right?
IT: But not an engagement ring?
AH: No. It’s just a beautiful ring. It’s very large and I love it, but it’s nothing major.
IT: As we’ve seen, it’s hard to be a professional tennis player and focus on your game. Is it possible to balance both?
AH: It was a good distraction for me, really. Sometimes I can take tennis so seriously. I get so uptight about this or that. I don’t think it hurt me because after I got married I ended up coming back and feeling like I was playing for myself, I’m not playing for other people, I’m not playing for my dad, my agents. I was playing for me, I was married, doing that flying-under-the-radar thing.
