cover story: NOVEMBER-december 2004
WTA Championships Preview
In a Bizarre, Russian-Dominated, Serena Slumping Year, No. 1 Will Be
at Stake in L.A.
By matthew cronin
Many greats quit early (Hingis and Borg come
to mind). Others go through mid-career crises (McEnroe, Austin) or fight
curious slumps, brutal injuries or harrowing experiences (Agassi, Connors,
Davenport, Graf, Seles). Yet after a remarkable stretch of dominance,
where she won five Slams in just a year and a half, Serena Williams
is now in the midst of a “walkabout” with a unique twist:
a banged up knee that kept her out of action for eight and a half months
just won’t seem to fully heal; the murder of her beloved older
sisters Yetunde threw her for a serious emotional loop that seems to
have taken some of her steely-eyed focus away; and the alluring sizzle
of Hollywood seems to command just as much of her attention as as the
courts of Compton once did.
While awards shows, TV guest appearances, high-heel walkways and silver
screen opportunities were shaping much of Serena’s increasingly
fast lane world while she was off the tour from August ‘03 through
mid-March ‘04, Belgians, Russians and other U.S. competitors like
Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati kept pumping iron and juicing
up their games.
Due to injury and illness, ‘03 Belgian dominators Justine Henin-Hardenne
and defending champ Kim Clijsters won’t stride into L.A.’s
Staples Center again as the hands down favorites like they did last
year. But neither will Serena come into her favorite city as the queen
of her sport, like she did in ‘02. While American players remain
a significant force in the game, none of them had stand-up-and-cheer
years at the Slams. For the first time since ‘97, no U.S. woman
won a major. Instead, this season has been a coming out party for the
once underachieving Russia, which had never won a Grand Slam title prior
to ‘04, but now has grabbed the last three. Anastasia Myskina
fulfilled her promise at Roland Garros; teen titan Maria Sharapova stunned
the planet at Wimbledon; and 19-year-old Svetlana Kuznetsova bullied
her way to the U.S. Open title. As of mid-October, Amelie Mauresmo,
Davenport, Kuznetsova, Myskina and Elena Dementieva had qualified for
five of the eight spots at the season-ending WTA Championships, Nov.
9-16 at L.A.’s Staples Center. The last three spots were still
up for grabs. What makes this year’s Championships so compelling
is that it’s more than likely that the year-end No.1 will still
be up for grabs. The following capsules looks at the prospects of the
top 10 in L.A.
Lindsay Davenport:
Winning seven titles and grabbing the No. 1 ranking in the fall is nothing
to sneeze at for one of SoCal’s favorite daughters. Battling a
knee injury all summer long, she still managed to reach the Wimbledon
semis and win her second California triple. A significant favorite to
win the U.S. Open, she injured herself prior to the semis against Kuznetsova
and consequently lost a golden opportunity to win her fourth Slam. The
28-year-old Laguna Beach resident had hinted at retirement here in front
of her hometown fans, but as well as she’s been playing, she’s
now decided to have a go at another year (if her knee holds up). Davenport
doesn’t want to end the year as No.1 without a major title and
this one is as goods as it gets outside the Slams. She’s the hands
down favorite to win.
Amelie Mauresmo:
Talk about a paper tiger, Mauresmo became the first French player in
the Open era to grab No. 1 when she backed into the spot in October.
Extremely talented but injury prone (she pulled a stomach muscle during
a showdown for No.1 against Davenport at Filderstadt), she’s had
a very consistent year, but again failed to come up with the goods at
the Slams. She had huge opportunities to defeat Serena at Wimbledon
and Dementieva at the U.S. Open, but mentally melted down. That’s
been the story of this 25-year-old’s career and why she’s
Slamless. Winning here and grabbing No.1 back from Davenport would be
the greatest achievement of her intriguing, topsy-turvy career.
Svetlana Kuznetsova:
Without question, she was the most surprising winner of the U.S. Open
in the Open era. A true jock with a man’s game from inside the
baseline, Kuznetsova is much sweeter off court than when she clubs balls
stone-faced on court. With a murderous forehand and bike sprinter’s
oak-tree legs, she can take down anyone when she’s on. But she’s
overplayed this year and is rapidly running out of steam, which leads
to mountains of errors. Still, the 19-year-old has the serve and firepower
to make a statement here in her first appearance at the Championships.
If she still has a shot at No.1 when she arrives, don’t count
her out.
Anastasia Myskina:
Back in the old USSR, factory-trained athletes were about as exciting
as the Moscow winter. Not anymore. Myskina is the antitheses of a Soviet
drone, as she’s a colorful, emotional personality on court and
off. She has one of the smoothest two-handed backhands in the business,
has improved her forehand a ton and is a brilliant tactician, but the
23-year-old daring brunette still gets down on herself too much and
can be overpowered. Her lifelong dream is to become No. 1 and she’ll
have a good chance in L.A., the same locale where she choked against
Henin last year. Tears will flow either way.
Elena Dementieva:
With her slow-as-molasses, swerving slice, she’s become the post-Kournikova
poster child of poor serving. That’s too bad, because off the
ground, this leaping Russian is as lethal as anyone out there. She admits
that it’s her serve that’s keeping her back from winning
a Slam and is the main reason why she fell in the Roland Garros and
U.S. Open finals this year. Like Kuznetsova, the 23-year-old plays way
too many tournaments and needs to conserve her energy for the big events.
But she’ll fight hard to win this one because, if she does, she’ll
end ’04 with her highest career ranking and her biggest title
to date. Plus, it will give her tremendous confidence that she can win
a ’05 Slam.
Serena Williams:
By her own admission, this has been the six-time Slam champ’s
worse season ever. Some of that has to do with the knee injury that
kept her out until March, but doesn’t completely explain why she’s
only won two ’04 titles and took painful losses to Capriati at
the French and the U.S. Open and to Sharapova at Wimbledon. Fact is,
she’s lost a good deal of confidence, has let her conditioning
slide and is having technical problems.
When she’s practicing a lot, Serena has shown flashes of her dominant
form. When she’s spending too much time pursuing her multiple
other interests, she’s been a shadow of her former self. The younger
Williams always competes hard, but given that she’s only played
a handful of matches coming into the L.A. post-U.S. Open, she’ll
be rusty in front of the dozens of celebs who she calls friends. However,
Serena loves to show off in her hometown and will go to the wall to
impress one and all.
Maria Sharapova:
At a mere 17-years-old, this Wimby champ is still very much a work in
progress. Her mediocre post-Wimbledon summer showed she still needs
to get stronger to survive against the tougher, more consistent girls
on the hard courts. Her fall title runs at Tier IV and III events in
Korea and Japan showed that her management is intent on cashing in her
wild popularity, or why else send a top 10 player to face lesser competition?
It certainly won’t help her improve her tennis. Sharapova has
all the tools to be No. 1: huge strokes off the ground, a devastating
return and an ever-improving serve. Once she fills out and her movement
naturally gets better, she’ll grab No. 1. But she’s still
a year or two away from her top form. However, don’t be surprised
if she makes some noise here. The ultra-competitive teen wants to prove
she’s a true top-five player.
Jennifer Capriati:
Like last year, the sometimes brooding veteran hasn’t shown a
lot of enthusiasm during the fall, failing to enter any of the Euro
tournaments and putting her appearance here at serious risk. Capriati
has had an okay year, full of big wins (her two much talked about victories
over Serena in the French and U.S. quarters) and depressing defeats
(her semifinal losses to Myskina in Paris and Dementieva in N.Y., as
well as her sound thrashing at the hands of Serena at Wimbledon). This
has been this first year in the Flordian’s long career that she’s
developed a series of injuries, so it’s now obvious that the clock
is ticking on the 28-year-old’s chances to win her fourth major.
She’s never won the title here, either, and if she’s concerned
how history will look upon her, she’ll fight like hell should
she slip into the final spot.
Venus Williams:
Except for a three-week flurry on clay this spring, this has been (by
far) Venus’ most disappointing year. She failed to reach even
a Slam semi, partly due to a multitude of nagging injuries and somewhat
due to the fact that the rest of the tour is well aware that they can
consistently attack her forehand and second serve. Given that the 24-year-old
was sitting on the outside looking in after a stunningly quick loss
to Elena Bovina in the Moscow quarters with only a couple weeks left
to qualify for the Championships, Venus has to be wondering where it
all went wrong. The four-time Slam champ says she’s the player
to beat, but it’s obvious given her average ‘04 results
that she’s a player who can now be beaten. But if she continues
to punch the clock, you have to think that with her talent and determination
that she’ll eventually revisit the top.
Vera Zvonareva:
She’s still only 20, so it’s hard to call her a complete
underachiever yet. But how many times will Zvonareva lose close three-setters
to the elite players before she wakes up and realizes that the same
shots that get her out to early leads can also reappear at crunch time
if she believes they are really there? A tremendous force from inside
the baseline and a nifty mover, the Russian is an emotional basket case
and needs to book a dozen or so sessions with a sports psychologist
if she is play up to her top-five potential in ’05. She needs
a late season rally to pass Capriati and Venus to qualify here.
© 2004
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