Ivanovic: I wasn't prepared for Wimbledon
abs-cbnnews.com | 06/28/2008 11:58 AM
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Agence France-Presse
LONDON - Ana Ivanovic admitted her decision to take time off after winning the French Open had backfired as she was dumped out of Wimbledon by Chinese wildcard Zheng Jie.
Ivanovic, 20, opted not to play the pre-Wimbledon tournaments at Birmingham and Eastbourne because victory in Paris had left her mentally and physically drained.
But the Serbian world number one conceded she was completely under-prepared for the grasscourt season, leading to Friday's shock 6-1, 6-4 third round defeat to an opponent ranked 132 places below her.
"I didn't have as good preparation as I hoped for because I had to have some time off, so I didn't have too much time to practice and to do all these little specific movements and things you need to in order to adjust to the grass," Ivanovic said.
"It's been a very emotional past couple of weeks for me. It took a toll on me. So with my coaches we try to cut the practices to a minimum just to have time to recover a little bit and have some time for myself.
"Obviously it was tough because from the first match on, I tried to find my game, but I felt like I was struggling a little bit.
"It took time to adjust to the grass because, especially after clay, it's a completely different game."
Just three weeks after being installed as the world number one following her first Grand Slam success, Ivanovic has crashed back down to earth.
She admitted it has been a struggle to adapt to her new position as the leading woman, especially since her status has made a prize scalp for relatively unknown players like Zheng.
"Obviously I felt the extra pressure a little bit in the beginning," she said. "Everyone's going to be so pumped against you and they're going to try to perform the best they can.
"I think in my previous matches, as well as today, you know, they had nothing to lose. Really I think they played some of their best tennis.
"It's something you have to accept. Also with the time you learn to deal with it.
"Trust me, it's not easy to lose. Every loss is disappointing but you also have to realize that the world won't end.
"I'm still so young and have many tournaments in front of me. These things make you learn that you still have room to improve. Sometimes you need a punch to realize what you have to work on."
She had been lucky to avoid defeat against Nathalie Dechy in the previous round after a netcord helped her save two match points.
On Friday, there was no escape.
But she admitted Zheng deserved all the credit for a superb performance that made a mockery of her lowly ranking.
"She's a good player and she plays well on grass," Ivanovic said. "She has very powerful shot. She stays very low, so the balls are coming much faster through the air.
"I had a little bit of a tough time to adjust to the balls with the timing. I think grass suits very well with her.
"She was reading my serves very well. Even when I tried to kick it and bounce the ball high, she was still there on the ball."
Women's tennis
Meanwhile, Serena Williams believes the seismic shocks which saw Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova crash out of Wimbledon prove beyond doubt that women's tennis is more than a match for the men's.
World number one Ivanovic lost to China's Zheng Jie, the world 133, 6-1, 6-4 on Friday in the third round, just 24 hours after third seed Maria Sharapova was dumped out by fellow Russian, and world 154, Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-2, 6-4.
"Everyone seems to be out to win these days. Everyone wants to beat a top player," said Williams, the champion in 2002 and 2003.
"Whenever I go out to play everyone wants to win. They seem to bring their A game against me."
Wimbledon women's matches have always divided opinion.
In 2006, 45 of the 64 women’s first-round matches were won in straight sets. In the second round of 32 matches, 19 were won without the need for a decider.
This year, 35 of the 64 opening round ties were taken in straight sets and 16 in the second round.
Amelie Mauresmo, the 2006 champion who was knocked out by Williams in the third round, believes most girls on the tour are fitter and better prepared.
"We can feel it for a while now. It's still improving. All the players are capable of beating the top players," said the 28-year-old Frenchwoman.
"It's something that maybe in the past we wouldn't have seen much, but I would say in the last two to three years it's really starting to be this way.
"It's the training. Girls are preparing better and better and finding new things to work on. I guess we're probably following the men's development in the tennis."
Even Sharapova had to admit that the growing number of threats, like the unheralded Alla Kudryavtseva, had to be treated as serious contenders.
"I've always said there's depth on the tour," said Sharapova.
"Everybody can present a challenge. Everybody has a lot of strength. Everybody is hungry. This girl that beat me, she might not win the tournament, but she beat me, and it probably made her tournament."
However, the path to true stardom isn't easy.
Estonia's Kaia Kanepi and Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro, both shock quarter-finalists at the French Open this month, came back to earth with a bump at Wimbledon.
Kanepi lost in the first round and Suarez Navarro in the second.
