The rampant, the loud and the skinny
One of the sillier aspects of the often illogical tennis calendar is the short turnaround between Roland Garros and Wimbledon. With only two weeks in between these two prestigious tournaments, the players have little time to adjust from the slowest of playing conditions to the fastest. While the run-up to Wimbledon has been short, there have been plenty of interesting developments, and the stage is set for plenty of intrigue once the action begins on the hallowed lawns of SW 19, particularly in the circu
s known as the women?s tour.
Rampant Sprem waltzes through Vienna
The Vienna Grand Prix was not, in fact, a grass court tune-up, but rather a bizarre holdover from the clay court season. The story there was the continued rise toward the top ranks of 18 year old Karolina Sprem. The young Croatian reached the final, where she gave veteran Argentine ace Paola Suarez a run for her money before succumbing, 7-6 2-6 6-4.
This meant that Sprem reached the finals of the only two WTA main draws in which she has competed this season, having also turned the trick in Strasbourg just before the French Open. In both tournaments, she came out of qualifying.
Quite an amazing feat, that.
Clearly the outstanding newcomer in the first half of the season, the youngster has authored a meteoric ascension in the pro ranks. Sprem began the year with a ranking of 273, playing the lowest level pro tournaments, the ITF $10K tourneys. Karolina went on a tear, winning 29 consecutive matches and four ITF tournaments before her run was stopped by Rita Kuti in qualifying at the WTA Casablanca tournament. She now stands at 71st, a rise of 202 spots in under six months. Her conqueror in Vienna, Suárez, h
ad high praise for the teenager?s game. "I think she is going to be a great player. She is very strong mentally, really fast on the court and hits winners from both sides. She's really sweet too, so that's nice."
It will be interesting to see how Sprem preforms at Wimbledon, where she will play Iveta Benesova in the opening round. The Croatian sensation, who is coached by former Croatian Davis Cupper Sasa Hirszon,
is unfamiliar with grass court tennis. ?I never played on grass before and there are no grass courts at home,? said Sprem in Vienna. ?Maybe I'll put a net on a soccer field."
Cacophonous Sharapova makes her mark
Another youngster to watch -- and hear! -- in SW 19 during the upcoming fortnight is 16 year old Russian Maria Sharapova. During her surprise run to the Birmingham semifinal last week she had fans wishing they had ear plugs, as she accompanied her baseline drives with her savage shrieks that are probably the loudest on tour. So loud, in fact, that she was given a warning by the tournament referee after a complaint from María Vento-Kabchi. And Vento-Kabchi was playing on another court! Sharapova?s oppone
nt that day was Nathalie Dechy, who had earlier complained about the shrieking Russian, but the umpire remained impassive. ?A buildup of wax in the ears,? explained the acerbic Frenchwoman.
The blonde Russian has been marketed for her looks as well as her tennis ever since she burst on the scene as a talented junior, and at her tender age is already a veteran of modeling assignments. Sound familiar? As all of the many ?next Kournikovas? do, she claimed that her priority is tennis: "The court is where it matters," Maria told the media in Birmingham.
It is evident that the always active British tabloids have earmarked Sharapova as useful first-week fodder. The Daily Telegraph reported that in Birmingham, one photographer was expelled for taking ?inappropriate pictures? of the teenager. We expect that during Sharapova?s first round Wimbledon match against another adolescent blonde being marketed for her attractiveness, Ashley Harkleroad, the photographers might outnumber the spectators.
?Hauntuchova? on the skids
A further source of tabloid attention will be another player-model, 9th seed Daniela Hantuchova. Hantuchova has always been thin, but we noticed in Indian Wells this year that the had become ridiculously skinny. Judging from the photographs taken in England she has become even more so, prompting fears that the skeletal Slovak may be anorexic. The interested party tried to allay these fears in Eastbourne this week. ?It's just that I was working really hard before this season because I wanted to be as pre
pared as possible. I just burned more calories than I got in my body,? claimed Daniela.
The weight loss certainly appears to have hurt her game. Hantuchova has appeared to put up little resistance in some of her matches this year, and since April has registered lopsided losses to Conchita Martínez, Ashley Harkleroad, Fabiola Zuluaga and Kim Clijsters. Again, our friends in the British press were ready to pounce on the story. ?The deep-set eyes suggested a new nickname, Hauntuchova,? wrote the Daily Mail.
It appears that despite the withdrawal of Anna Kournikova, the British media will not be bored at Wimbledon this year.