It's funny, you look at all the headlines (and there really are only a few) chronicling Elena Dementieva's win over Nadia Petrova to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals and they all seem to have the words "demons" and "face" in them.
Sure enough, Dementieva was up 6-1, 5-1 and then...two match points were blown...and before you know it she had lost the second tie-break....and she was involved in a third set fight for the match that had, moments before, been hers for the taking.
Thankfully, she finally won the match and did, in candor unusual for athletes, admit to nerves afterwards.
I like Dementieva, I really do. She hasn't fallen prey to the same fashion-magazine posturing as her peers (ahem, Maria Sharapova), she has a solid, powerful ground game, and despite having the worst serve in the women's game (by far), she continues to battle on.
She lost in the French Open this year while leading Dinara "Marat's Little Sister" Safina by a set and 5-2. Yet she continued to battle.
She has seen her ranking drop over the last couple of years, but she continued to battle.
And despite that horrendous serve, she continues to battle.
I remember her being very gracious in defeat at the US Open a few years ago, and being extremely sensitive to the recent tragedy that had occured in the school in Beslan (something her Russian opponent Svetlana Kuznetsova neglected to even touch upon, instead completely focusing on her own inconsequential victory). Even in the aftermath of bitter loss she was wise enough to realize that there were things much bigger than her at play in the world.
She may never win a Grand Slam, but you can bet that she will always keep battling on, as gracious as ever.
LINKS
Guardian Story: Dementieva Beats Petrova
1 comment:
Couldn't agree more!
My alltime favorite tennisplayer!
If's a pleasure to watch her play and see her win, but even when she looses, she's stil adorable and positive!
Now that she has more succes with her better(by far!) serving, she can be the new number 1 in womentennis!
She has all the tools to be that number one!
Maybe she must practice a little bit more on how to play serve and volley , and use that on fast courts,now that her serve has improved that much.
But I'm very hopefull!
And if not, I hope se will be on the tour for many more years!
Gr:Ton
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