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Any day now for Anna
Posted: Friday April 14, 2000 03:12 PM
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. -- Immediately after Anna Kournikova defeated Nicole Pratt 6-0, 7-5 Thursday evening to reach the quarterfinals of the rain-addled Bausch & Lomb Championships, her mother, Alla, and her coach, Eric Van Harpen, made a beeline to the Absolut tent and toasted with a round of shots. If a routine win over a player ranked No. 51 occasions this kind of celebration, well, batten down the hatches when Kournikova finally attains her elusive Holy Grail and wins her first title. Says here that it won't be all that much longer. The myth, which Kournikova herself often takes great measures to perpetuate, is that she is an imposter on the WTA Tour, a toothsome starlet who simply uses the tennis court as a catwalk. In truth, the rankings don't lie: Kournikova is among the 15 best players in the world. Yes, there's still a long staircase up the corridor where the Williamses, Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis reside. But Kournikova is infinitely more talented than, say, Anne Kremer, Asa Carlsson or Sarah Pitkowski, all of whom have won an event within the past year. Kournikova gave fans -- the majority of them hyperventilating men young and old -- a glimpse of her potential Thursday. Playing aggressive tennis leavened with clever drop shots and uncharacteristic patience, she finished a near flawless first set. As Pratt found her range in the second, Kournikova stayed the course and played better on big points. "I didn't hand it to her," says Pratt. "When I had an opportunity, she took it from me." So what gives? Why can't Kournikova put four matches together, win the Bol Ladies Open in Croatia or the (Ned) Flanders Open in Antwerp and be done with it? For one, her profile and level of hubris is such that she plays hardly any lower-tier events. To enter a smaller event would suggest that her lack of titles really does bother her -- and she'd rather break out in zits than admit her confidence is anything other than shatterproof. The response Kournikova utters reflexively when asked about playing a smaller event: "I'm more concerned with my ranking." What's more, Kournikova betrays as much subtlety on the court as she does in public. The kinks in her serve seem to be worked out; now her troubles are off the ground. Too often, she swings for the fences when a simple base hit would suffice. Right now, she simply makes too many unforced errors to beat the top players. "I don't think there's any player who gives points away like Anna," says Van Harpen, who apparently hasn't caught many of Serena Williams's recent matches. Adds Pratt: "Ultimately she gets beaten when she goes for her shots. If you're going to do that, you've really gotta be on your game." Sooner or later, she will be. Volleying aroundRain forced cancellation of the bulk of Thursday's matches. How do players hamstrung by the weather wile away oceans of dead time? Rennae Stubbs took advantage of the free haircuts at the Amelia Island Spa. Some players gathered around a television to watch a tape of Phantom of the Opera. A few tried to squeeze in a workout. Erika de Lone wins the prize for ingenuity: She logged onto E*TRADE and went bargain hunting for tech stocks. ... Richard Williams made only a brief appearance here, because Serena lost her first match to Paola Suarez. Still, he didn't disappoint. His latest, er, venture? Seems he's been offered $250,000 a night to sing in a Bahamas casino. ... Jelena Dokic, who turned 17 Wednesday, won two straight matches for the time since Wimbledon. Sports Illustrated staff writer Jon Wertheim covers the tennis beat and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Be sure to read his Tennis Hot List and Tennis Mailbag every Monday.
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