Fall to the ground, and rise sky high - Page 3

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Apr 19, 2000

Secondly, many of the lower ranked players on the tour are not accustomed to reading Monica's game, dealing with her acute angles, her lefty serve and her powerful groundstrokes. The top players seem to be able to do this time and time again. Someone like Martina Hingis, who can read the game so well, can anticipate Monica's moves early and decide on a strategy of play with good success. Someone like Lindsay Davenport, who thrives against hard-hitters, can deal with Monica's pace and use it against her to dictate the pace of play at the back of the court.

Thirdly, it seems to not only be a physical nor a strategic battle on the court, but also a psychological battle against the top players. Monica is aware that Davenport, Hingis, and even the Williams sisters, are the strongest players on tour and it often seems the battle has been won long before the match has even started. Definitely not tanking, but there is a possibility Monica could be psyched out when she plays a top player. If someone is to falter during an important point, it is usually Monica who takes charge against a lower ranked player, but against a top player, she tends to back off and throw in some unforced errors.

If anyone was to overcome these barriers though, it would be Monica. Her determination and intensity have never been in question. Neither are her amazing fighting qualities. Now that she has gained her confidence and her match toughness back, she is ready to conquer the main events the way she had longed to for quite some time. New surface, different expectations. Monica Seles's claycourt record speaks for itself, with three French Open crowns to her credit and 12 career claycourt titles to boot. Compare to 6 career claycourt titles for Davenport and 5 for Hingis - and no French Open crowns between them.

New surface, newfound confidence against these top players. Against Davenport on clay, Monica would in all seriousness be the favourite to win. Clay is a surface on which Davenport struggles. Her power game is muted on these courts and she is reduced to finding other ways to win matches - not her style. More importantly, Davenport has not got the sureness of footing on clay as she does on hardcourt and her lack of mobility is played up even further on the dirt. Hingis would be an entirely different matter altogether, although if we assess the Hingis/Seles rivalry on clay, their head-to-head is a lot closer than what it is on hardcourts. In three career claycourt encounters, Hingis leads 2-1. However, both of Hingis's wins were incredibly close three setters in which Seles took the first set. Of course, Seles's win over Hingis on clay occurred at the 98 French Open semi finals when she thrashed Martina 6-3 6-2.

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