Radwanska ready to make her mark

Cinek

Artykuł ukazał się na stronie głównej Australian Open

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Thursday 15 January 2009
By Eleanor Preston

Should Agnieszka Radwanska win this year’s Australian Open title, then the correct spelling of her first name should present something of a challenge to the engraver. It would also be a moment to savour for everyone in her native Poland, which has never before produced a female grand slam champion. Until this time last year, the Eastern European nation had never even had a quarterfinalist at a major tournament, but all that changed at the Australian Open. Radwanska was eventually beaten by Daniela Hantuchova in the last eight, but 12 months on she returns to Melbourne Park fitter, wiser and better prepared to make history by going a few rounds better.

Radwanska might not command the same sort of headlines as the Williams sisters or the Serbian duo of Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic, arguably the four favourites to take the title, but the 19-year-old from Krakow has been making steady progress up the Sony Ericsson WTA Rankings since emerging from a stellar junior career, and is now an established member of the world’s top 10. Radwanska took her tally of tour titles up to four last year with victories in Pattaya City, Istanbul and Eastbourne to add to the debut trophy she won in Stockholm the previous season. Perhaps more significantly, she also followed up her Australian Open quarterfinal with a fourth round showing at the French Open – where she lost to Jankovic – and another last eight performance at Wimbledon, where she was eventually beaten by Serena Williams. It’s a chain of results which suggests that something bigger is just around the corner.

Radwanska’s elevation to the world’s elite is not surprising given that she won both the French Open and Wimbledon at junior level and, together with her younger sister Urszula, brought Poland the Junior Fed Cup title in 2005. The pair has been nicknamed the “Polish Williams sisters”. Like their American namesakes, they boast contrasting characters despite travelling together and showing themselves to be conspiratorially close. Urszula, the younger by just nine months, is a more bubbly and gregarious character, though “Aga”, as she is known to her friends, has grown in confidence as she has become more established and that, together with her improved English, has ensured an increasing profile. On court, she has seldom looked anything other than self-assured, something she proved by breezing into the 2007 US Open and promptly bundling the then world No.2 Maria Sharapova out of the tournament in the third round. She put in a similarly fearless performance to dispatch second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova from Australian Open 2008.

Radwanska’s tennis, which owes much to the coaching influence of her father Robert Radwanski, has a powerful sting to it, but she has a knack of keeping the error count low even when she is belting the ball back at opponents. That steady but penetrating game, coupled with a calmness and sense of purpose which belie her years, makes Radwanska one of the most dangerous young players currently in the women’s game.

This seems to be a time of transition for women’s tennis, which has been shorn in recent years of formerly strong favourites like Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters (both retired) and the currently injured superstar Sharapova. Ivanovic’s win at last year’s French Open suggested that she was ready to fill the vacuum by dominating the women’s game, but she has yet to build on that success. Jankovic’s elevation to No.1, built on the back of a run to last year’s US Open final, must make her the nominal favourite, but she has yet to win a grand slam title and, until she does, she cannot be regarded as a certainty for any major trophy. There is no denying the ever-present threat posed by the Williams sisters – Venus earned her fifth Wimbledon title while Serena beat Jankovic to take the honours at Flushing Meadows last year – but neither is the most predictable of performers. Ready to challenge those big names for the sport’s highest honours is a crop of relatively new young players, dripping with ambition and talent. Radwanska is the leader of that pack. That engraver might just want to practice his or her spelling ...

Five reasons why Radwanska might win Australian Open 2009:

* Fearlessness – Radwanska is not afraid to kill a few giants. She elbowed Maria Sharapova from the 2007 US Open and took second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova out of last year’s Australian Open

* Consistency – Radwanska has a solid baseline game that can absorb plenty of whatever her opponents give her until they succumb to frustration

* Opportunity – With a changing order in the women’s game, this draw is arguably more open than ever before, meaning Radwanska could pounce

* Form – At last year’s Australian Open, Radwanska became the first Polish player to reach a grand slam quarterfinal, thus proving that she loves the surface

* Readiness – After winning four titles last year and making the last eight in Melbourne and again at Wimbledon, Radwanska might just be ready to make an even bigger impact

Five reasons why she might not:

* The competition – Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and both Williams sisters are all going to be tough to beat. Compared to them, Radwanska is an outsider

* Belief – Radwanska has never been past the last eight of a grand slam before. Is she mentally ready to go further?

* Pressure – Poland has never had a female grand slam champion in singles, and that knowledge can weigh heavy on a young woman’s mind

* Fitness – Winning seven matches in two weeks is test for any young tennis player’s body. Can Radwanska’s withstand a grand slam run?

* Heat – Krakow, Radwanska’s home town, isn’t exactly known for its blisteringly hot days. If the 2009 Australian Open is packing heat, then she might just wilt in it.