Saturday Postcard: All in a Day

Coverage

2010

BNP Paribas Open

Sunday, 14 March 2010 08:56

Saturday Postcard: All in a Day

Written by Danielle Lescure

Photos: Kirk Stenvall, Danielle Lescure

Juan Carlos Ferrero interview after second round win The life of a tennis player is one that is forever in flux. Whether it’s a veteran or a new kid on the block, the highs and lows of a career in the sport leave no one untouched. For fans and athletes alike, this is what makes the sport endlessly fascinating and enormously frustrating. And it can all change at the drop of a hat.

Just ask Svetlana Kuznetsova. She entered this year’s tournament as the No. 1 seed but her shocking three-set, second round loss to Carla Suarez Navarro today had her tossing her racquet in anger. “I feel great. I do practice, play unbelievable and then get to the match and I don’t do much,” she explained afterward.

“I’m, like, ‘okay, I play tennis for, like, seventeen years and I still cannot put this little ball in this huge court.’ It’s frustrating.” Expectations run high even for those youngsters who know they’re at the beginning of a long learning curve. After an exciting first round win over Taylor Dent, seventeen-year-old Ryan Harrison performed quite capably in his match against former world No. 3, Ivan Ljubicic. Despite being outgunned by an opponent years ahead of him in experience, the American refused to be intimidated and appeared able to shake off the errors in-between points. However, his outbursts of exasperation also suggested an internal battle, where his belief belied his ability. Or, as Kuznetsova put it, “I feel like I’m fighting against myself. This is what I don’t like.”

Ryan Harrison in his second round match

Ryan Harrison put in full effort but still lost to Ivan Ljubicic

No one understands those peaks and valleys better than the 2002 French Open champion, Juan Carlos Ferrero. Having once soared to the very top of the game, by spring of 2009 the Spaniard had spiraled down to his lowest ranking in ten years, at No. 115. Ferrero has since silenced the critics boosting his ranking up to No. 22 and tucking two titles under his belt in the last two months. “I feel a little bit different mentally,” he explained. “I think I’m stronger than maybe three or four years ago. It’s one of the key [things] I changed so I want to keep following with that.” Now 30 years old, the man dubbed “The Mosquito” has high hopes for 2010. His goal is to crack the Top 10 again.

In tennis, anything can happen.

More photos from this weekend at the BNP Paribas Open