Ana Ivanovic is so superstitious when it comes to tennis that she refuses to walk on the lines of the courts at Roland Garros. Two years on since her French Open final victory over Dinara Safina, however, and it could be comfortably deemed more appropriate for the Serbian to step on every line possible. Twice.
For surely, the 22-year-old must do something - anything at all - to break the dreadful and disastrous run of defeats she has endured throughout the past two years?
Yesterday's dismal, error-ridden display against Russia's Alisa Kleybanova in the second round saw her well beaten 6-3, 6-0, but the most saddening statistic was that in the second set Ivanovic had break points on every one of her opponent's service games. She failed to take advantage; the belief having evidently been drained from her with more force than the rain which lashed against Court One for four-and-a-half hours beforehand.
There were tears when the then-20-year-old lifted the French Open trophy - her first and thus far only major title - and few would be surprised if Ivanovic was weeping once more in Paris last night. Her fall from grace has been cataclysmic. Following her victory at Roland Garros, much was expected of her as she approached Wimbledon the following month as the world's top-ranked player.
The action at the All-England Club, though, did not unfurl as expected. The No 1 seed toiled for three hours and 24 minutes to progress past Nathalie Dechy, the French veteran, in the first round before slumping 6-1, 6-4 to Zheng Jie, the Chinese wildcard. It was the shock of the tournament and Ivanovic has never fully recovered.
She has managed just two finals in two years - first in Linz where she beat Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-1 and then the following year at Indian Wells where she lost to the same opponent 7-6 (5), 6-2.
In grand slams, she has failed to progress past the fourth round since her victory in Paris. When you consider in the four majors directly preceding her triumph she had managed two finals (the French and the Australian) and a semi-final (Wimbledon) the only logical explanation for a young, talented woman to fail so drastically must be psychological.
And so when Ivanovic appeared at Roland Garros earlier this week exuding confidence and billing the iconic venue as the perfect location for a revival of some long-awaited joie de vivre, it was not unnerving to believe her. She had begun her career playing on clay courts and has a fond relationship with the French tournament that dates back to 2005 when, aged just 17, she beat Amelie Mauresmo, the home favourite, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
But it was never going to be easy. In 2008, she was touted as the future of women's tennis and a natural heir to the injured Maria Sharapova; this week her quest for success was made all the more difficult by the fact that, now ranked a lowly No 42 in the world, she arrived unseeded.
And yesterday, much like last year when she slumped to Victoria Azarenka in the round of 16, for all her pre-game poise, she failed to turn up. Her error-strewn serve - including a pair of double faults in the crucial sixth game of the first set - and her battling instincts, which once served her so well, were as invisible as Venus Williams's on-court underwear.
It is unlikely Ana Ivanovic will disappear from the limelight, but the superstitious Serbian needs to stop fluffing her lines and not worry about stepping on them.
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Klipit
Started: 2022
Founders: Venkat Reddy, Mohammed Al Bulooki, Bilal Merchant, Asif Ahmed, Ovais Merchant
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Digital receipts, finance, blockchain
Funding: $4 million
Investors: Privately/self-funded
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Haltia.ai
Started: 2023
Co-founders: Arto Bendiken and Talal Thabet
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: AI
Number of employees: 41
Funding: About $1.7 million
Investors: Self, family and friends
Diriyah project at a glance
- Diriyah’s 1.9km King Salman Boulevard, a Parisian Champs-Elysees-inspired avenue, is scheduled for completion in 2028
- The Royal Diriyah Opera House is expected to be completed in four years
- Diriyah’s first of 42 hotels, the Bab Samhan hotel, will open in the first quarter of 2024
- On completion in 2030, the Diriyah project is forecast to accommodate more than 100,000 people
- The $63.2 billion Diriyah project will contribute $7.2 billion to the kingdom’s GDP
- It will create more than 178,000 jobs and aims to attract more than 50 million visits a year
- About 2,000 people work for the Diriyah Company, with more than 86 per cent being Saudi citizens
MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
The Specs
Engine: 1.6-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 118hp
Torque: 149Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
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Specs: 2024 McLaren Artura Spider
Engine: 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 and electric motor
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Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
0-100km/h: 3.0sec
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TECH SPECS: APPLE IPHONE 14 PLUS
Display: 6.1" Super Retina XDR OLED, 2778 x 1284, 458ppi, HDR, True Tone, P3, 1200 nits
Processor: A15 Bionic, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Memory: 6GB
Capacity: 128/256/512GB
Platform: iOS 16
Main camera: Dual 12MP main (f/1.5) + 12MP ultra-wide (f/2.4); 2x optical, 5x digital; Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 4, Portrait Lighting
Main camera video: 4K @ 24/25/3060fps, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps, HD @ 30fps; HD slo-mo @ 120/240fps; night, time lapse, cinematic, action modes; Dolby Vision, 4K HDR
Front camera: 12MP TrueDepth (f/1.9), Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 4; Animoji, Memoji; Portrait Lighting
Front camera video: 4K @ 24/25/3060fps, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps, HD slo-mo @ 120fps; night, time lapse, cinematic, action modes; Dolby Vision, 4K HDR
Battery: 4323 mAh, up to 26h video, 20h streaming video, 100h audio; fast charge to 50% in 30m; MagSafe, Qi wireless charging
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC (Apple Pay)
Biometrics: Face ID
I/O: Lightning
Cards: Dual eSIM / eSIM + SIM (US models use eSIMs only)
Colours: Blue, midnight, purple, starlight, Product Red
In the box: iPhone 14, USB-C-to-Lightning cable, one Apple sticker
Price: Dh3,799 / Dh4,199 / Dh5,049
The specs
Engine: 2-litre 4-cylinder and 3.6-litre 6-cylinder
Power: 220 and 280 horsepower
Torque: 350 and 360Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh136,521 + VAT and Dh166,464 + VAT
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
Race card
6.30pm: Handicap (TB) $68,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
7.05pm: Meydan Cup – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (Turf) 2,810m
7.40pm: UAE 2000 Guineas – Group 3 (TB) $125,000 (D) 1,600m
8.15pm: Firebreak Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (D) 1,600m
9.50pm: Meydan Classic – Conditions (TB) $$50,000 (T) 1,400m
9.25pm: Dubai Sprint – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,200m
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside
TWISTERS
Director:+Lee+Isaac+Chung
Starring:+Glen+Powell,+Daisy+Edgar-Jones,+Anthony+Ramos
Rating:+2.5/5
TO CATCH A KILLER
Director: Damian Szifron
Stars: Shailene Woodley, Ben Mendelsohn, Ralph Ineson
Rating: 2/5
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if you go
The flights
Etihad, Emirates and Singapore Airlines fly direct from the UAE to Singapore from Dh2,265 return including taxes. The flight takes about 7 hours.
The hotel
Rooms at the M Social Singapore cost from SG $179 (Dh488) per night including taxes.
The tour
Makan Makan Walking group tours costs from SG $90 (Dh245) per person for about three hours. Tailor-made tours can be arranged. For details go to www.woknstroll.com.sg