Two years ago, Ana Ivanovic was the face of women's tennis, the darling of the fans, the world No 1 with a multitude of endorsements. The Serbian still retains her charm and legion of fans but the halcyon days of her tennis have been left far behind. Ivanovic, 22, has slipped to a modest No 62 in the WTA rankings, her worst position since February 2005, and she has lost 14 of her 26 matches this year.
At the end of 2009, Ivanovic was ranked No 22 and she has failed to progress beyond the fourth round stage at a grand slam since her French Open conquest of 2008. The last of her eight WTA titles came at Linz in November 2008, and her recent appearances at tournaments have been at the mercy of wild cards from organisers. Her triumph on the clay of Roland Garros seems a distant memory. "Yeah, it [the 2008 French Open win] does seem like a long time away," Ivanovic said after her third first-round exit of the year at San Diego last week.
"I know when you have fun times, it goes fast. Now [the struggle] seems never ending." Ivanovic's problems started almost immediately after her French Open win. She lost to Zheng Jie, the then world No 133, at the 2008 Wimbledon and became the first top-seeded player to lose as early as the second round in the US Open. The victories dried up, draining her confidence and creating doubts. Injuries, coaching changes, alterations to her game exacerbated the slide.
"It has been very tough, because you doubt and you question many things," Ivanovic said. "It's a process, and I'm trying not to reflect too much and be in the moment. It seemed like the harder I worked, the farther it was getting away from me, so I'm trying to relax and not worry about results. "When I need a wild card for a tournament, I'm like, 'How low is my ranking?'. Thinking that I have to play qualifying is hard, but even though my ranking is quite low, I feel I'm playing better than my ranking."
Gradually thought, Ivanovic seems to be getting her confidence back, courtesy her new coaching team that includes the Swiss Heinz Guenthardt, a former coach of Steffi Graf, and Australian fitness trainer Damian Prasad. "I really like the team around me," she said. "They have been really supportive, and that gives you confidence because if they believe in you, hey, maybe you should believe in yourself.
"Sometimes when you don't have confidence, you're not in a good place." @Email:arizvi@thenational.ae
