June 29, 2005
Wimbledon Semifinal Profile: Amelie Mauresmo
"I'm much more comfortable on the court, much more in my rhythm, and really
enjoying the game."
WIMBLEDON, England - Until now, the pressures that come along with big
matches at Grand Slams have always gotten in the way of Amelie Mauresmo
realizing her full potential.
The Frenchwoman made her first major breakthrough back in 1999 at the
Australian Open. Unseeded, she came back from the brink of defeat in her
opening match against American Corina Morariu, surprised No.8 seed Patty
Schnyder in three sets in the second round, then stormed through three more
rounds in straight sets en route to the semifinals, where she came back from
a 4-2 deficit in the third set to defeat world No.1 Lindsay Davenport 46 75
75. Although she lost to second seed Martina Hingis in a lopsided final,
Mauresmo certainly announced her presence on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour with
that run. However, despite winning 17 titles since, including six at Tier I
events, the 25-year-old has not reached another Grand Slam final in the
six-and-a-half years since her run at Melbourne, finishing in the
quarterfinals eight times at major events, and in the semifinals three times,
including in her last two trips here at the All-England Club.
Things seem to have changed recently, as Mauresmo openly discusses that she
is less mindful of external influences and pressures and more focussed on her
own abilities and opportunities on the tennis court.
"That's fine with me if people start to think about me," she said about being
looked at as a threat this year at Wimbledon. "I know what my game is. I know
what my weapons are on these courts.
"It's good if the focus is not on me, if the attention and the expectations
are on other players... I just do it my way. I know I'm playing good on this
surface, and I'm looking forward for the next one."
Mauresmo first reached the semifinals at the All-England Club in 2002 as the
No.9 seed, upsetting world No.3 Jennifer Capriati in the quarterfinals that
year before losing in straight sets to eventual champion Serena Williams.
After withdrawing from the event in 2003 with a right rib muscle injury, she
made her return to the event last year, squandering a point for a seemingly
insurmountable 4-1 second-set lead in a crushing 67(4) 75 64 semifinal loss
to Serena Williams, who was the two-time defending champion at the time.
"I think last year, even though I played a great match in the semifinal, I
still think I had probably only two or three points, some occasions I didn't
take like hundred percent," said Mauresmo on her 2004 result. "I think that
probably made the difference at the end of the day."
This year, Mauresmo has torn up the field to reach the final four. The No.3
seed has lost a total of just 22 games en route to the semifinals, the lowest
number of games lost among all four remaining contenders, with straight-sets
wins over 133rd-ranked lucky loser Melinda Czink, 113rd-ranked Maria Sanchez
Lorenzo, 159th-ranked Shenay Perry, No.13 seed Elena Likhovtseva and most
recently No.9 seed Anastasia Myskina in the quarterfinals. She is also the
only remaining player to have an average match time of less than an hour
through her first five rounds.
Mauresmo also leads the final four field in several tournament statistics.
The Frenchwoman has been winning an average of 80% of the points on her first
serve, over half of the points while she has been receiving serve, and has
also been impressive in coming to the net, venturing into the forecourt an
incredible 124 times, winning on nearly 80% of the points that followed. She
has also balanced out 69 unforced errors with 113 winners, showing that she
is playing extremely clean, aggressive tennis.
"I think when I'm able to really play my game, it's very effective, whoever
the player is on the other side of the net," she said. "Sometimes when you
have different opportunities, you ask yourself sometimes too many questions.
Sometimes it's not so good. But I still enjoy the fact that I can play both,
you know, coming in or staying back."
On Thursday, Mauresmo will face an old rival in Davenport, who leads their
career head-to-head 8-3. After winning their first two encounters, including
an early round upset at Berlin in 1998 and the aforementioned Australian Open
encounter, Mauresmo has lost eight of her last nine matches against the
American, including the last five straight without even claiming a set.
"When she's on her rhythm, she's tough to beat, especially on fast courts and
on hard courts or even grass," said Mauresmo on Davenport. "I watched a
little bit of her match against Kim, and she looked pretty impressive from
the baseline. It's going to be a tough one. As the tournament is going, it's
tougher and tougher to win. But it's a great challenge and we'll see how it
goes."
Davenport is not taking the match lightly, and has taken note of the
different side of Mauresmo that has come forward on the tennis court in
recent months.
"I do believe in her, and I do believe that she is good enough and strong
enough to one day come through these situations... I hope it's not Thursday,"
said the American jokingly. "We'll see what happens if it gets close. I'm
certainly going to do my best and keep trying and hanging in there even if
I'm down against her. I think she's got a lot of game, and most importantly
I'm going to worry about that.
"I will say she does seem a little bit more relaxed this year than I have
seen her."
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