HER accuracy every bit as destructive as the umbrella tips so beloved, allegedly, of her nation’s secret service, Tszvetana Pironkova breathed life into the crushed spirit of Bulgarian tennis and left Venus Williams to curse a day when all the grand-slam titles in the world are no defence if you cannot put the ball where you once guaranteed it would land.
These used to be the occasions in women’s championship tennis when the big guns walked on to court, barely perspired and strutted away for a date with the manicurist. Pironkova, an 18-year-old playing without a hint of inhibition, stayed with Williams long enough to create doubts in her mind that the five-times grand-slam champion never dispersed. Each time Williams raised the bar, the teenager matched her. Then raised it herself.
A week ago, Bulgaria was plunged into a state of disbelief when Sesil Karatantcheva, their 16-year-old darling and No 41 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, was suspended for two years for testing positive for nandrolone, a banned substance, after losing her French Open quarter-final to Elena Likhovtseva, of Russia, and again on July 5, at an out-of-competition test. She is considering an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
This being Melbourne, it does not take long for the clouds to disperse. Pironkova’s 2-6, 6-0, 9-7 victory — Williams won the Wimbledon final last July, remember, 9-7 in the third set — raised more questions about the levels of the American’s devotion, a debate that she was very keen to cut short afterwards.
“I don’t care if you believe or anyone else believes in here because it’s me,” Williams said. “So believe what you want to. There’s always going to be naysayers. You may be one of them,” she added, glaring at the journalist who had placed his head above the parapet. “Guess what, I don’t care.”
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It is not as if people really think that Williams does not care, but it is five years — the quarter-finals of the French Open against Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, to be precise — since she lost a love set to anyone and her response was to win Wimbledon and the US Open back to back. Williams was right to plug the mantra of the Australian Open arriving too soon in the season for most people to have an inkling how they might perform and that, come March, all is likely to be rosy in the garden for her.
So long as players such as Pironkova do not start getting into this kind of habit. And there is no reason to doubt that this right-hander, ranked No 94 in the world, should not maintain her progress, for if her debut in a grand-slam event, on a court as formidable as the Vodafone Arena, is evidence of her quality, it is immense.
Yes, Williams pointed to 65 unforced errors, which is a truly shocking return — “I just kept telling myself to stop missing,” she said, plaintively.Pironkova, on the other hand, was telling herself at the end of the first set: “OK, you are here on a big court, you need to show some tennis to the audience. Just relax and play your game.”
The best of it tore Williams apart. “I always loved her game, but I am a professional player and so I should not think about her being my idol before,” the Bulgarian said. For a while, it seemed as though Serena Williams might join her sister, but she steadied the ship in the third set against Li Na, the impressive Chinese, winning 6-3, 6-7, 6-2.
The Australians were enthused to welcome Jelena Dokic back to the fold yesterday on the court named for the great heroine of the sport here, Margaret Court. Four years on from Dokic’s departure from the country, fuelled by her father Damir’s contempt for the establishment, Dokic was back, relatively alone and in search of sustenance.
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Virginie Razzano, the world No 54 from France, would have been expected to defeat the No 370, but Dokic, entering to a warm ovation, dug herself out of some tricky spots and was within one forehand of reaching the second round.
Unfortunately, like many others, it was called out, Razzano recovered and went on to defeat her fellow 22-year-old 3-6, 7-6, 6-1.
At one stage, a voice yelled out: “Jelena, gi’ yersel a shake.” The Andy Murray fan club had landed a day ahead of time.