Petrova says Henin more aggressive in comeback
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) Nadia Petrova has a unique perspective on the recent comebacks of the once-retired Belgian champions Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, having defeated one and lost to the other at this year's Australian Open.
Petrova's run to the quarterfinals included victories over two reigning Grand Slam champions: U.S. Open titlist Clijsters and French Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova.
But she tips her hat to Justine Henin, who defeated her 7-6 (3), 7-5 on Tuesday and has now won 13 of their 15 matches - all but two of them before Henin retired in May 2008.
Returning to the tour this month, seven-time major winner Henin is unseeded and unranked in Melbourne but has already advanced to the semis.
Petrova acknowledged the changes in Henin's style, saying she was much more aggressive.
"She's playing closer to the line, she tries to take time from you," Petrova said. "She really tries to rip the ball. She doesn't stick into long rallies like as she used to, to really run everybody. She really tries to go for the winners."
Petrova said Henin's game was much more varied than that of Clijsters. Petrova crushed Clijsters 6-0, 6-1 in the third round here, the Belgian's worst defeat.
Clijsters, who took two years off to get married and have a baby, returned to tennis last year and won the U.S. Open in her third tournament back.
Petrova had lost all four of her matches against Clijsters but, until last week, hadn't played her since her comeback.
"Justine is a little bit different compared to Kim," Petrova said. "The variety of game she has, that one-handed backhand, the slice, you know, with her you really have to mix it up much more than against Kim. ... You never know what's coming."
The 19th-seeded Russian can see Henin taking the Australian Open title in Melbourne.
"She has a good shot," Petrova said. "She has a really good round in the semifinals. Whoever she's gonna face in the final, I'm sure she has a good shot at it."
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW, AND MORE: Wondering what the Australian Open players do in their down time? Just follow their tweets.
Many players are keeping fans updated on everything from movie choices to match commentaries via Twitter, a social networking site where users type "tweets" of 140 characters or less on their computers or cell phones and are "followed" by friends and fans.
"Looking at Rogers game made me feel a new comer in tennis," No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova tweeted about Federer's three-set win over Lleyton Hewitt on Monday night.
That same night, Andy Murray tweeted a link to a photo of himself in shorts and sitting in a bath full of ice bags, perhaps in preparation for his Tuesday evening match against Rafael Nadal.
While Serena Williams mostly uses her tweets to promote her charity work, other players share opinions or the minutiae of their days.
"Love australia... where else can you watch nfl playoff games with breakfast???" Andy Roddick tweeted on Monday.
Victoria Azarenka told the Twittersphere about her morning walk to buy fruit for breakfast on Australia Day, the national holiday; Caroline Wozniacki tweeted that she dined at Nobu two nights in a row, and later hit the town with American players John Isner and Sam Querrey, whom she called "the twin towers."
And Bob Bryan, doubles champion with his brother Mike, chugged some bottled water while he watched "The Time Traveler's Wife."
The Australian Open has its own Twitter feed and includes links to the player's Twitter pages.
About 58 million people around the world use Twitter.
BRONZE BUSTS FOR THE WOODIES: Australians Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde - the most successful doubles combination in tennis history - say their induction into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame is the greatest honor of their careers.
The pair - nicknamed the Woodies - won 11 Grand Slam titles, 61 ATP doubles titles and gold and silver Olympic medals in their nine years together, starting in 1991 and ending at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, where they took home the silver.
"It's such an incredible honor and probably equal, if not better, than winning the Wimbledons and the Olympics," Woodforde said. "I think it just reflects back about how well you succeeded in the sport."
Bronze busts of the pair were to be unveiled before the night session Tuesday, which is Australia Day, and will be installed in the Garden Square alongside other Australian tennis greats.
They are already in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
Individually, the two had modest singles careers, but it was on court together that they dominated. Woodforde thinks all players should be required to compete on doubles teams, saying it would improve their skills and experience the full game.
"Still kind of rankles us that we were called doubles players," he said. "Tennis is about playing singles and doubles."
Woodforde retired in 2000 and Woodbridge continued to play doubles until 2005. The duo were playing a match later Tuesday against Australian Patrick Rafter and Henri Leconte of France as part of the Legends tournament.
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