Ivanovic says she has more to offer

By the public’s standard, women’s No.5 seed Ana Ivanovic is expected to feature well into during the second week of Australian Open 2009.

But by her own admission, the Serb will be content as long as she hits the ball well and is honest with herself and how she plays, no matter the result.

“I’m happy no matter what happens,” Ivanovic said. “I just want to have that feeling that I gave 100 per cent.

“You want to perform the best you can every match. But it only happens a few times a year that you play perfect tennis, and other days you have to work yourself and ... be mentally stronger than other players.”

The 22-year-old Serbian defeated German Julia Goerges 7-5 6-3 on Hisense Arena in 102 minutes, and admits that not having played or seen any vision of her opponent was more of a hindrance than help.

“In the beginning, I took some time to adjust to the rhythm ... to slowly get into the match because I’ve never played against her – actually never seen her play,” the 2008 French Open winner said.

“She was hitting the ball very well and it took me some time to adjust in the beginning, but I’m very happy that I took the opportunities that I had.

“It was a very, very close first set. In the second set, it was lots of games with deuce and advantage, but very happy to keep my composure in important moments.”

Even though she claimed victory on day one, Ivanovic said that there still are some aspects she needs to work on.

“Today I wasn’t doing so much stepping [into the court] as I probably would like to,” the Serbian said. “That’s something I worked on in the off-season.

“I feel I need some more match play in front of big crowds. That’s something that has been missing [in the] last couple of months. I’m just happy to be through and have things to work on.”

The former world No.1 said that even though there are players such as defending champion Maria Sharapova, Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justin Henin and American Lindsay Davenport missing from this year’s tournament, it is still a star-studded women’s draw. She also believes that Australian Open 2009 could be her year to go one better and claim the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy.

“They were definitely great players. Maria was really unfortunate not to perform. But I still think there are lots of good players put there this year, a lot of tough opponents.”

"I think this might be the two weeks,” Ivanovic said.