The tennis world is laced with superstition. Rafael Nadal is meticulous in the way he arranges his water bottles courtside.
While she’s winning, Jelena Dokic wears the same outfit (after washing it) in every match she plays. And Ana Ivanovic won’t step on court lines in case it brings her bad luck.
Stepping out onto court for today’s women’s singles final, second seed Serena Williams has good reason to feel superstitious.
For starters, it’s 2009 - and Serena knows she has won this title here every odd-numbered year since 2003.
Then there’s the fact that, apart from against sister Venus, the 27-year-old has only ever lost one Grand Slam title match – to Australian Open absentee Maria Sharapova.
Finally, every year Serena has won the title, she’s had to come back from match points down or had an opponent serve for the match, as was the case in her quarterfinal against the non-superstitious Svetlana Kuznetsova.
There’s no denying that, heading into the 82nd staging of the women’s final, cosmic forces appear to be aligned in Serena’s favour.
Safina, on the other hand, doesn’t subscribe to superstition. “I only worry about the match on the court and try not to think about anything else,” says the rational 22-year-old.
Concentrating on the play-by-play has seen the No.3 drop just one match so far this season – the final in Sydney against Elena Dementieva.
She is coming off her best season having reached her first Grand Slam final in Paris, won four WTA Tour titles and achieved a career-high world ranking of No.2 (in October 2008).
She has withstood significant pressure from some in-form players this fortnight including No.7 seed Vera Zvonareva, Aussie bolter Jelena Dokic and No.15 seed Alize Cornet.
The No.3 seed says she’s ready to shrug off the Serena Williams hoodoo that saw her take just five games off the American in their 2008 US Open semifinal.
“When I got there, I was just not ready to play,” says Safina. “Now it’s different. It’s beginning of the season. It’s another tournament. I’m just looking forward for my next challenge.”
Winning the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy today will see either woman claim the world No.1 spot – today’s glittering bonus prize.
Williams has had some practice, having spent 61 non-consecutive weeks of her career there. If Safina wins, she will be the 19th player in history, the second Russian (after Sharapova) and one half of the first brother/sister duo to hold the No.1 ranking at some point.
Williams hasn’t lost to Safina in three Grand Slam meetings. She’s actually only lost twice to the Russian in seven career meetings – one of those losses a walkover in the 2005 Paris Indoors quarterfinals.
While she acknowledges that she’s superstitious, using the same shower and the same locker at Melbourne Park, Serena isn’t about to rely on hokum to get her through today’s battle.
“Is there anything to the odd theory?” she asks rhetorically.
“No. One year I wasn’t able to come back and defend my title. One year I went crazy. A couple years I went completely crazy. So hopefully I’ll be able to stay focused this year.”
No comments posted
