Ana Ivanovic continued her Serbian Slide in Tokyo today.
The French Open champ, who brought a new Yonex stick and purse to help her faltering game, struggled with her rhythm and was dumped out of the Pan Pacific by Nadia Petrova 6-1, 1-6, 6-2. Good for Nads, but after such a dominant second set how did Ana end up losing such a winnable match?
Her website told the tale of the third set saying,
Predictably, Petrova proceeded to take a bathroom break immediately before the deciding set. Any momentum that Ana had at that time evaporated thanks to her opponent's questionable sportsmanship, although the Russian did not act outside the rules.Whoa - "predictably"..."questionable sportsmanship"? Did they just call Nads out?? I'm thinking so.
When she returned to the court after a five-minute delay, she broke Ana in the opening game and continued to pressurise the youngster. Eventually Ana succumbed after an hour and 41 minutes.
I've never really seen a baller's site be so honest about another baller's supposed sketchy behavior but I'm loving it. Kudos to you Team Ana!
UPDATED: Well, well. Good news travel fast. Apparently Team Ana didn't mean to be so honest in their review of what happened in the match because the story has been changed on the Serb's website.
Here's how it reads now:
Petrova proceeded to take a bathroom break immediately before the deciding set. Any momentum that Ana had at that time evaporated; when she returned to the court after a five-minute delay, the Russian broke Ana in the opening game and continued to pressurise the youngster. Eventually Ana succumbed after an hour and 41 minutes.WTF?! What's with this watered-down crap??! It's too late guys - it's all out there. But you know what? It's worse when you backtrack - boo to you Team Ana.
(image via Getty)
It's a good thing you caught this early Rich because they removed that part on the site.
ReplyDeletethey did????
ReplyDeletethanks cristina. team ana sucks - say what you mean!
ReplyDeleteThat is most unfortunate about her loss. She needs to seriously regroup and get it together. I take it as a bad sign that she's already said she's looking forward to her extra week off...at the END of next season!
ReplyDeleteExtra unfortunate for them to water down their site. If you feel it, say it. Geez.
She lost because her opponent took a bathroom break and broke her momentum? That sounds like a rookie scrub. I'd understand if it was 4 all in the 3rd set and she took a time out but Ana had the entire set to go and she couldn't do it. She needs to get some fight in her. Start getting emotional like Roger did at the US Open.
ReplyDelete-Lisa
I gave up on Ana when she said the pressure of being #1 (for the first time) was too much for her. Puh-leez. Did she become a tennis player to win, or just to have fun and meet people?
ReplyDeleteAna, if you can't stand the heat, get outta the kitchen (and into a shrink's office.)
careful with your headline it implys those are Ana's words when they werent.
ReplyDeletegood catch anon - thx! forgot "site" in the headline.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found most telling was the "continued to pressurise the youngster" part--which I guess the site stands by since they left it in both versions. YOUNGSTER??? She is an adult earning a living for herself (and God knows how many hangers-on), for crying out loud! Don't be playing the "I'm just a little girl" card, chica! She needs to put on her big girl panties and win or lose on her own merits. I swear, she is reallllly hard to like....
ReplyDeleteyeah pretty hard to like someone who contributes so much time to charity and she herself never says anything wrong about her opponents even in defeat, unlike alot of the other players.
ReplyDeleteOh my, I just came across this site - and this article left me speechless. Ana and Ana's team - both rooking, squeaking and fistpumping - what do we expect?
ReplyDelete