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Second wind for Dementieva
For Elena Dementieva, reaching the French Open final is something of a second coming.
For Elena Dementieva, reaching the French Open final is something of a second coming.
The 22-year-old Muscovite was one of the new generation of Russian female tennis players along with Anna Kournikova and Elena Likhovtseva who emerged in the late 1990s.
Turning professional in August 1998, she made a stellar start to her career reaching the semi-finals of the US Open in 2000 and in the same year winning the silver medal at the Sydney Olympics where she lost to Venus Williams in the final.
Great things were forecast for the tall, leggy blonde as she was seen as the main challenge to the domination of the Williams sisters and latterly the Belgians Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters.
But though she maintained a top 20 spot in the world rankings, Dementieva struggled to compete at the very top of the tree and was not helped by a foot injury that sidelined her for a few months in 2001.
Blessed with great pace and penetration down both flanks from the baseline and adept at drop shots, Dementieva, curiously for such a tall woman, has a powder-puff serve that leaves her open to attack from the big-hitters.
On top of that new, mostly younger Russians are appearing on the scene such as her opponent in the final, Anastasia Myskina, 17-year-old Maria Sharapova, Elena Bovina and Vera Zvonareva.
Dementieva lost a shocker in the first round of this year's Australian Open and had little to celebrate coming into Paris with early losses in Rome and Berlin.
But after hard struggle in the first and third rounds, she suddenly re-emerged with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Lindsay Davenport in the fourth round followed by an impressive 6-4, 6-3 win over home heroine Amelie Mauresmo in the quarters.
Dementieva is a fluent French and English speaker who enjoys playing chess and skiing and who has a vast cactus collection which she keeps at home in Moscow.
She says that after her great year in 2000 the pressures on her were just too great.
"I just couldn't handle it - all this pressure on me. People expected better and better results from me and I couldn't play with all this pressure. I had some injuries to deal with too.
"It took me almost four years to come back to my game and to be again in the semis and in the final."
