Shortly after the US Open, Master Ace (I think it was) posted a comment expressing the hope that Steve Tignor or I would show a little Dinara (Safina) love during the Tokyo Pan-Pacific Open. I think I logged in with a flip comment about how Steve was otherwise occupied with our monthly closing deadlines for Tennis, and that I didn't have it in me to, as they say, "go there." It's funny, but there's nothing more dispiriting to a writer than a lack of inspiration. Give me a topic I'd like to write about, and I'll drop everything, roll up my sleeves, and churn out enough prose to drive any potential reader into a comatose state. But give me a specific subject, and if I'm not feeling it, I'll just groan and ask myself: How much of this poop can I crank out?
In all fairness to myself, the US Open tends to burn out someone who files stories daily. But I probably felt a twinge of guilt somewhere inside, and maybe the inkling of latent inspiration. After all, can anyone doubt that Safina is a lock for the WTA's Most Improved award?
I can't recall a recent makeover that's been as successful - and comprehensive - as the one Safina has undergone since mid-April. And while I find it hard to love her game, her record demands that I respect and accord it adequate recognition. What she's done with her tennis in the past five months has been nothing short of amazing.
Let's start with the fact that she's 22, an age at which most WTA players who have not made a big statement at a Grand Slam can almost be discounted as reliable, top-tier contenders. Oh, they may hit a torrid streak and bag a title, perhaps even two in a row, here or there. And while the bump may halve their ranking, or even propel them into the Top 10, the bump - like the one an American Presidential candidate gets following his nominating convention - tends to dissipate. It's too early to tell whether the leap Safina made this year will result in a counter-reaction, but it hasn't happened yet, which suggests it may happen not at all. Safina has been hot since mid-May, and she remains so as I write this.
Since April 20th, she's been in the final of seven of the nine events she's played (the exceptions are Wimbledon and the US Open), and unlike a few of the other recent hot streaks I can think of, it incorporated premium events in the gut of the season. In the last three majors of the year, she was a finalist (French Open), Round of 32 loser (Wimbledon, to Shahar Peer) and semifinalist (US Open, losing to Serena Williams). Last year, she never got past the fourth round.
Before the US Open semi, she was 20-1 in singles play on various surfaces. That's no mere "hot streak." That's taking the game to another level, to a degree that suggests she's a player transformed. One of the most difficult assignments in tennis, for a male or female player whose had to work his way up through the rankings as has Safina, is consoidating a place at or near the top instead of commuting in and out of the upper echelon.
We all know the reasons for Safina's outstanding play - a fitness regimen that has had obvious results, a re-dedication to maximizing her potential, and - we've heard this before, folks - a coach capable of inspiring her and, more importantly, whom she's capable of obeying. That would be Zeljko Krajan, the Croatian pro who ranked as high as no. 88 before he career was prematurely cut short by a shoulder injury. Just how the chemistry in a situation like this works remains somewhat mysterious, although not quite as mysterious as the degree to which a player with a track record as a temperamental and wildly inconsistent performer can remake herself into a champion.
My take: Krajan didn't change Safina; Safina transformed herself and put herself into a frame of mind and emotion in which a coach was able to penetrate the defenses and help deconstruct the last crumbling bricks in her wall of resistance. As always, being in the right place at the right time was a critical component in Krajan's success. When you ask Safina how her game has changed (in other words, when you ask "Why now?"), she says: "Well, I just go out there and, I don't know, I play my game, and it's working right now. I mean, of course I've been working and still I'm working to improve my shots to get better and better. But somehow I started to go out there and started to believe I'm a player, and I can compete with them (equal or better players). Maybe before it was missing this. And then I could not give them answers, but now I go out there and for their game I can always give them my answer, like my game. I think that's what, it's the turning point. That's why I start to beat them."
That Krajan has a way with Safina is also obvious. Following the warm-up before her round-of-16 match at the US Open, Safina broke down in tears. She told Krajan that she just couldn't push herself anymore - it was impossible. To which he replied (in Safina's words): "We know that you're not a machine. Just go out there and don't (do any) thinking. He told me again, just please, don't show me any emotions, like these negative emotions. If you want, don't show even positive. Just go on the court and do whatever you can this day. If it's 20% left from your body, just give this 20%. Don't use another percent just throwing the balls around and shouting. Whatever you have, just try to concentrate and put it into the game."
And Safina has a lot - groundstrokes that are the equivalent of heavy artillery, a heavy serve, a newfound mobility that will only get better now that she's also been working on her fitness with retired Croatian world-class sprinter, Dejan Vojnovic. Although it's tricky to generalize, in my experience Croatians seem, well, very grounded, self-effacing, and realistic. Those are good qualities to bring to the mix for a girl who has been cloaked in conflicting emotions and unrealistic demands and expectations as if they were badly mismatched articles of clothing. Krajan and company have taught her an important lesson that might have been borrowed from a fashion expert: get rid of the red pumps declaring your emotional neediness and dump the sequined jean-jacket that is your ability to hit winners (and make terrible errors). Pick something that matches your complexion, trim a few pounds here and there, and dress yourself in a game that enhances your assets in a solid, simple, and tasteful way.
It has paid off, so far. and Safina seems to be hearing instead of just listening. Her harsh self-evaluation after she lost the semifinal to Serena Williams at the US Open - on a day when the conditions were atrocious - underscores that. She said:
"Well, I think today I was feeling -- I mean, physically I was feeling better than previous days. This has nothing to do. But just I would say it's too bad from behaving side from my side. Yeah, maybe today was physically and mentally 80, but I spent 60 on being negative on the court, like shooting around and complaining about everything instead of spending 80% totally focused on just point by point. And this was -- I think I was behaving like a really spoiled girl on the court today. This I cannot permit myself playing in semifinal of Grand Slam. So I have to really learn from these things if I want to get better."
In other words, she stole back into the closet and tried on the red pumps again. But she realized it was a mistake. The next step for her will be the most difficult one: a win at a major. She'll have a great shot in Australia - if she can cleave to her fitness program during the holidays and brief off season. She couldn't ask for greater incentive: she's vying for leadership of a great generation of Russian players, and she could enter historic territory that has thus far been reserved for girls named Venus and Serena if she reaches no. 1 or wins a Grand Slam title. That is, Dinara and Marat Safin could become the only mixed gender siblings ever to win Grand Slam singles titles, or hold the top ranking.
Asked this summer if she'd overshadowed brother Marat, Safina answered like any good kid sister might: "I'm his sister. I always will be his sister."
But then she added, "To change this I have to get better results, because he has two Grand Slams. He was No. 1 in the world. I still can learn many things from him."
It's encouraging to know that she believes she can change the pecking order.