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by Pete Bodo*
Last week, I wrote about the precipitious decline of Russian men's tennis, as personified by the fact that Alex Bogomolov Jr., a 28-year-old who has spent almost his entire career as a journeyman, is ranked ahead of such former luminaries as aging Nikolay Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny. The women, however, are doing significantly better.
Has there been a tournament played anywhere in the past decade where one or more Russian women were not a factor? As it is, four Russians are in the WTA Top 20 (that's the same number as the Spanish men have in the ATP Top 20), ranging between No. 4 Maria Sharapova and No. 19 Svetlana Kuznetsova. Those two have won multiple Slams, and Sharapova has been No. 1.
The Russians wedged between them are No. 7 Vera Zvonareva, of late No. 2 in the world and a two-time Grand Slam finalist, and rising star Anastasia Pavlyuchnekova, who could end up eclipsing the other three women under consideration. She's still just 20 and has much to learn about the discipline and demands of the profession.
It sometimes seems like every time a Russian woman falls off the pace, another one pops up to take her place. It's like there's a giant feeder tube connecting Russia to the WTA tour. At Melbourne in the past few days, Zvonareva and Kuznetsova fell on hard times, both eliminated by the end of the third round. So along comes Ekaterina Makarova to pick up the slack; she's the one who bounced Zvonareva and counted coup yesterday on Serena Williams. Makarova has Sharapova next.
These Russians would be awesome—if all the other Russians stopped beating up on them.
By my count, there are nine Russians in the Top 100, so the group is top heavy. And Makarova is the one most likely to be the next one to join the Top 20. The 23-year-old Muscovite nearly pulled it off last June, when she hit No. 23, but she slumped terribly in the fall (six consecutive first-round losses) and is presently at No. 56—although this quarterfinal (or better) finish at the first Grand Slam of the year will bump her up significantly.
How far can she go? It's a good question. Her talent last night was obvious; she has plenty of punch, moves well, and there's something so classically left-handed about her game that it jumps right out at you. Yet she's been to the fourth round at a major just three times in her career (including at this Australian Open), which isn't a great track record, even for a 23-year-old. She's won just one main tour event, Eastbourne (2010). But we all know that mercurial leftys can be flaky, and she may be one of those players for whom it all falls into place relatively late in her career. Perhaps she can consult with Bogomolov on that.
Makarova seems to march to the beat of a slightly different drummer. Spectators good-naturedly fracture her name, calling out "macaroni," or even "Macarena)," childish behavior that she finds irritating. But lest you misunderstand, she has nothing against pasta. "The Italian food, I really like it," she told the world press, beaming after her big win yesterday. "I just don't like how they call sometimes." She has less trouble when she's told she looks like actress Gwyneth Paltrow, as one starstruck reporter suggested in that same presser.
Her favorite tournament is the U.S. Open, and her childhood idol was an intriguing countrywoman, Anastasia Myskina. She was part of that first wave of Russian players to follow pioneering Anna Kournikova onto the WTA tour. What with the likes of Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova in that pack, who would have thought Myskina would be the first—and, more shocking, only—Grand Slam tournament winner in the bunch? She upset countrywoman Dementieva in the Roland Garros final of 2004.
That's another thing about Russian women's tennis. Given the impact Russia has with the number and generally high quality of its players, the Grand Slam title haul of the dynasty has been fairly light—a mere half dozen titles, half of which were earned by Sharapova (Kuznetsova took two and Myskina one).
"I can say that my idol was Anastasia Myskina," Makarova told the world press after the win over Serena. "I really love her game. I didn't want to look like her, but just wanted maybe to play because I really love her game. She's working with the Federation Cup now. I'm so happy sometimes when I'm also on the team and she's happy like to talk to me. That's an amazing feeling."
If Makaraova can win this title, she'll have performed a feat that might bring a knowing smile to the face of her idol and Fed Cup coach.