The prospect of establishing a hint of pecking order in women's tennis during the Rogers Cup in Toronto has plunged as quickly as the temperatures this week. Form, not fame, has ruled, with the world No. 1 and all but one of the seven Grand Slam champions in the field gone before the quarterfinals. The lone exception is Serena Williams, of course, who continued to lead the march towards order by surviving a strong three-set challenge from Jie Zheng on Thursday. But for the moment, she is a procession of one—Maria Sharapova, Li Na, Petra Kvitova and Francesca Schiavone all fell to less-fancied opponents, continuing the trend of upsets that began earlier in the week with Kim Clijsters' shock mid-match pullout with injury and Caroline Wozniacki's unceremonious opening-round exit.
For the two newest Grand Slam champions in the field, it was a sharp return to reality after the publicity whirlwind of the past few weeks. French Open champ Li, playing her first hard-court match of the summer after receiving a walkover in the previous round, fell 6-2, 6-4 to Samantha Stosur, while Wimbledon victor Petra Kvitova was bundled out 6-1, 6-2 by Andrea Petkovic in the Czech's second match after the mid-year break. Both said rust and the tricky conditions were to blame for their poor performances. "At the beginning of the match, I didn't even know what I should do on court, not like clay season," said Li, who also lost early at Wimbledon after her French Open victory. "I was feeling like I'm [one of the] juniors on the court."
"Yesterday was a bad match for me after the one month, and I didn't play well," said Kvitova. "But today was windy like yesterday, and my game wasn't too good."
In addition to having to get used to the change in surface, Li and Kvitova are also getting used to their new status as Grand Slam champions. Li is a veteran at 28 while Kvitova is 21 and just emerging, but both face the similar task of settling into the role.
The two resumed training two weeks ago, after first returning home and absorbing the impact of their Grand Slam victories for the first time. Li spent a quiet week with family and friends before commencing on two and a half weeks of public appearances and media interviews. Kvitova was feted in the town square and did some interviews with Czech journalists during her one-and-a-half week break from tennis and then headed to the mountains for some fitness training before resuming practice.
For Li, the first player from China to win a major, Grand Slam success has been a financial windfall—endorsement offers from companies like Mercedes-Benz and Haagen-Dazs, eager to raise their profile in the Chinese market, will net her a potential $42 million, reported Bloomberg, and stand to make her the highest-earning female athlete after Sharapova. Li, who cracked jokes about using the prize money and her husband's promises of a credit card shopping spree as motivation during her run to the Australian Open final, looked bemused when contemplating the development earlier this week. "I would like to say, my agent doing good job," she grinned.
At least asking her husband's permission to go shopping will no longer be necessary. "I would still like to use my husband's credit card because I want to save my money," Li joked, but added that her new status has also kept her too busy to hit the stores. "I would like to find the time because right now always like busy," she said. "And I have to do many thing for the sponsors, I did not really have the time to enjoy for the shop[ping]. So maybe end of the year I will find the time."
But despite her new profile, Li is taking the same approach to her tennis as before. "Of course, if you win the Grand Slam always the dream, but I mean, now I'm still on the court so I didn't want to stop... I just want to keep going, to try [to get] another Grand Slam," she said. "I didn't want to change what I'm doing before. I was always keep like the plan, what plan before I was doing. Yeah, right now maybe a lot of people think, wow, she's Grand Slam champion, but I didn't want to change that."
For Kvitova, a shy, small town girl, the biggest impact has been her overnight celebrity. "What is different after Wimbledon is that people recognize me on the street or somewhere, but I'm still feeling like before Wimbledon," she said.
Whatever advice she has received about coping with instant stardom—"be focused on the game and nothing around the contracts or [being] famous"—she had been well aware of anyway. She could do without the attention, but recognizes that it comes with the territory. "It's tough to say because it's important... this [being] famous in the game, so I take it and I don't care, probably," she said. "It's something different, but I have to be with this."
After reaching the Wimbledon semifinals last year, Kvitova says she felt pressure to produce big results and struggled, which is something she hopes to avoid this time around. But hard courts also do not suit her game as well as grass—her lefty serve does not work quite as well, and her flat shots need a little more spin on them.
"I have to say that I played so well and it's tough to keep this level for sure," she said of her Wimbledon win. "But hopefully I improved my standard little bit higher than before and yeah, we will see. Maybe I can play like in Wimbledon but not every match for sure."
While both are focused on keeping their approach the same, things around them have changed—more focused play from opponents who want their now prized scalps, more scrutiny of their results, more off-court demands and less time out of the spotlight. In turn, they receive all the confidence that comes from winning a major, and the extra comforts top names enjoy.
And if things are off to a bit of a rocky start, at least they've been in good company this week.