Charleston’s doubles finalists have something rather important in common – winning. The first time they played together, they won the title. That first tournament together was this week’s Family Circle Cup for Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova, who beat Vania King and Michaella Krajicek 6-3, 6-4 to win the doubles title yesterday.
Even casual doubles fans know Huber usually plays with Cara Black, that they’re the top-ranked doubles team in the world and probably also that Petrova’s been playing with Sam Stosur this year. Stosur decided to save her energy for Fed Cup and focus on singles, which clearly worked out for her. So when Petrova ran into Huber’s husband and he asked if she’d play doubles with Huber, she agreed. She figured she’d “pick up a few things” from Huber and have a little fun. In the process Petrova defended her doubles title here; she won last year with Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Commenting on whether this pairing is just a one-time thing, Huber said, “My situation is kind of up in the air. Cara and I are a team, so I guess if there’s the odd week we don’t have a partner, [Nadia and I will] definitely call each other… it’s been really… fun.”
King and Krajicek played together for the first time in Memphis, where they served up a double bagel in their first match then went on to win the title. On their way to the final in Charleston they beat the Number 2 seeds, Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs. Though they came to the post-match press conference within 15 minutes of their loss in the final, they were in good spirits. Krajicek, who tweeted a lot from Charleston, seemed especially thrilled about their performance: “Today was our first loss and also the first time we lost actually a set the entire time we played together. So it’s really been good, and definitely in the future we’ll play much more again.”
In case you missed the doubles final, or even if you didn’t, here’s your chance to learn a little about what went on out on the court and – more interesting – in the players’ heads during a few points.
3-0, game point for King/Krajicek
Michaella Krajicek is the sister of 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek. She’s also quite blonde and looks kind of like a Barbie doll; when she's walking around though, you can tell she’s an athlete. She had the fewest doubles titles of those on court (nothing to be ashamed of considering the players) but appeared to have the most fun during the match and even after, despite the loss.
In this point she gets an easy overhead. She puts it away to get them on the board then turns to King and smiles immediately.
Was she relieved? Krajicek laughs and says, “I don’t remember that [point].”
Petrova has an idea what she was thinking: “Sooner or later they would make a game, but we were in control.”
6-3, Huber/Petrova win first set
Vania King is the shortest player on court at 5’5” and the only one in pink (the others are in black), so you don’t expect her to look tough, but she does. You get the sense she’s not easily intimidated, not even when she’s standing across the net from a Nadia Petrova serve. If you need more of a mental image, think of Bethanie Mattek-Sands leaning forward at the net or Flavia Pennetta facing down a millionth match point at the US Open.
In this point Petrova serves an unreturnable serve, which wins Huber and Petrova the first set.
Considering Krajicek tweeted the night before that they hadn’t lost a set yet as a doubles team, what were they thinking? Says Vania King, “We’re not thinking about a set. We’re not thinking about the results during the match. When we go on the court, we’re thinking about executing and our strategy and what we should be doing.”
6-3, 4-1, Petrova serving at 15-30
If you have to be stranded on an island with someone, Liezel Huber wouldn’t be a bad choice. Born in South Africa, Huber became a naturalized American citizen three years ago. She’s coached by her husband, Tony, with whom she owns the Huber Tennis Ranch teaching facility. Huber seems infinitely entertaining, someone who, whether she’s talking about tennis, the stock market or her motor home, would keep you laughing or at least guessing.
In this point Petrova serves what can best be described as a Petrova serve. It nearly pushes Krajicek back, but she manages to block the ball for a winner down Huber’s line. Krajicek looks surprised then pleased.
What was Krajicek thinking? “She serves really hard... there was nothing more I could do with that ball, so it was lucky Huber was crossing so it went into her baseline for a lucky winner.”
Did Huber remember this? “Oh, yeah, a down the line.”
What was Huber thinking? Not a second passes: “Shank. Lucky shot. I mean… lucky shot.” She continues, “I probably shouldn’t have moved that early. It was my fault. It was up my line. Even if I had stayed, I probably wouldn’t have got it because it was just a shank ball up my line.”
6-3, 5-2, first point
Nadia Petrova is a character. She doesn’t seem instantly warm, but then she does little things that surprise you. When Huber’s answering a question she chimes in a few times, you sense, to provide moral support when Huber’s not feeling completely comfortable. If you ask her about her hair thinking she’ll just glare at you, she takes it down to show you she’s growing it long and tells you it’s because she heard guys “really like the long hair on the women”.
In this point Petrova smashes an overhead that hits Krajicek’s foot. Krajicek bends down, unties both shoes, then ties them again. Petrova apologizes three times. Krajicek, noticing the last time, acknowledges her with a nod.
What was Krajicek doing? “I had to breathe it out. It was quite painful, so it was kind of hard to manage… I was just calming myself down before I stood up again.”
What were Huber and Petrova thinking?
Huber responds without delay or doubt: “Good aim.”
Petrova clarifies: “I wasn’t actually aiming.”
Huber: “She was so far back in the court… to actually hit her foot…”
Petrova: “I don’t see. I mean, I’m looking at the ball…”
Doubles… more to love?
There’s so much going on in doubles, and even when the tennis is good, as much of it was in the final, the best parts aren’t always the tennis. For those of us watching, King has a point when she says “doubles can be more interesting”. Even better, for those of us playing, she has a point when she says, half-joking, “you don't have to run as much”. What's not to love about that?