Elena Dementieva lost a very tight, tough 7-5, 7-6 (6) match to Justine "I'm coming back, too!" Henin at the Australian Open last night. After which Dementieva said, among other things: “I just think it's really interesting to play against someone like her. She's a great player. Playing against her, you really can learn a lot and improve your game."
Whoa, Nellie.
Dementieva is a multiple Grand Slam finalist. She's been a pro for almost 12 years, and spent more of them inside the Top 10 than in less exulted company. She's an Olympic games singles gold medalist. She's been ranked as high as No. 4 in the world, and she came into the Australian Open toting the bloody scalp of Serena Williams (whom she beat just a few days ago, in Sydney). And she can look at this dispiriting loss as a learning experience? A chance to see what she can improve?
You've got to be kidding.
Note to 'Lena:
I've always had a soft spot for you and you're my hands-on choice for "best player never to have won a major." But this is a lame way to spin your loss to Henin, good as she is (and we saw in this match that she's very, very good indeed. Already). I wish you would have busted up a few rackets, cursed the gods, vilified yourself for squandering those obvious chances to push the match to a third set, where your impressive athleticism might have be put to use wearing down the diminutive Belgian.
I wish you would have said something, anything, to express the degree of anger and even mortification that would have been a more appropriate response to your failure to stop the advance of a woman who's been away from tennis for a couple of years (a trip that more easily evokes images of a knife slicing through butter than the death march on Bataan), and who's gifted and game, but still small enough for you to bench press.
What you've done, 'Lena, is just add more credibility to the theory that the results on the WTA tour for the past two years -- the years Henin and her frenemy Kim Clijsters spent away from the tour having babies, trying to belt out tunes, doing needlepoint -- ought to come with the warning label: Results may be misleading due to the disinterest of two of the only four women in tennis who matter. . .
I didn't really buy into that theory, but unless someone steps up to beat Henin and/or Clijsters, I might revise my thinking. The load is especially heavy on Serena Williams' shoulders; if she wins the tournament, apologists for the women's game can argue that at least the legitimate No. 1 remained on the job; it was just the Nos. 2 and 3 who repaired to home and hearth, and who really cares how the rest of the Top 10 rank, numerically?
I'll tell you this, though -- Dinara Safina must have a queasy feeling in her stomach as she heads toward a potential semifinal with either of the resurrected Belgians. She can count her lucky stars that the Belgians are on schedule for a quarterfinal clash, so she doesn't have to face the prospect of beating both of them before looking down the barrel of Serena's cannon. That's one great thing about tennis -- it's a single humiliation format. You can only lose once at any given tournament. Maybe that's why the round-robin approach is used so sparingly.
The only hope left for the women who have been faithfully punching the WTA clock for the past few years is that Henin (and to a lesser degree, Clijsters) won't be accustomed to the physical and mental grind of a two-week major -- that all the tension and effort will catch up with her and impair her game, or leave her emotionally flat at a time when she needs to soar against any number of dangerous if inconsistent performers. But that's not a very likely scenario, thanks partly to her tough draw.
Top seeds don't like to look too far ahead; their seeding insulates them from conventional fears. But does anyone believe Henin took that customary, cavalier approach? I'll bet she knows where everyone is, and I'll say the same thing to Henin as I do to Clijsters: Beware Sveta. I like the way Kuznetsova matches up with either of the Belgians, albeit for different reasons, provided she feels like playing.
And let's not forget Yanina Wickmayer, just another tile in the mosaic that makes 2010 the Year of the Floater, with Henin and Wickmayer leading the way. When it comes to upsetting the pecking order, you can count a handful of lesser seeds as semi-floaters, too. The parade starts with Clijsters, the No. 15 seed. There's Victoria Azarenka, No. 7 but very dangerous on the medium-speed hard court, and even Jelena Jankovic. She was one of the favorites and the top seed last year; now she's a a lowly no. 8 and nobody seems to notice -- or care -- what she's doing. Which probably is just fine by her. Last year, Jankovic was taken out by crafty Marion Bartoli, who's in as the No. 11 seed and hasn't lost a set yet.
After her loss to Henin, Dementieva also said, "I didn’t come here to lose in the second round; I came here to play in the final.” So let's give her credit for that, and put down her professed interest in higher education as an ill-advised, if revealing, comment. Forget the "learning experience," ladies, unless this is your first go-round on the Grand Slam tour. Tennis is a yearning experience, as Kim and Justine have been demonstrating.