TENNIS in DEPTH.

Tradition is not quite so prevalent at the French Open as Wimbledon. There is no hard and fast rule that the defending champion begins the Court Philippe Chatrier programme on Day One. However Ana Ivanovic took the opportunity to prove she is worthy of such reverence if the powers that be at Roland Garros ever opt to follow the example of the All England Club.

Certainly the demure Serbian, who took the ladies singles title a year ago after previously reaching the final in 2007, looked the part as she made her bright and breezy early entrance. She waved, she smiled, she smiled a bit more and not even an ugly black bandage on the painful right knee that threatened to thwart the defence of her crown failed to ruin the image.

Unfortunately the Ivanovic game these days is not as pretty as the person who owns it. Since beating Dinara Safina with considerable force to win her first Grand Slam title, things have not exactly gone wonderfully for the lovely Ana. In fact some might say she has suffered the proverbial hangover with injuries, illness and an unsurprising drop in form.

During her pomp in what now seem bygone days, the entire Ivanovic game was built around a powerful serve but throughout her undistinguished 7-6, 6-3 win over Italy’s Sara Errani she was constantly struggling to find any real rhythm with her delivery. A mark of a player who is desperately short of confidence is an inconsistent ball toss and the eighth seed never seemed to throw up the ball to the same height twice in a row.

In fact Ivanovic’s serve was more of a problem to her than to Errani for much of the first set even though there were plenty of unforced errors that should have helped the 22-year-old from Bologna, who reached the third round of January’s Australian Open.

Errani is not exactly enjoying a rich vein of form; she had registered only one win in her previous five tournaments and that was against a qualifier. Ivanovic is a little better than that although the match statistics hardly suggested she is on the way to a third final in a row on Paris clay.

In total, she hit seven double faults and committed 38 unforced errors, more than twice the amount by her opponent. There is much work to do for Craig Kardon, her coach, who maintains Ivanovic’s main problem is tht she is just trying too hard.

Like so many of the game’s leading players Ivanovic is a perfectionist so there is a distinct element of frustration creeping into her mind. She is still only 21 years old so there is plenty of time for her to recapture her position of eminence but the next few months will be crucial.

One thing is certain. Performances like this against opponents who are a little stronger mentally could be disastrous for the defending champion.

Courtesy  The Times.

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