Myskina Eliminated as Henin-Hardenne Squeaks

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The New York Sun

The first few days after she arrived in New York for the U.S. Open, Anastasia Myskina said she cried over her three-set semifinal loss to Justine Henin-Hardenne at the Olympics. She shed no tears after being upset in the second round yesterday, but she clearly was suffering from an Olympic hangover.


“Completely nothing,” she said when asked about what she brought to the court. “I didn’t want to fight. I didn’t want to run. I didn’t want to do anything.”


Myskina was tripped up 7-6(3), 6-3 by another Russian, 17-year-old Anna Chakvetadze, who is playing in her first Grand Slam. Myskina, seeded fourth, made 37 unforced errors and could barely put a first serve in play in the second set. Afterward she said the rest of her game was no better.


“Right now I’m still in Athens, I guess,” she said.


Henin-Hardenne, who won the gold medal in Athens, came down with a case of Olympic lethargy yesterday, too, as she eked out a three-set win over 31-year-old Israeli Tzipi Obziler, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2. Henin-Hardenne, 22, said she had noticed that other players who performed well in Athens – Myskina, bronze medalist Alicia Molik, and silver medalist Amelie Mauresmo – had either lost this week or struggled to win.


“I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not,” she said. “I can tell you it’s not easy coming from Europe, coming from Athens. Really tough conditions.”


Henin-Hardenne’s game was rusty all over yesterday, but when it came time to serve, the top seed was particularly ham-handed. Over one stretch, she missed her first serve 11 out of 12 times, including a foot fault. She finished with eight double faults and was broken seven times by Obziler, ranked no. 133.


For a few moments here and there, though, Henin-Hardenne showed the versatility and instincts that make her the most entertaining player on the tour. While most of the top women blast the ball back and forth time and again, Henin-Hardenne hits slice approach shots, loops high forehands to work her way back into points, and often charges the net, where her volleys are impeccable. In terms of strategy, Henin-Hardenne always seems to be looking a few shots farther than her opponents, though yesterday she credited Obziler with some quick thinking herself.


“I think that now in women’s tennis, everybody is hitting the ball very hard, always the same rhythm,” Henin-Hardenne said. “But today was different. She used her slice more than the other players, and I’m not very used to playing against this kind of game.”


This has been a trying year for Henin-Hardenne, following a stretch between the 2003 French Open and March 2004 when she won nine tournaments, including three Grand Slams. For a while, she said recently, she felt like a machine.


“But one day you wake up, and you’re sick, you’re tired, you need something else.”


She missed the entire summer with a viral infection and said she has been taking antibiotics for a cold she caught after leaving Athens. In the future, Henin-Hardenne said she will have to reduce her schedule so she can maintain her health.


“I just try to go step by step, be patient, and I hope I’ll feel better very soon,” she said.


Henin-Hardenne has overcome worse. Her sister was killed by a drunk driver and she lost her 48-year-old mother to cancer; since her marriage, there has been a rift with her father and other members of her family.


In “Tie-Break,” a book published in England this summer by sports journalist Mark Ryan, there’s also a suggestion that her father, Jose, did something untoward when she was younger, though he has steadfastly denied this and Henin-Hardenne has never commented on it.


It’s a topic that Henin-Hardenne, understandably, would rather not discuss.


“I understand that I have a role because I am a famous tennis player, but I have my private life, and I think everybody has to respect that,” she said last weekend.


***


In her second-round match yesterday, Lindsay Davenport hit a few rough patches but otherwise handled Spain’s Arantxa Parra Santonja with ease.


The Spaniard, who hits two-fisted strokes from both the forehand and backhand sides, came out slugging the ball, and stayed even with Davenport until four games all. From, there, Davenport won seven straight games before she double-faulted at love-40 to give Parra Santonja her second service break of the match.


“I just feel like it took me a while to get going,” Davenport said. “I’m definitely going to have to do something to try to get off to a quicker start in the next match.”


Also yesterday, Maria Sharapova struggled again despite winning the first set 6-0. She eventually closed out Jelena Jankovic 6-0, 6-7(5), 6-1.


The New York Sun

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