(PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images)
Ana Ivanovic was picture perfect in nabbing her first grand slam title on Sunday. She clearly benefited from the experiences of her prior two runner up finishes in grand slams, including last year’s French Open and this year’s Australian Open. Against Dinara Safina, herself in her first grand slam final, Ivanovic kept her wits and calmly played within her abilities.
Watching Ana in last year’s final against Justine was painful. It was as bad as Mary Pierce’s implosion in 2005. But Ana has clearly grown, matured, and did not let the experience get bigger than her. To her credit, Safina kept the match competitive the whole way through, but her serve, surprisingly timid for her own considerable stature, allowed Ivanovic to pressure her in each game.
Wimbledon will be a good test for Ivanovic. As the pace of the game quickens on grass, she will lose the luxury of time, especially in her stellar return game. Ivanovic made the semis last year, but was taken out by the hard-serving American, Venus Williams. In fact, Ana’s record against big servers is less than stellar (1-4 vs. Venus, 0-1 vs. Serena, and 2-3 vs. Sharapova).
What’s more, through her title run, Ana did not face a single big server in the latter rounds at the French (Safina, Jankovic, and Schnyder), which obviously worked out perfectly. She won’t be so lucky in London, but for now, she can sit pretty with her trophy and a new number 1 world ranking.
(Getty Images)
