The final WTA tournament was interesting to the whole world for an unprecedented battle for the title of the first racket between three contenders at once: Amelie Moresmo, Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin-Ardenne. But our joy was getting into the top eight of the four strongest Russians at once. Shamil Tarpishchev, in his joy, completely promised the release of our three tennis players to the semifinals. As it turned out, got excited.
It seems that shortly after the start of the “Russian era” in women's tennis, leading athletes realized that they should tune against all of ours the same way. The recipe is the maximum concentration in an important game episode. The result is a loss of points and self-confidence. The result - stamped victories of the same Henin-Ardenne and Moresmo, starting, as a rule, with one taken on the teeth of someone else's serve. After that, beat Dementieva or Kuznetsova conditional remains a matter of technology. Sharapova stands out, training and attuning to matches in a different style, but her amazing willingness can fade against the moral superiority of her opponent. Although all the victories of the Russians are bright and unique, but all the defeats are the same.
Due to her incredible concentration, Nadezhda Petrova defeated Moresmo in her first mast, after which the Frenchwoman said goodbye to the dream of a final first place (having, in fairness, the least chance). But Nadia began to bury hopes for second place in the group in the first set of the match against Hingis, having made three double mistakes on her pitch. The next breakpoint Hingis became decisive. And in the match that had already begun in 20 hours, nothing shone with Henin-Ardenne Petrova.
Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva did not pass the test with a match against one another. With a formal victory Kuznetsova, the result for both was a defeat. Dementieva in Madrid never found her game, and Kuznetsova, having overcome the weakest rival in the group, relaxed herself. The meetings of both tennis players with the Belgian Kleisters showed that before going to the final tournament they should have added not only psychologically, but also in terms of games. Instead of crediting points, the piggy bank of the Russians was replenished with unforced and double errors.
The main favorite of the tournament and our hope, Maria Sharapova, swept away the first three rivals with the same broom that she had at the US Open. Adding from match to match, Masha reached the semifinals from first place in the group and managed to grab a reward before decisive meetings. She became the Whirlpool Award, awarded "for the demonstration of the sixth sense" at the end of the year. Sharapova successfully demonstrated game intuition, a subtle understanding of tennis and non-standard thinking in all Madrid games, but again in the semifinal she lacked “physics” and her will. Henin-Ardenne, who only healed a knee injury, turned out to be stronger than the Russian woman who had gained the optimal shape.
This year the Belgian tennis player made it to the finals of all Grand Slam tournaments - the last time Steffi Graf succeeded in 1993. However, Justine lost four times in four decisive matches and, having injured her knee in the US Open, was not considered a favorite in Madrid. But she solved all her problems: she played in matches against Hingis and Petrova, lost in the Moresmo group, but, having passed Sharapova in the semifinals, she also gained self-confidence. In the decisive final set on someone else's serve, the score was 0-40, after which Moremore played the ball, but then made a double mistake. Such a match-point redeemed the two defeats of Henin-Ardenne from the Frenchwoman in the finals of the Australian Open and Wimbledon. The Belgian deservedly became the first racket of the world, proving that neither teammates nor excellent form are enough to win. Still need strength of mind and faith in yourself.
Ivan Kalashnikov