Kournikova loses once again

It was a new and improved Anna Kournikova who took the court at the US Open but the result was the same.

Vilified for not winning a tournament during her seven-year career, Kournikova had been working hard since coming back from a broken foot.

She had hooked up with coach Harold Solomon, who helped Jennifer Capriati get back on track, and the work the two have put in was showing results.

The 21-year-old snapped a five-match losing streak last month in Stanford before reaching the quarter-finals. She built on that result by reaching the semi-finals at San Diego.

Just as pleasing as her on-court results was a new maturity Kournikova displayed as she tried to dispel her diva persona.

That is why Kournikova’s 6-3 6-0 loss to Angelique Wisjaja was even more disappointing.

“I didn’t expect it to be this way at all,” said a visibly upset Kournikova.

“I thought I had a pretty good draw. I didn’t play well at all. I wasn’t in the match. I was just not there.”

Especially disheartening for the former top-10 player was the way she lost, doing all the things she and Solomon worked hard to change.

A physically gifted but slight player, Kournikova has not always shown patience or correct strategy.

“I think I just played totally the wrong way,” she said. “I was going for winners after a second shot. I set (the point) up and then it was just a mistake. Sometimes I went for too much on the wrong shots.

“If I’m behind the baseline or something like that, I went for too much. I made a million mistakes.

“I should have given her more chance to hit the balls because I didn’t give her any chances. It was kind of weird because I had all the opportunities. I set up the point, and then when I had to put it away, I was missing it. So that was kind of horrible.”

It is a feeling many of the players know and understand, according to Australian Nicole Pratt, who lost to Sovakian Daniela Hantuchova.

“I think it (her match) was sad,” Pratt said. “It’s sad in the respect that Anna’s such a good tennis player, but there’s just been so much pressure on her to perform. Her performance today was just all mental.

“She just couldn’t cope with being out there. She just rushed through the match, ‘I want to get off the court, I can’t do this.’ When a player gets like that, I think all the players recognise that at some stage

in their careers, they’ve gone through that.”

However, there is still a chance to see Kournikova at something she does very well.

She will be playing both women’s doubles and mixed doubles. At Wimbledon, the Russian star advanced to the semi-finals in both disciplines.

“I’m still in the tournament, so I’m just going to practise and go out there and play a totally different game,” said Kournikova, who won the women’s doubles crown at the Australian Open with Martina Hingis.

“I’m just going to go out there and we’re going to try to win. I mean, it is hard to be around, but it’s fine.”