In the big tournaments, Dinara Safina is the nearly woman. Olympic silver medallist in Beijing, runner-up in Australian and French Opens, now she is nearly there at Wimbledon too.
She arrived at a semi-final against Venus Williams after beating the 19 year-old German Sabine Lisicki, 6-7, 6-4, 6-1.
It was not a victory easily won. In the first set, the world No 1 was all over the place, losing it on a double fault. And when she is losing someone is going to suffer. That someone is invariably Safina. At times she assaulted herself so vigorously it is a surprise she didn't press charges. The verbals flew, the racket bounced, she excoriated the heavens, exhibiting as she raged such self-loathing she would be a shoo-in as a female Hamlet.
In this mood, well as her opponent deployed her forehand, Safina presents herself with her biggest challenge. In the first set, she double faulted far too often, she punched her backhands out of bounds, she looked distracted; perhaps she was confused about the condition of Centre Court.
When she played on it on Monday it was enclosed by a roof for the first time; now suddenly it was exposed to baking sunshine. She was back out again so quickly after her Monday's history-making, she barely had time to change her shirt, and returned in the least flattering top on the women's circuit, an item which exposes her midriff in the manner of a pregnant 15 year-old smoking at the bus stop. No wonder she is angry with herself: going out dressed like that is enough to provoke anyone's ire.
"I would say sometimes I don't do the things that I have to," she moaned afterwards. "Like even if I'm doubting or something, but I still have to do it. Today I had a very slow start, like I'm playing half of my tennis until I'm not down, and then I start to play better. So this is what I'm getting disappointed about."
What a contrast to her was presented by Lisicki. Another product of Nick Bollittieri's Florida academy, she has some serve, timed at 122mph, as fast as anything Roger Federer produces. And when things went wrong, unlike her Russian opponent, she merely smiled; even when she collapsed in the final set, she returned to court following extensive massage smiling. No wonder the crowd were on her side.
But then the Russian didn't win 41 matches this year by melting in the face of a grin. Somehow she stopped chastising herself long enough to manufacture a turnaround, earning her victory with real determination. All that stands in the way now of another stab at runner-up is Venus. Mind, if this is how she behaves when up against the world No 31, imagine the fury she will exhibit against the current champion. Her ears might well melt. Ours certainly will.
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