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Kournikova loses match, wins Brit press by Christopher Bowers Courtesy of Tennis.com On the Pro Tour: Eastbourne, England This series of articles is written by tennis journalists traveling the pro circuit. Click above for the archive. June 18, Eastbourne -- Anna Kournikova was a figure of confidence the interview room of the Direct Line championships in Eastbourne, despite her semifinal loss. The smile was still there, confirmed by a rush of flashlight photographs, her answers were well-prepared, and so was a solid unwillingness to let herself be diverted from what she had planned to say. 'My time will come,' she said. The question was whether the continuing failure to win a title on the WTA Tour was becoming a monkey on her back. She is only 12 days past her 18th birthday, and many a great champion had yet to win her first title by 18, but with Kournikova it seems longer. Ask the people at Adidas and Yonex who have had her under contract for years -- no complaints about the amount of photographic footage in the media, but a first tour title would add some substance to the greatness that is, thus far, still only promise. A first title looked on at Eastbourne: She came to the south coast of England unbeaten in nine matches having he won the under-21 event twice here, and was a semi-finalist last year when she had to withdraw after injuring her thumb in beating Steffi Graf; the weather has dried the court and made the bounces higher; she has spoken frequently about grass being her favorite surface; and the top two seeds Monica Seles and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario both crashed out in the first round. But her 13th match at Eastbourne, a semifinal against Nathalie Tauziat, proved unlucky. Last year's Wimbledon runner-up led 6-4 3-1, but Kournikova recovered to force a final set and then lead 5-1. But Tauziat stepped in, taking the ball earlier, and the match swung dramatically her way. She leveled at 5-5, survived from 0-40 down at 6-6, and then broke Kournikova to move into the final. So nine years after first being hyped to Nick Bollettieri's academy in Bradenton, Fla., she is still without a title and has only slipped into the Wimbledon seedings following Serena Williams' withdrawal due to flu. Yet the Florida-based Muscovite seems genuinely happy with where she is. She is done with complaining that she was unfairly deprived of tournament opportunities she was clearly ready for at age 15 because of age eligibility rules introduced in 1995 to prevent teenage burnout. The resentment that a 14-year-old Martina Hingis slipped onto the tour just before the rules changed has largely dissipated, in part thanks to the two standard bearers of their generation teaming up and becoming the world's top pair this year, a successful partnership that has continued at Eastbourne. Kournikova's self-assurance has also survived an onslaught by the dreaded British tabloids. While Hingis is well-versed in the methods of the sensationalist press through her de facto stepfather being a former editor of the Swiss mass circulation daily 'Blick', Kournikova is only now experiencing the full range of hyperbole from Britain's down-market journalists. Wednesday's 'Daily Mirror' ran an article titled 'Barbie girl in a Barbie world' which bore no mention of the previous day's three-set victory over Chanda Rubin. 'The sun shone but was hopelessly eclipsed by Anna Kournikova, the glittering jewel in tennis's crown' wrote the paper's reporter Kevin Garside. 'Hair, limbs, costume, she was gold from head to toe...each toss of her lustrous mane, every stretch and heave was accompanied by a chorus of clicking shutters...' If the tabloids were not known for this, people might be worried about the emotional stability of the writer. Every day this week Kournikova has been asked how she deals with all the off-court attention, and every day her answer is the same: 'I don't ask for the attention, but it comes with the job.' A wise if blunt answer to coverage that can be seriously intrusive. No doubt a title will come, as Kournikova expects, but another chance has slipped by at Eastbourne, and with it the monkey on her back grips just that little bit more tightly. |