Ana Ivanovic is philosophical about her straight sets defeat to Maria Sharapova in the final of the Australian Open.
Ivanovic walks away from her second grand slam final in the same vain as she did her first – as a loser – however this time the Serbian didn’t collapse in a bundle of nerves like she did against Justine Henin at the 2007 French Open decider, stretching Sharapova in both sets.
“It was definitely a better experience. I won more games. It’s a little bit disappointing because I thought I had a lot of chances in that first set but didn’t use them,” Ivanovic said.
“I already felt much better in today’s final than I felt in the French Open final.
“I’m still young and I still think I have a lot of grand slam finals in front of me.”
Ivanovic struggled to get a hold on the Sharapova serve, with the Russian winning her first three service games to love. The match looked like turning when the Serbian broke Sharapova to level the first set at 4-4. Parity was soon lost, with Ivanovic losing her serve again at 5-6.
The horse had bolted. Sharapova broke in the seventh game of the second set, then in the ninth game for good measure, avoiding a pressure filled service game to close the deal.
“I just felt a little bit let down with my forehand, made some big mistakes in crucial moments,” Ivanovic said. “I knew I had to be aggressive, and that type of game will obviously cause more mistakes.”
The feared hot weather had stayed away from Melbourne, until today. The Serbian refuses to blame the heat for her demise.
“I practiced hard in Sydney in December and it was really hot. Today was much warmer than any other day, but still, I enjoyed it. It wasn’t bothering me at all.”
Ivanovic will leave for Europe tomorrow, unable to see Serbian compatriot Novak Djokovic play for the men’s title against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. However, the soon-to-be world number two will have enough time to tuck into a barbeque tonight at her family’s residence in Mentone.
“I really hope they won’t mention much about the match today because I don’t know how happy I will be to talk about it.
“Still we gonna try to have fun. It was great two weeks for me, so we can celebrate something.”
Share This Post!
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
No comments yet.