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At last, Ana Ivanovic overcame her stage fright.
In two previous major finals, Ivanovic was so overwhelmed by the setting, so shaken by the stakes, that her focus fell apart and her shots went awry. Not on this day.
Already assured of rising to No.1 in the WTA Tour rankings for the first time, Ivanovic collected grand slam title No.1 – and No.1 for a Serbian woman – by beating Dinara Safina 6-4 6-3 in the French Open final today.
Rather than erasing the memories of those lopsided losses in championship matches against Justine Henin at Roland Garros a year ago and against Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open in January, Ivanovic used the bitterness to help her.
“Many, many people ask me, ‘Oh, you want to forget last year’s final?’ But I don’t, because it was a great learning experience,” said Ivanovic, a 20-year-old beauty from Belgrade.
She won only three games against Henin, then eight against Sharapova, and said of the latter defeat: “I had a few sleepless nights after that.”
Ivanovic lost two consecutive matches on clay before coming to Paris, and she knew she had to change something.
She credits her strength and conditioning coach, Scott Byrnes, with helping find what she called a “tool” to make sure she stays focused on the court.
And it couldn’t be simpler: Take the time to pause and breathe.
“My personality is I tend too much to think about what will be, and try to think too much in advance, which is definitely not too good,” Ivanovic said. “So I found that breathing helps me to go back in a moment and just enjoy that very moment.”
That’s what carried her through the tightest of times against the 13th-seeded Safina, the younger sister of two-time major champion Marat Safin.
Ivanovic was a point from taking a 5-1 lead in the first set when Safina showed some spark, using a running forehand winner and a swinging volley winner to get to break point.
Ivanovic then dumped a forehand into the net, and 10 minutes later, when Safina smacked a backhand winner down the line, suddenly the score was 4-all.
“It was tough, because a lot of emotions build up inside,” said Ivanovic, who was seeded No. 2 behind Sharapova at the French Open but will pass her in Monday’s rankings.
“All of a sudden, you’re equal again. So to keep my composure at that point – it was huge for me.”
In the very next game, Ivanovic broke back with a backhand winner of her own, then pumped her fist and let out one of her many yelps of “Hajde!” – Serbian for “Come on!”
Safina said she had simply run out of steam.
The Russian, who had beaten three top-10 seeds – Maria Sharapova, Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova – and saved match point in two of them on her way to her first grand slam final – said fatigue had been a key factor.
“I didn’t have any more of that fire that I had in those matches,” Safina told reporters. “I was just, I think, tired, mentally and physically.
“Even though I wanted to, my heart couldn’t and my body couldn’t do it anymore.
“If I had been just a little bit fresher, it would have been different, because I spent way too many hours for those two matches against Maria and Elena, because comebacks always take so much heart and mental strength.”
Safina’s one other regret was that her brother had not been in the stands to support her.
“He was not here. Somehow I thought that he might come, but unfortunately he didn’t,” she said.
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