A lot of sports fans follow Golf and Tennis only during the major events, namely the Grand Slams of the two sports. Many fans don't even know who the up and coming players are until they watch Wimbledon or The Masters. Nobody even knew who Anna Kournikova was until she showed up at Wimbledon in the semi-finals one year. No one knew who Steffi Graf was until she won Wimbledon and she had already won the Australian Open as well as the French Open earlier in the year. Well the casual sports fan didn't know them until then. Even Tiger Woods was somewhat of a "who?" until he won one of the big events. Well, once again that cycle is about to be repeated only this time it's Ashley Harkleroad you haven't heard of yet.
Only the diehard fans that follow junior tennis and the ITF tournaments know Ashley Harkleroad, the casual tennis fan and the fan who only follows the top 20 players or so, don't know who she is, well they didn't know, until this week. Ashley Harkleroad had what many insiders would call a "break out" tournament this week in Charleston, S.C.
The Family Circle Cup, contested this week in Charleston, is the largest clay court tournament in the United States and one of the top ten tournaments on the WTA tour. Only the Grand Slams and four other tournaments pay out more money. (The Family Circle Cup pays 1.3 million as do three other tournaments.) This is the tournament that saw Harkleroad Break Out.
Ashley was granted a wild card to her final tournament before she turns 18 on May 2nd. Under the rules Ashley is only allowed to play a certain amount of tournaments each year until she was 18 and the same is true for all players. Ashley spent most of her time in the ITF tournaments honing her skills, winning a pair last summer. With her Eighteenth birthday only a few weeks away but after the NASDAQ and only one tournament left to play, Ashley took the wildcard into the Family Circle Cup. As it turns out a very wise choice.
The Family Circle Cup turned out to be the tournament where all of the sudden, Ashley "showed" up. Ashley faced Emilie Loit in her first round match and quickly fell behind only to take charge in the first set finally winning it 6-4. At this point, you are a little impressed, after all Loit took Serena to three sets in the first round of the Australian open earlier this year and probably should have won that match. Ashley fell behind, only by a greater margin in the second set, but somehow you still sensed Ashley was in control of the match. A couple of ill timed unforced errors were the only reasons for being behind. Loit then had a leg injury that forced her to withdraw from the match and Ashley was quickly through to the second round. Loit is the 51st player in the world and while it was a good win, it wasn't unexpected. Now however one started to wonder how far along Ashley's game had developed because #16 in the world Elena Bovina of Russia was next.
This is where the story begins to take on real form. Ashley defeats Bovina, easily 6-2 and 6-2 and you wonder if Bovina just had a bad day. Oh, Ashley has the talent to play at this level and you know it but you aren't sure yet whether she is really showing her wares or if she just got lucky a couple of matches in a row. Which does happen you know. I once saw a Funny Car Drag Racer win a national event title and after the first round he didn't make a full pass the entire race. His line afterwards; "It's better to be lucky than good."
Meghann Shaughnessy was next and while Bovina was ranked four spots higher you knew this was the match that was going to prove if Ashley was showing her talent off or if she was just getting lucky. Ashley won the match 6-2 and 6-2. You're now thinking, hey this is for real. She didn't win by chance, she beat three top 50 players in a row. That has to mean something right? It did mean something and if it had stopped there it would have been an exceptional tournament for Ashley and another step in the right direction along with some ranking points. However Daniela Hantuchova was next and Ashley wasn't really a match in their last meeting. Ashley played her tough for a set before crumbling in the second set but that was in 2000, a long time ago in tennis.
Ashley has now defeated two top twenty players and dropped only 8 games going into the Hantuchova match. If Ashley can steal a set from Daniela then this would be beyond her wildest dreams at this stage of her career. Yet as the match started, it has been reported that Ashley owned the crowd from the first point against Daniela as she blasted a backhand winner down the line. Then the second game went to deuce six times and the fight was over as Ashley went on to win 6-2 and 6-1.
Ashley just had her biggest win of her career, defeating the her first top ten player in only her second attempt against a top ten player. Ashley was demonstrating she had the skill to play at this level. Many professional tennis players are like Triple-A ball players. The are some of the best in the world but they never make it to the major leagues. Ashley proved this week she can play in the big leagues and she proved it unquestionably losing only 11 games to three top twenty players in three straight matches.
Ashley then went on to lose to Henin-Hardenne in the semi-final, a bit of a clay court specialist and although the score makes it look like it was an easy win for Henin-Hardenne, don't be so easily fooled. Henin-Hardenne had to return more than one or two balls per point and Ashley showed hints of brilliance on the court. Henin-Hardenne was just the wrong player on the wrong surface on this day but in 135 professional matches Ashley has only failed to avenge a loss one time thus far in her career.
Ok, so what! This doesn't prove it's a breakout tournament for Ashley you are saying. Well, you don't know Ashley or her determination. This observer has noticed two things about Ashley: She has the skill to play at this level, clearly, and she also has the determination. What else do you need? Ashley does, now and again, suffer from the mental hurdles of the game but experience and more tournaments like this one will slowly fade any lack of confidence that may creep in every now and then. Ashley has shown glimpses of things to come all throughout her young career. Expect to see more of it in the future.
Ashley still has some portions of her game to work on improving. For instance her new coach, Jay Berger, wants her to take a few more risks during a match. Until she is confident in that approach you may see her lose early in a few tournament this summer but it's all part of the development, don't look for it to last. She has too much determination.
This clearly was a break out tournament for Ashley. In this tournament she proved to herself, maybe once and for all, that she can play the top players and win. When Ashley knows she can do something, it only improves her confidence and determination. It may take another year or so but look for Ashley to be playing on more than one Saturday in the next few years.