The long and winding road
For Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka, the road back to the top looks a little longer after early exits at Wimbledon. But both say they’re ready to travel it.
Judging by their respective records at Wimbledon, Azarenka might have been favored to beat Karolina Pliskova in their second round match on Wednesday. The Belarusian has won 29 and lost 10, reaching the semi-finals twice.
In contrast the Czech's win-loss record reads five and six while she had lost in the second round at the All-England Club each of the last five years.
From the moment their match began, though, Pliskova was the superior player. It took her just 72 minutes to record a 6-3, 6-3 win. Pliskova didn’t face any break points, and she dictated the rallies almost casually. Azarenka was able to win just 39 per cent of the points on her second serve.
Vika fought, as she always does. She clenched her fist after every point she won, and banged the grass with her racket while she waited for Pliskova to serve. But when it came time to mount a last stand, at 3-5 in the second set, Azarenka couldn’t muster a counter-attack. She double-faulted twice, and was overpowered by Pliskova’s deep ground strokes.
Azarenka, who will turn 29 next month, has missed much of the last two seasons. She had a baby in 2016, and for the last year she’s been involved in a custody battle that has forced her to stay home in California. On Wednesday, Azarenka didn’t just look rusty, she lacked the old explosiveness - the speed and the power - that had once taken her to No.1.
Azarenka wasn’t the first former world No.1 to make an early exit this week. The evening before, Vika’s old rival for major titles, Sharapova, was stunned by Vitalia Diatchenko in the first round. Sharapova led by a set and 5-2, and she was twice up a break in the third set, yet she lost 6-4 in the decider.
It was the first time in more than a decade that the 31-year-old Sharapova had lost a match that lasted more than 35 games. When it comes to marathons, she inevitably has the mental endurance to wear down her opponent and prevail - even after three hours and 30-plus games, you’ll never see her give a point away. But she couldn’t outlast Diatchenko, either mentally or physically.
Over the last two years, Azarenka and Sharapova have had their Hall of Fame careers disrupted, for very different reasons. Each has had a breakthrough moment in 2018 - Azarenka reached the semi-finals in Miami; Sharapova did the same in Rome. But neither has been able to sustain their success for long.
But that doesn’t mean either woman intends to wave the white flag.
“No doubt about it,” Azarenka said when she was asked at Roland-Garros if she thought she could return to the top of the game. “Maybe not today, but no doubt about it...I know there’s going to be ups and down in my game, and I have to work through them.”
“Tennis is a process,” Sharapova said after her loss on Tuesday. “I’ve certainly made a lot of progress despite this result today. I’ve made a lot of progress in the last few months. I find myself in a much better position than at this time last year.”
This is the age of the aged in tennis, and Azarenka and Sharapova can both point to plenty of examples of fellow players who have come back stronger than ever in their 30s after suffering setbacks - Venus and Serena Williams, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal most prominent among them.
At the start of 2018, I wouldn’t have hesitated to predict that Sharapova and Azarenka were going to win more majors and crack the top five again. They’ve both bounced back from major injuries in the past and returned to championship form. And there’s still no one, outside of perhaps Serena, that they can’t beat on a good day.
But after their early exits, their roads looks a little longer. What if Sharapova can’t rely on her mind-boggling persistence to beat lower-ranked players? What if Azarenka can’t out-run and out-hit the younger WTA guns, the way she once did so easily? What if they can’t intimidate their opponents with their physical presence and raw intensity? Not every great player, even today, can thrive into their mid-30s, can they?
We’ll have to wait and see. The only thing we do know is that no matter how long the road back to the top is, Sharapova and Azarenka will be willing to travel it.
