The latest news about Ana!

French Open preview

May 21, 2009 /

Ana is in Paris preparing for the second Grand Slam of the year – the French Open, which begins on Sunday. Ana is the reigning champion, having captured her maiden Grand Slam and become No.1 in the world for the first time during last year’s memorable tournament.

The 21-year-old was forced to withdraw from the Mutua Madrilena Madrid open two weeks ago, but she has recovered in time to compete at Roland Garros. "Thankfully the pain and inflammation in my knee has gone away, so I have been able to practice this week,” she said.

“My timing is pretty good at the moment and I'm optimistic about my chances of success in Paris.

"Obviously I haven't had the preparation I would have liked, but on the positive side I didn't play many matches before the French Open last year too."

In fact, last year Ana played just one match more on clay than she has in the run-up to this year’s event: four versus three.

Twelve months ago, Ana produced a fantastic winning streak in Paris, advancing to the semi-finals without losing a set. After impressive victories over Sofia Arvidsson, Lucie Safarova and Caroline Wozniacki, Ana played near flawless tennis against Czech Petra Cetkovska, whom she overwhelmed 6-0, 6-0 in round four.

Two days later Ana faced world No.11 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland in the quarter-finals. Ana, seeded second for last year’s tournament, once again got off to a good start, dominating the match right from the beginning. The 200th win of her professional career was sealed after only 75 minutes as she triumphed 6-3, 6-2.

Certainly one of Ana’s most thrilling matches of 2008 was her semi-final encounter with compatriot Jelena Jankovic, which paved the way for Ana achieving her lifetime ambition of becoming No.1 in the world.

Unlike the matches before, it was a tie full of ups and downs, but thanks to Ana’s bravery on the big points, after more than two hours, she moved into her second successive French Open final.

In an intriguing Grand Slam final against Dinara Safina, Ana again hit form right on time, beating the Russian 6-4, 6-3 after one hour and 35 minutes to reach a major milestone in her young career.

Despite Ana’s impressive history at this event she prefers not to see herself as a “defending” champion.

“It’s an honour to be known as the defending champion, but for me this is a new Grand Slam and I’m excited about it,” she said. “I am not defending anything. This is a new tournament and a new opportunity to win another Grand Slam.”

According to the latest Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Singles Rankings, the 21-year-old is set to be the seeded eighth. She will conduct the men's draw at Stade Roland Garros at 11.30am local time on Friday.

By Yannic Glowitz