Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium hits a return against Justine Henin of Belgium in their women's singles fourth-round match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 24, 2010.GREG WOOD
When a new player bursts on the scene, it's fun to get a little background about him or her from the journalists from that country.
That happened Sunday night in Rod Laver Arena when I had a chance to sit beside a Belgian and learn about Yanina Wickmayer as she played her fellow Belgian Justine Henin.
It was a thoroughly entertaining match with Wickmayer, 20 and ranked No. 16, holding three set points in the opening set, including two in a row from 15-40. As she did when she survived two in a row against Elena Dementieva in the opening set of their sensational second-round match - with a volley winner and stone-cold forehand winner down-the-line - Henin was also icy-steel against Wickmayer. She saved the set points by hitting two un-returnable forehands and then another forehand approach shot deep into the backhand corner that Wickmayer could not control.
Henin took the first set, finishing it off with brio - serving and putting away a forehand volley.
She seemed to have what the French call a "baisse de régime" (letdown) in the second as the power-hitting Wickmayer dominated and took it 6-1.
But Henin broke straight off in the third and rode that break to win the match 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-3.
There was a danger moment for her as she rolled her left ankle in the sixth game of the final set on her way to taking a 4-2 lead. She said she hopes it will be okay for her quarter-final match-up with the red-hot Nadia Petrova on Tuesday.
Wickmayer later generously gave credit to Henin, stating that the early break in the final set took the wind out of her sails, and also that the older Belgian had served very well.
At the moment, Wickmayer is playing under a bit of a cloud. In November, the Fleming anti-doping tribunal in her homeland banned her for one year for violating the "whereabouts" rule - meaning early in 2009 she did not respond to letters to her Belgian residence telling her to register online so she could be randomly drug tested. Wickmayer maintained that she was away in Australia at the time (and had tested negative in tests there) and that Flemish authorities could have known where she was just by watching her matches in Australia on television. After the official entry date (December 7) for the Australian Open, Wickmayer's suspension was lifted by the ruling of another court in Belgium. The matter is now under appeal.
So Wickmayer, after going to Auckland, New Zealand, and winning the WTA Tour event there in the first week of 2009, then had to travel to Melbourne to play the Australian Open qualifying. After being pushed to the brink in her first qualifying match - she later said she experienced distracting thoughts such as 'why am I playing here as the No. 16 player in the world?' - against the little-known Yurika Sema of Japan, she lost just a single game in winning her final two rounds.
At 6-foot tall and lean, Wickmayer is an impressive figure on the court and packs a mighty wallop - hitting crackerjack, flat drives off her forehand and double-handed backhand sides. She has a very good serve and is getting better at finishing points at the net. Her gangly movement means she is not as quick as she could be, but she is a genuinely tough competitor and that should take her far. With few ranking points to defend the next couple of months, she could easily break the top 10 by April with some good performances - and a favourable ruling on the appeal of her suspension.
Here are a few of the things I learned about Wickmayer - her name is definitely pronounced Wickmayer, as in a candle wick. It is not Vick-mayer as it might be if it was a Swedish name like Wilander. And her friends call her "Wicky."
Yanina lost her mother to cancer at age nine, and subsequently spent nearly three years at a tennis academy in Saddlebrook, Florida, with her father Marc. He is still her coach and apparently very protective of her.
It was interesting to be reminded that Henin's well-known and longtime coach, Carlos Rodriguez, had a trial period with Wickmayer last year - obviously before Henin decided to make a comeback - and it did not work out.
Wickmayer has had little to do with Henin and they are apparently not friends, although they did share a properly-civil handshake at the net after the match.
Although Wickmayer, who is from the Flemish part of Belgium, not the French or Walloon side like Henin, is not that close to her fellow-Flemish player Kim Clijsters. While Clijsters is cited as being Wickmayer's idol in the WTA Tour guidebook, they are not as compatible as they could be because of the usual intra-country rivalries between top players.
That Flemish-Walloon rivalry was in evidence when three (Flemish) Belgian fans stood up and chanted at one changeover - directly across from where Henin was seated during the changeover - "tout ensemble, tout ensemble, Yanina, Yanina" (altogether, altogether, Yanina, Yanina)." It seemed strange they wouldn't be chanting in Flemish but it was explained to me that it was probably done to try to irritate and annoy Henin.
Wickmayer, who easily handled Canadian players in a Fed Cup tie in Belgium last February as a relative unknown, is destined for bigger and better things. On Sunday, the crowd in Rod Laver started out more for Henin but it was easy to tell, as the match went along, that they fell for Wickmayer's coltish enthusiasm, fiery competitiveness and big-time shot-making.