Translated material
Belgian total
Kim Clijsters became champion in Doha
Belgian tennis player Kim Clijsters won the final women's championship for the third time in her career. Seven years after her last triumph at this tournament in the capital of Qatar, the 27-year-old Belgian beat Dane Caroline Wozniacki in the final - 6:3, 5:7, 6:3. True, her opponent has no reason to be particularly upset. Wozniacki finished this season ranked first in the world.The final championship in Qatar brought together the eight best tennis players in the world, with the exception of the Williams sisters from the USA, who refused the trip, citing health problems. The competition participants included two Russians - Vera Zvonareva and Elena Dementieva. The first, who did not lose a single match in the group stage, reached the semi-finals, where she lost to Wozniacki, which became the biggest disappointment of the season for Zvonareva. Dementieva, who won one victory in her subgroup and suffered three defeats, announced the end of her sports career there, in Qatar.
Two tennis players made it to the finals, who, based on the results of the year, should have gone there, the experienced Clijsters and the representative of the new generation of tennis players Wozniacki. The latter has won six victories this season, Clijster has won four. None of the other tennis players won anymore, so to some extent, sports justice triumphed.
The decisive meeting between the Dane and the Belgian lasted more than two hours and maintained intrigue almost until the end. True, after the first game, in which Wozniacki could do absolutely nothing with her opponent and could not find any counterarguments, it seemed that the fight would be limited to two sets. After all, in the second game Clijsters led 4:1, but, apparently, the advantage she earned played a cruel joke on the Belgian. Clijsters relaxed, which Wozniacki did not fail to take advantage of. The Dane restored the balance in the match, but the Belgian did not need such a turn.
In addition, Clijsters had much more significant trump cards in her deck: an excellent game on the back line, a set of various techniques and combinations, self-confidence, after all, for two years in a row, in 2002 and 2003, she won the final tournament, and the experience of victories cannot be written off, but the most important thing is fighting qualities. The latter was more than illustrated by one episode. Before the semi-final in Doha, a truck crashed into Clijsters' car. According to the tennis player, the accident was terrible; her manager was injured and was hit by broken glass. However, this did not stop the Belgian from winning the semi-final against Samantha Stosur from Australia. After the match, Clijsters admitted that she simply abstracted herself from what happened and concentrated solely on the game.
With such character and attitude, it was not difficult for the Belgian to take the decisive third set in the final against Wozniacki to victory. Moreover, the experienced champion also had well-thought-out psychological preparation for the tournament. Before Doha, Clijsters missed more than two months due to injury. And although many believed that the lack of full training could have a negative impact on the Belgian’s game, this circumstance, apparently, on the contrary, brought her tangible advantages. Clijsters arrived at the championship extremely concentrated and rested. And during the course of the season, she skillfully divided the load - she played 42 matches on the court, almost two times less than Wozniacki, who had 74 of them.
Having crossed a certain age limit, the most important thing in tennis is to clearly dose the load, not play all tournaments in a row, but look for a middle ground. This is often repeated by the President of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpishchev in relation to Russian players. Clijsters confirmed in practice the correctness of this theory, focusing this year on defending the US Open title and the final tournament in Doha. The Belgian achieved the desired result. For the second year in a row, she won the US Open, the current final championship, and finished the season as the third racket in the world.
But, perhaps, the most important thing is that she proved that anything is possible in modern women's tennis. Few athletes, even the highest, could not reach their previous level after becoming mothers. Clijsters succeeded. After all, I grew up in a sports family, where sports and the rest of life were inseparable, a “natural habitat.” Returning to tennis a year ago after the birth of her daughter, Clijsters found additional motivation. If you switch from family to sports, there should be a tangible result. Otherwise, such an unequal choice from a woman’s point of view simply does not make sense. Clijsters has given herself two more years to play tennis, and the time frame is forcing her to be more energetic. In Doha, the tennis player told reporters that after the Olympics in London in 2012 she would retire. Daughter Jada will go to school, and Clijsters wants to devote himself to household chores and have many children. But she will not leave tennis. Together with a friend, Clijsters bought a tennis club in Belgium, where she plans to train young athletes in the future.
We can actually draw a line under the current season in women's tennis. Although formally, fans are still waiting for the Fed Cup final, which will take place on November 6-7 in San Diego, California, with the participation of the US and Italian national teams, as well as an alternative final tournament in Bali.
These competitions will feature those tennis players who did not qualify for Doha, but won at least one tournament with a prize fund of 220 thousand dollars. Among these were two Russian tennis players - Alisa Kleybanova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
For obvious reasons, the stars of world women's tennis will not fly to Bali. For them, this sports year is over, and the new one starts in January 2011. Russian Vera Zvonareva will meet him as the second racket in the world ranking. The past season was productive for the Muscovite.
BTA rating. 1. Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) - 8035 points. 2. Vera Zvonareva (Russia) - 6785. 3. Kim Clijsters (Belgium) - 6635. 4. Serena Williams (USA) - 5355. 5. Venus Williams (USA) - 4985. 6. Samantha Stosur (Australia) ) - 4982. 7. Francesca Schiavone (Italy) - 4935. 8. Elena Jankovic (Serbia) - 4445. 9. Elena Dementieva (Russia) - 4335. 10. Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) - 4235.. 15. Nadezhda Petrova - 2702... 17. Maria Sharapova - 2591... 19. Maria Kirilenko - 2550. 20. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova - 2520... 26. Svetlana Kuznetsova - 2221. 27. Alisa Kleybanova - 2025... 49. Ekaterina Makarova (all - Russia).