Dellacqua Gets Lesson From No. 1 Davenport
The Age
Tuesday January 17, 2006
DESPITE the commonality of beginning their journey in the women's locker room, Lindsay Davenport and Casey Dellacqua entered Melbourne Park's centre court at 11.08am yesterday having come from very different places.
Davenport earned the nod to play the first match of the 2006 Australian Open by finishing 2005 as the No. 1 ranked woman in the world. Her last steps on centre stage were taken in losing last January's final to Serena Williams.Dellacqua was on the other side of the net by right, too, having claimed the wildcard on offer for the leading player on Australia's second-tier circuit. However her successes last year at Mackay, Rockhampton and Port Pirie did not register quite as resoundingly on the world tennis radar as Davenport's titles in Dubai, Zurich and Filderstadt, to name three of six, nor the loss to the other Williams, Venus, at Wimbledon.Davenport begins the year atop the rankings for the fourth time, Dellacqua stared her down from 194 links further down the food chain. Davenport's career earnings are nudging $30 million, Dellacqua's cheque for losing in the first round for the fourth year in a row bumped her up over $160,000. The stuff of dreams for her 19-year-old mates working summer jobs back in Perth, but not yet bragging material in the WTA players lounge.The scoreline, a 6-2, 6-1 win to Davenport, was as expected, and the American's thumping overhead at 12.13pm brought the curtain down on the first completed match of the tournament (if you discount Hana Sromova's success against Akiko Morigami after the Japanese retired hurt at 0-3).Yet Dellacqua had cause to be disappointed at not giving Davenport a bumpier ride, as she never recovered from a stuttering opening service game and ultimately sent down six double faults for the match and lifted only 46 per cent of first balls into play."I don't even know what my first serve percentage was, but I think it was pretty shocking," she said. "I felt like Lindsay obviously returns so well, I always felt like I had to put in a good serve, otherwise I was on the back foot the whole time. I guess that put a little bit of pressure on my serve."Davenport, too, was rusty, foot-faulting on the match's first point and struggling to find her range. "I was actually a little nervous, and I don't know if that's just because I've been counting the days down the last few days because I wanted to play," Davenport said."It was good, I mean, she hit the ball well. I felt like I was able to play someone who played at a good level."Dellacqua's ball-striking was warmly received by a partisan crowd and at times floored her taller opponent. Even at match point she summoned a backhand winner that left Davenport rooted to the baseline. But when the American did warm to the task, it was more than Dellacqua could handle. "I felt like she was dictating. Yeah, once she got into the match, I felt like I was outclassed for sure."Days such as Dellacqua's are routinely (and somewhat tritely) labelled "a learning experience", and her bubbly post-match demeanour pointed to a realisation that nothing more than a match had been lost. Rewind 12 months, and a three-set loss to Jelena Kostanic left her tearful at the thought of what might have been.Dellacqua has worked hard on her game and her fitness, and there remains room for improvement in both areas. "(I am) a lot fitter than last year, but still a long way to go. I felt quite slow out there, actually. That's obviously something - I'm not used to that pace of ball, coming from someone like Lindsay."She will use her prizemoney as she has done in each of the last three years - to fund an overseas trip with a view to mounting an assault on the top 100. Small steps, taken now with a little more knowledge of what needs to be done.
© 2006 The Age
