Defeat in the final of the 2007 French Open has not left a seed of doubt in the mind of Australian Open finalist Ana Ivanovic — quite the opposite.
That painful loss to Justine Henin has in fact helped the 20-year-old Serb prepare for Saturday’s Melbourne Park showdown, Ivanovic told reporters on Friday.
The third seed, who will meet Russia’s Maria Sharapova on Rod Laver Arena in the final of the year’s first grand slam on Saturday, admitted she had been a bundle of nerves before her first grand slam final at Roland Garros last year.
”I had taken it one match at a time but then in the final, I was thinking ‘Oh, my God, maybe I can win a grand slam’,” the smiling fourth-seed told reporters on Friday. ”I started thinking more emotionally. It was very overwhelming.
”[The] whole atmosphere, everything, was just too big. [But] tomorrow, when I walk on the court, I know a little bit what to expect.”
The tall baseliner, who will reach a career-high ranking of two when the new rankings are released next Monday, added that while she was still an emotional person on court she had learned to control them.
Enthusiastic support
”It’s just important to learn how to make it work for you instead of against you,” she added.
”That’s something I’ve been working on really hard because sometimes if I make a few mistakes in the past, I used to get very upset about it and sort of got on that bad roll.
”But now I can control my emotions a little bit better and just direct them in a positive way.”
Ivanovic has members of her extended family living in Melbourne and has enjoyed an enthusiastic expatriate Serbian following during the tournament, which had also helped her through some of the tight moments during her run especially in the semi-final against Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova.
Hantuchova had won the first set 6-0 and was leading 2-0 in the second before Ivanovic made an astonishing fight back to win the match in three sets.
”When I was in the court, I was so surprised to see how many people supported me,” she said. ”They helped me so much to win that match.
”It’s obviously a great feeling because I feel so comfortable out here, you know, just having so many fans.” – Reuters