Radwanska revved for Auckland return
‘ I had a sore foot for over a year and I’ve had problems with my health.’ AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA
IT may be that Agnieszka Radwanska is the lesser known of the big three for January’s ASB Classic, but she is the one with perhaps the best chance of winning the tournament.
The 28-year-old Pole played in Auckland in 2013 and won the Classic without dropping a set.
She hasn’t been back since, choosing to start the season in Shenzhen or Sydney in the intervening years and she’s done just as well in them, getting wins in both.
So while Caroline Wozniacki hasn’t won in Auckland in four previous attempts and Victoria Azarenka will come to New Zealand having played just two tournaments in 2017, it could be Radwanska who’ll be the one to watch as she looks to extend her unbeaten streak at the Classic.
‘‘I have great memories of being in Auckland,’’ Radwanska said from Poland.
‘‘The last couple of years I’ve played in Shenzhen which is also a great tournament, but this is a strong tournament before the Australian Open and a great way to start the year and that’s why I’m looking forward to it.
The peak of Radwanska’s career was in 2012 when she made the final at Wimbledon and climbed to No 2 in the world rankings.
She’ll end 2017 ranked 28 and it’s been a year where she’s failed to win a tournament for the first time since 2010.
‘‘It wasn’t that great,’’ she admitted. ‘‘I had a sore foot for over a year and I’ve had problems with my health, I had a couple of viruses.
‘‘I had to withdraw from a couple of tournaments and that didn’t help my preparation for the grand slams or the big events and even then I was also sick.
‘‘For the first time in a while I’m starting some tournaments being unseeded, so I hope I prepare good and start winning matches.’’
This year has seen a couple of tennis movies come out and thankfully they were both better than the dreadful Wimbledon romcom in 2004.
Firstly there was the Battle of the Sexes, based on the match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973.
Released this Christmas is Borg vs McEnroe, about one of the greatest rivalries of all time in tennis.
Radwanska says it’s good that the sport she’s devoted her life to is getting exposure on the silver screen.
‘‘Tennis is a sport where you can really show a lot of things that are going on off the court,’’ she said. ‘‘There is always a good and bad side to tennis, but the story of every tennis player is a great one, right from when you start playing at the age of five.
‘‘For every top player, it’s been a journey of success and it would make a great story on any of the players.
‘‘So having this movie is good, because it shows people what we’ve all had to do and how hard we’ve had to work off the court.
‘‘You can’t really see that when you’re a spectator, you only see what’s on the court.’’