At the beginning of 2008, coaching Ana Ivanovic would have seemed like one of the easiest jobs on the WTA Tour. But two years down the track and the newly appointed Heinz Gunthardt looks like he has his work cut out for him.
Ivanovic’s decision to appoint Gundhardt, who coached Steffi Graf to 12 Grand Slam titles, signals the former world No. 1’s intent to rectify a few things with regard to both her game and her ranking.
The ranking, of course, is merely a symptom of the glamorous Serb’s struggles on the court. She now sits at world No. 26 and if Ivanovic can’t turn things around soon, she’s a genuine chance of returning to the Grand Slam she won just two years ago as an unseeded player. And who knows what her ranking might look like by the end of the year.
As the 2008 French Open champion signed off for 2009 on her website, she noted that her year had been “very disappointing” and at least so far there has been no improvement on that in 2010.
The results don’t lie. The 22-year-old has not won a title since 2008. Even Maria Sharapova, still looking to recapture her pre-shoulder injury form has won a couple since her return, including in a relatively weak field at Memphis last week.
And since becoming a Grand Slam champion, Ivanovic’s form at the majors has been at best average for a player of her ability (two fourth-round showings in 2009) and at worst downright disappointing (last year’s first-round exit at the US Open the worst of the lot).
The second decade of the millennium has delivered another premature exit from the Australian Open for Ivanovic, and yet another injury niggle with shoulder tendonitis forcing her to withdraw from last week’s Dubai Tennis Championships.
Clearly, correcting Ivanovic’s erratic serve has to be a high priority for Gundhardt but restoring Ivanovic’s confidence must also be high on his “to do” list. Starting with that wayward ball toss. Whether or not Ivanovic is struggling with her serve as a result of injury (and the recent shoulder tendonitis indicates this may be so), urgent improvement is needed in this aspect of her game.
And if Ivanovic can shore up her serve, then surely her old confidence that took her all the way to the top will follow.
We’ll first get the chance to see Ivanovic under the tutelage of Gundhardt playing in the exhibition Billie Jean King Cup in New York in March, where she’s replacing the injured Serena Williams in the four-woman draw. She may be in the midst of a form slump, but as a recently inked life-time deal with Adidas and an appearance in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue prove, Ivanovic is still as marketable as ever.
Though there’s only pride on the line here, with no ranking points to be collected, Ivanovic’s semi-final against Kim Clijsters will be an interesting test for the Serb, and will surely provide her new coach with a courtside view of just where his new charge is in comparison with one of the best in the game.
Ivanovic’s appointment of a full-time coach, any coach, at this juncture can only be a positive move as she looks to recapture title-winning form. But the appointment of Gundhardt, which suspends her participation in the Adidas Player Development Programme where she’d been working with Sven Groeneveld on a part-time basis, indicates Ivanovic’s intent to once again return to the top of the rankings.
If Gundhardt can help his new charge accomplish a fraction of the success that Graf achieved, the partnership will surely be regarded as a success.
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