Overview of Maria Kirilenko's 2012 performance – Tennis News
Reigning world number 14, Maria Kirilenko, is one of the most powerful contenders and is famous “Little Maria” amongst her fans. She is one of the strongest tennis professionals ready to face all the challenges with a powerful
serve precision, struggling hard to stand as a solid rock against her challenges.
National Women’s Tennis coach, Nicole Pratt told the media, “Kirilenko is a very good competitor. She brings discipline and determination at a very high level every single day. There's very few days that you see that drop off.
That's why you see her ranking at No.14: she's very consistent. She is fit and strong, but I think because she's one of the smaller girls on tour that she lacks that firepower and struggles when the ball gets up high and out of the strike zone. She relies
on her foot speed to take the ball early at waist height. Depending on the draw that could pose a problem for her.”
The Russian contender launched one of the most successful tennis campaigns in 2012 and if she continued with the same consistency, she can surely make it to the world top-10. At the Australian Open held at the Melbourne Park, she
made it until the third round but had to withdraw against the Czech rival, Petra Kvitova.
She made it until the final round of the PTT Pattaya Open and showed remarkable ability strength to battle against all the competitors. She displayed an average serve precision in the clay court season and was unable to make beyond
the earlier rounds for most of the WTA Championships.
The 25-year-old Russian professional made it until the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon Champions. At the London 2012 Olympics, she contested for the bronze medal but lost at the hands of reigning world number one, Victoria Azarenka.
She has the ability to withstand a great deal of pressure at the hands of her competitors and can strike the ball with great might. Kirilenko has a strong defence with high-paced backhand, encountering the higher ranked rivals.
The right-hander is slow at picking up momentum in the match and this sometimes serves as the disadvantage against the lower ranked rivals. Alongside that, she is easy to intimidate by a more experienced player, making more errors
than usual.
The Russian champion surely posses the ability to become the part of the world class professional but definitely needs to work on her serve precision and sustain her focus through the later rounds of the major tournaments.
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