World number 19, Aravane Rezai is a French tennis player with an Iranian background. The 23-year-old player is currently France’s Number 2 tennis pro on the women list.
Rezai has been playing tennis since her childhood, when she underwent a brief stint as her elder brother’s ball girl. With four WTA rankings under her belt, she has defeated a number of the best players on the tour. Her conquests include former World Number
ones Maria Sharapova, Dinara Safina, Venus Williams, Jelena Jankovic, Justine Henin, French Open victor Francesca Schiavone, Marion Bartoli, Victoria Azarenka, Flavia Pennetta, Ai Sugiyama and current World Number 1 Caroline “Sunshine” Wozniacki. She achieved
her career-high ranking of World number 15 on 11 October 2010.
Her best performance of 2010 was undoubtedly during the clay run. For the first time in her career, she was recognised due to her successful campaign at Madrid. After taking away the Madrid title, she also became a hot favourite in France for Roland Garros.
Her run at Madrid came as a surprise to all, but critics say that it was possibly her big first round victory which gave her the confidence to perform well again. She managed to defeat tennis pro and former World number 1 Justine Henin in three sets 4-6,
7-5, 6-0. For a relatively inexperienced player such as Rezai, a bagel over a seasoned pro is no small feat. Taking her cue from this victory, she proceeded to defeat Serbian tennis pro Jelena Jankovic in quarter-finals and then Lucie Safarova in the semi-finals.
Finally, she defeated American Venus Williams in the title match to claim the Madrid cup.
Her best result at a Grand Slam was also on the clay courts of the French Open. She made it to the third round, but fell to Russian Nadia Petrova in a marathon match which ended with a score line of 6-7, 6-4, 10-8. On the other hand, her lowest point at
a Majors event was at the US Open. She was defeated by American teenager Beatrice Capra in the second round.
In review, 2010 was the year in which Rezai gained some fame. While fans may have known her through scoreboards and ranking charts, it was not until her spectacular show at Madrid that they were able to witness her power-mad game.
However, while her hard-hitting style was notably successful on clay, she also lost out due to it on the hard courts. At surfaces besides clay, Rezai frequently fell in the first few rounds. Perhaps the difference in her play is because red courts are slower-
a fact Rezai seems to recognise. This year, after a second round defeat at the All England Club, she chose to play at Bastad (where she won) and Palermo before coming to the American surface.
While most WTA players rely on accuracy and tend to underestimate the importance of power, Rezai’s game comes from a different angle. This discrepancy could be her redeeming quality, but she will have to improve considerably when it comes to other surfaces
before she makes it to the top-10.
Tags: