Chakvetadze's lost time
January 12, 2008
The pain is still raw for world No.6 Anna Chakvetadze, the Russian tennis queen held up at gunpoint by masked bandits and robbed of $250,000 during a home invasion last month.
By comparison, the Australian sun beating down on Melbourne's centre court is a welcome distraction.
With snow covering the outskirts of Moscow on December 18 last year, Chakvetadze's preparations for the opening grand slam of this year were rocked by a chilling reality.
Masked men burst into her mansion. Her father Dzhamal was pistol-whipped. The Russian tennis star was tied-up.
"We actually didn't want anyone to know about that but the same day it was everywhere on the internet and in the newspapers,'' Chakvetadze said.
"Everywhere was information about what happened.
"I'm so happy we have a lot of friends and people who helped us because it was a tough time for me and my family, what we went through.''
By the time the bandits had finished the Chakvetadze family were missing $250,000 worth of cash, jewellery and other assets.
The Russian tennis queen's lead-in to the Australian Open was in tatters, having been scheduled to fly to Hong Kong the day of the ordeal to begin preparing for a hot summer.
Instead she sought refuge with family friends. Now Chakvetadze must start tomorrow's Open on a limited and disrupted preparation.
"It's tough to say how I will perform because my preparation was disrupted because I had some troubles with me and my family before my flight, said Chakvetadze in understatement.
"So the preparation was not that good. It's very hot in Australia, I have to get used to it, in Russia at the moment it's minus 15.
"In Australia the first time is tough because of the heat but once you get used to it it starts to get good.
"All the top 10 players are dangerous but it's very difficult to say because you don't know what shape each player is going to be in.''
On the court, 2007 was a watershed year for the latest female Russian tennis star.
Chakvetadze won four singles titles on the Women's Tennis Association tour, amassed $1.6 million in prizemoney and made the semi-finals of the US Open.
Now she's aiming even higher.
"The new generation is always coming, every year there is someone new so you have to be ready for that,'' she said.
"I want to get better all the time, challenge the best players, beat some of the others in the top 10.''
Knocked out of the Sydney International in the opening round last week, Chakvetadze has been honing her game in on the new plexicushion courts in Melbourne.
"It's much slower than it used to be last year but if you practice on it then you get used to it.
"I like it, it's all right.''
Meanwhile compatriot Vera Zvonareva's Australian Open campaign is now in doubt after a warm-up mishap forced her to withdraw from the Hobart International final, handing the title to Greece's Eleni Daniilidou.
Daniilidou won her fifth WTA tour event with the walkover after second seed Zvonareva badly rolled her left ankle in practise.
The Russian world No.23 had an MRI scan in Melbourne yesterday to determine the extent of the damage, but concedes her grand slam hopes are in danger.