NEW YORK – Svetlana Kuznetsova is trying to regain her winning ways on the tennis court. Kimiko Date Krumm is just happy to be playing tennis again.
On Tuesday, Date Krumm showed flashes of the player who once was ranked fifth in the world. But that was before an 11-year retirement. Now, the clever player from Japan is at 39 the oldest woman to be ranked in the top 50 in the world since Billie Jean King in 1984.
Playing the US Open at the National Tennis Center that is named for Billie Jean King, Date Krumm put up a game battle before succumbing to Kuznetsova 6-2 4-6 6-1.
Without the power game of today’s players, Date Krumm relies on placement and spins, coming up with the unexpected. Her timing on shots at her feet was impeccable, time and again returning balls that in so many other matches for so many other players may have been unreturnable.
The veteran was chipping and charging, hitting drop shots, lobs, dinks, slices and with topspin, completing points sometimes with sharply-angled shots that once over the net dipped sharply, kissing the court just inside the baseline. It was a demonstration of how tennis used to be played, when she was young and the racquets were wood.
“It was different because her swing of the racquet is very different,” Kuznetsova said of Date Krumm. “The first two games I was just trying to understand how she managed to do that.”
Kuznetsova, no rookie herself but, at the age of 25 definitely not in the long-toothed category, responded with the type of game that has proven successful to her over the years, hitting with power off both sides.
“She has a good serve and power,” Date Krumm said of her conqueror. “She’s very quick.”
The two different styles helped make the game one of the most interesting of the year’s final Grand Slam tournament, as did the misses: Date Krumm sailing shots long, Kuznetsova blasting the ball wide, trying for just a little too much against a player who seemingly was able to run down every ball and return it.
“It was nice to play for me, because I can play any type of game, you know,” Kuznetsova said. “It was fun to do different things. To go forward doesn’t bother me. And to play fast and then slow. It was interesting. It was good experience.”
Kuznetsova, who won America’s premier tennis tournament in 2004 and the French Open in 2009, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the decisive third set by breaking her Japanese opponent in the second game. Date Krumm wasn’t ready to go away, however, and broke right back, zipping a forehand cross-court winner to put the set back on serve.
That was enough of that foolishness for Kuznetsova, who has seen her ranking drop to 11th in the world – she was ranked as high as number two just three years ago. Pumping up the power and cutting down on her mistakes, Kuznetsova went more for the corners and angles, finding nothing but winners. Date Krumm’s dream had turned into somewhat of a nightmare.
Still, this was Date Krumm’s first appearance at the US Open since 1996. She had, after all, retired while on top of her game, being ranked in the top 10 in the world.
“It’s more tough now,” she said when asked about the changes in the women’s game since she began playing some two decades ago.. “Everybody’s more powerful, more speedy. I have to adjust for that. They want to hit more harder, more quicker.
“Sometimes young people only hit in the middle. They don’t use the outsides. I tried to use the whole court.”
Earlier this year Date Krumm became the second oldest woman to win a match at Roland Garros and the oldest at any Grand Slam tournament since Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 2004.
Date Krumm wasn’t the only blast from the past to see action under the blazing sun on Tuesday. Mirjana Lucic of Croatia beat Australia’s Alicia Molik 7-6 (5) 6-1.
“This is my first US Open in, I don’t know, seven years or something,” said Lucic. “Feels incredible.”
Lucic was a rising superstar in 1997, when at the age of 15, she won the first professional tournament she ever played. In her second tournament, she reached the final in Strasbourg, France, where she lost to Steffi Graf.
The following year, 1998, playing in her first tour doubles event, Lucic became the youngest player to win a title at the Australian Open when she teamed with Martina Hingis for the women’s doubles crown. That made Lucic the first player to win both the first singles and first doubles events they had played on the WTA Tour.
She reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 1999, again losing to Graf, before personal problems forced her out of tennis.
“I don’t want to go into the reasons about everything. It was just unfortunate why I haven’t played,” said Lucic, who is now 28. “It wasn’t because I was sick of tennis or anything like that. It was just a lot of unfortunate circumstances.
“Every match I win now, it’s like winning an entire tournament. Before, I was really lucky and blessed to be so good when I was so young. And it was just normal. I grew up winning since I was six years old. I was winning tournaments and it was always normal.
“But once that has been sort of taken away for years, you haven’t had that feeling, you know. Every match gives me such satisfaction. I really enjoy it so much. And just the fact that I have the ability to do it again, I’m really happy out there.
“My dream never died and never went away.”