Sabine Lisicki: The girl with a Midas touch on grass

Sabine Lisicki

What is this eerie connection between Sabine Lisicki and the reigning French Open champions on the revered grass of Wimbledon? Is it just the touch and feel of the soft, unsullied grass that inspires her to rise above all odds? Or is it the underdog status that triggers the latent giant-killer within her? Or is it that the serves magically come booming right when she needs them and the forehands start kissing the lines at her beck and call?

What Sabine Lisicki did at Wimbledon on Monday simply added to her fabled story on the verdant courts of SW19. It is a story which hasn’t crowned her as the queen yet, but with her dazzling display time and again and that joyful exuberance marked by that contagious smile, it has captured a million hearts.

This is her self-acclaimed favourite tournament, and Centre Court is her favourite court in the world. And she underlines those words with as much emphasis as she can muster with her burgeoning self-belief. Before the media started foreboding her destiny at the hands of the irrepressible Serena Williams, she reminded, “I was in this situation last year when everybody was saying Sharapova was the favorite. I’m probably going into this match being the underdog too, but I like it like that.”

For the 23-year-old German, pressure is a privilege, and she fully abides by those invaluable words. And it is what motivates her to come up with unbreakable resistance, an unshakeable power game and a mind as tough as a nut at Big W. Above all, the desire to achieve these colossal heights on the most magnificent court in the world gives her a serene ecstasy and tremendous confidence. After finishing her match with Serena Williams she wept with the words, “I am so happy,” and that moment reflected the innocent and overflowing mirth within her at realising the magnitude of her achievement.

The smiling assassin has been spurred to plot the most devious end to an apparently scripted Wimbledon story almost every year since 2009. Maria Sharapova can vouch for that and so can Li Na and Svetlana Kuznetsova. Each of them arrived at the Big W on a euphoric high after reaching the pinnacle of their success on the other side of the English Channel. And each had wanted to quietly burrow their ways through the draw and end up with the prestigious Venus Rosewater Dish on the second Saturday. But all of them uncannily and weirdly faced the impervious German obstacle – Sabine Lisicki.

Sharapova arrived here last year on the back of a wondrous run at the French capital that saw her complete the Career Slam. Yet she was jolted by an ignominious defeat despite having triumphed against the German at the Australian Open. Li Na had just made the headlines as the first Asian major winner in singles before Sabine rudely woke her up from her dreams in 2011, warding off match points in the process.

The latter feat is even more commendable because Lisicki accomplished it after losing a chunk of the previous year owing to injuries. It was a great emotional upheaval as the long injury lay-off had seen her fall out of the top 200, but the Midas touch of grass brought about a miraculous turnaround. She had sizzled in Birmingham, winning her only grasscourt trophy till date and as a wild card, hurried past baffled opponents at Wimbledon en route to the semifinals.

Perhaps even more impressive was her journey in 2009 when the fledgling 19-year-old Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy-trained protégé looked and played like a new star. She demolished everyone on her way to winning the clay title at Charleston, with her victims including Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki.

Her game was soon lauded, especially her serve, which came as a breath of fresh air in an age which sees the predominant existence of fragile serves on the tour. Lisicki soon repaid the faith at Wimbledon by stunning the Danish teenager once again and the then newly-crowned Roland Garros queen Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Sabine Lisicki’s serve came as a breath of fresh air in an age which sees the predominant existence of fragile serves on the Tour

A top 10 place in the rankings seemed imminent, but four years later Lisicki is yet to break into that illustrious group, having reached a high of No. 12. That is because Lisicki’s game has its own pitfalls and quite a few times she has simply spiralled off into an abyss, with no clue of what she was doing on the court.

At those moments, her serve lays in tatters, her groundstrokes fly off the court without any restraint and her nerves jangle – yes, Lisicki has presented this despondent picture many a time, including this year at Charleston, which is the birthplace of all her triumphs.

But it is Wimbledon which weaves a magical labyrinth for her. Wonderfully trapped in it, Sabine seems to leave behind that erroneous, flawed avatar and comes out as a player whose audacity remains camouflaged by her sugary charm. She hadn’t won a singles title all year despite reaching two finals. But armed with Kim Clijsters‘s erstwhile coach Wim Fissette, even the prospect of facing the woman on a 34-match winning streak didn’t seem daunting to her.

The 2013 Roland Garros champion Serena, however, was different from all the French Open champions that had become her victims, as she is the last female player to have done the Roland Garros-Wimbledon double. Nobody knows better than her how fast the transition from the merciless clay to the lightning fast grass needs to be done.

From the outset, the 23rd-seeded German made her intentions clear. She was undeterred and not overawed by Serena’s status. Nicknamed ‘Boom Boom’, she constantly reminded tennis aficionados of her eminent Wimbledon-winning compatriot with booming serves – Boris Becker.

Serena’s normally reliable serve seemed a tad off and sensing it, Lisicki racked up her own number of winners – 35 winners to the world No. 1′s meagre 25. More spectacular was the way she steadied the ship after a disastrous second set where Serena was obviously expected to take control of the proceedings.

At 0-3 in the final set, Lisicki was fast heading into oblivion, but she still pulled the chain and steered the match her own way. An absolutely spellbinding display of off-forehands time and again landed right where Lisicki wanted them to and so did the serves. It was bewitching and beguiling! Lisicki’s anticipation, footwork, devastating speed, low returns – every single thing worked spot on and exposed the comparatively lethargic footwork of the five-time Wimbledon champion.

Even when she went three break points down while serving at 3-4 or when she had to serve out her match, Lisicki was a picture of enviable calm and poise except for the occasional outbursts of radiant smiles. And that is what has endeared her to the millions watching with bated breath.

“You have to play your best to beat her, but everybody’s a human being, so we’ll see what happens. I have nothing to lose.” – Sabine Lisicki

That she fully believed in herself despite knowing her opponent has one of the most lethal grass games is what is so admirable. And she totally affirmed it that very thing when she said before the match, “You have to play your best to beat her, but everybody’s a human being, so we’ll see what happens. I have nothing to lose.”

Sabine was right. In this vicious cycle of triumphs and losses, her momentous feat undoubtedly underlined how every venerable champion is merely a mortal at the end of the day and how far unflinching courage and positive attitude can push even the most overwhelming underdog.