Sabine Lisicki - The 'smiling darling' of women's tennis

Sabine Lisicki of Germany smiles during a practice session on day eleven of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 5, 2013 in London, England. (Getty Images)

Over the years, Wimbledon has been quintessentially a microcosm of well-established British traditions. For a tennis player, taking part on the slick, manicured lawns of Wimbledon, it isn’t just about participating in another major.

Instead, everyone holds it in towering regard because of the rich tradition and heritage associated with Wimbledon. When the incessant rain gives away to beautiful sunshine, watching a game of tennis at the All England Club is a real spectacle.

Over the course of two weeks, on the slick, manicured lawns that baked in sunshine, the smiling assassin from Germany, Sabine Lisicki lit up SW19, with her stinging serves and scorching cross-court forehand winners.

With equally remarkable athleticism and tremendous amounts of self-belief, she overcame the odds, defeating the likes of Agnieszka Radwanska and Serena Williams, on her journey to the final at Wimbledon.

But more than her power-packed game, she wowed the packed Centre Court with her gleaming smile. No wonder, Lisicki earned the tag of ‘smiling darling of Centre Court’.

If we turn back the pages to have a look at Lisicki’s foray into professional tennis, it is crystal clear that she wasn’t born with a golden spoon. Lisicki couldn’t even afford to travel to too many tournaments across Europe early in her career.

“My parents did everything possible to let me play tennis. That’s what I appreciated so much. My dad has worked from 8 in the morning till 9 in the evening to make it possible so I can play tennis. We had to cancel tournaments because we couldn’t afford to go there.”

Just raw talent isn’t enough to climb your way to the top of the tree in a professional sport. But behind the success of every sportsman/sportswoman, one can find an abundance of blood, sweat and toil.

After a stint at the Nick Bolletierri’s academy, she turned professional in ’06. Lisicki’s breakthrough year though, came in ’09 when she reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. En-route she defeated Anna Chakvatadze, Caroline Wozniacki, and the then reigning French open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck the girl with the evergreen smile, as Lisicki was laid low by an ankle injury in 2010. But that didn’t deter her, as she showed great courage to reach the semi-final of Wimbledon in ’11.

The stunning achievement was made even sweeter by the fact that she started the year 2011, ranked as low as 218, and received a wild card to participate at Wimbledon. The upside of going through troubled times is that it makes a person mentally that much stronger.

Sabine Lisicki of Germany cries during a post-match interview with Sue Barker on Centre Court after her Ladies’ Singles final match against Marion Bartoli of France on day twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 6, 2013 in London, England. (Getty Images)

In the just concluded Wimbledon championships, Lisicki was perhaps involved in the match of the tournament in the ladies draw. The aura of Williams at Wimbledon is such that players who are far more experienced than Lisicki, may tremble just at the sight of her at other end of the net.

However, with a warrior-like tenacity, Lisicki withstood the barrage of baseline hitting, and gut-busting rallies to upset the apple-cart, and defeat Serena in a gruelling three-setter.

The high quality match between Serena and Lisicki had its share of jaw-dropping cross-court passes, cannon forehands, and occasionally, a lunging volley or two as well. Yet, when Serena in her indomitable style, rebounded from a set down to take a 4-1 lead in the final set, it seemed like she had the match all but sewn-up.

Lisicki though, with her ‘never say-die-attitude’ amazingly recovered not once but twice to break back the marauding Serena Williams. Even on her own serve, Serena was made to earn every point; Lisicki weathered the storm of Serena’s cannon-like ground-strokes with aplomb.

The desperation she showed to lung forward with twinkling footwork to the net, and make a great pass in the final set, indicates that here was a player who didn’t play with any fear.Her victory against Radwanska in the semi-final was another golden chapter in the fabled story of Lisicki at Wimbledon championships in ’13.

The shrewd tactician that she is, Radwanska can be compared to a cheetah, as she moves around the court with stealth, before ambushing her opponent. But even she couldn’t stop Lisicki from her glorious march towards reaching the final at Wimbledon.

Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end. Just when it seemed like it was Lisicki’s destiny to occupy a special place in Wimbledon’s folklore of champions, she was overwhelmed by the big occasion, and lost to the plucky, Marion Bartoli from France in the final.

Lisicki, who was in red-hot-form going into the final, made a string of unforced errors from both flanks, and her bazooka serve too let her down. Bartoli finally won the slam, six years after she finished as a runner-up. In the final, with those stinging returns from her backhand wing, Bartoli played superbly.

However, the golden girl from Germany, disappointed one-and-all, as after promising so much by playing exquisite tennis in her earlier games, in the final, she seemed to be hit by a bout of nerves.

At 23, Lisicki is still a work-in-progress. On a bad day, her game can be very error-prone. It isn’t just related to this year’s final. But even last year, after defeating former Wimbledon, and reigning French open champion, Maria Sharapova, she lost the plot in her next match.

The astute Vijay Amritraj once pointed out that as Lisicki can generate so much power from both her flanks, there is no real need for her to go in search of finding the tramlines every time.

With her “joie de vivre” on a tennis court, and a power-packed game, Lisicki has been like a breath of fresh air in women’s tennis. But we have to wait and watch, whether the effervescent German can become a Grand Slam champion.

She has the game to scale tall peaks, but to be a Grand Slam champion, it takes more than just pure ability.