Wimbledon - Getting high on grass

Back in the days when grass courts used to be fast, tennis had its grass-court specialists – serve-and-volleyers who looked forward to every June. Think Lori McNiel, Zina Garrison, Jana Novotna and Gigi Fernandez. These days, grass courts have slowed down and are not suited for serve-and-volley tennis as much as they used to be. Yet, there are some players who seem to come to life every English summer and then disappear into oblivion, only to re-surface once again next June. With Wimbledon just one week away, here’s a look at four players on the WTA Tour who seem to get high only on grass.

Alison Riske There are grass-court specialists and then there’s Birmingham grass-court specialists like the 23 year old American, Alison Riske, currently ranked no. 167 in the world. Riske has won 11 main draw matches on the WTA Tour and all of them have come at the WTA grass event in Birmingham, which is held the week after the French Open. In 2010, Riske came through the qualifying and went all the way to the semi-finals, before losing to Maria Sharapova in three sets. The following year, she won 3 matches, including a win over eighth seed Aravane Rezai to reach the quarter-finals. In 2012, she came through the qualifying draw but lost in the first round and this week, Riske came through the qualifying once again to reach the semi-finals. While Riske has managed to win matches on the ITF circuit and in qualifying draws for WTA events, she has yet to win a single main draw match at a WTA level event outside of Birmingham and Riske’s best possible explanation is, “I’m just really comfortable here, I’m at home. I think that’s just for England in general. It’s really low key here, the atmosphere is friendly, everything’s run well, you don’t have any anxiety about anything, everything’s taken care of. It’s the perfect position to play well and I really love it here.”

Tamira PaszekThe big-hitting Austrian’s game seems to blossom around Wimbledon every year. Paszek, who won a WTA title at the age of 16 but has struggled to realise her full potential since due to a number of injuries, has reached two Grand Slam quarter-finals and both have come on the grass courts of SW 19. In 2011, she reached the quarters as the World no. 80, but then went only 11-8 for the rest of the year.

In 2012, Paszek was 2-13 until she reached Eastbourne, where she went on to win the title and then followed it up with another quarter-final at Wimbledon. From there, she went 7-10 for the rest of the season. This season, Paszek has gone 2-13 once again, including a first round loss at Birmingham to Alison Riske, the third time that the two have played on grass, and the third time that Riske has won. 29th ranked Paszek’s defence in Eastbourne begins on Monday against former World no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, who she beat in the first round at Wimbledon last year. Speaking about her fondness for grass, 22 year old Paszek says, “It is funny because I grew up on clay, but as soon as I am on grass for two days it feels natural. Grass does seem to get the best out of me, that is what everyone says anyway, as I got to the final of the Girls’ Singles Championships at Wimbledon as well.”

Tsvetana Pironkova Venus Williams has won Wimbledon five times in her career – making her one of the greatest grass court players of all-time. But there’s something about the Bulgarian Pironokova’s game that gives Venus problems on grass. In 2010, the 25 year old Bulgarian upset Marion Bartoli and Venus to reach the semi-finals of Wimbledon and then went 5-8 for the rest of the season. In 2011, Pironkova was only 6-14 before making another run at SW19, reaching the quarter-finals with wins over Vera Zvonareva and Venus once again. And then went 5-7 for rest of the season. Pironkova did not have the same success on grass in 2012, making the quarters in Eastbourne (losing to Paszek) and bowing out in the second round at Wimbledon, but not before taking Maria Sharapova to three sets. Her best results came at the US Open where she reached the fourth round. This year, the Bulgarian has struggled once again, winning only 4 matches in 14 events, which must only mean that she is setting herself up for another deep run at Wimbledon.

Tamarine TanasugarnThe Thai veteran may probably be playing at Wimbledon for the last time this year. The 36 year old has been to the second week of a Slam nine times in her career, seven of those coming at Wimbledon. Tanasugarn reached the last 16 for six of seven years between 1998 and 2004 and then reached her only Slam quarter-final here in 2008. Since then, Tanasugarn has found that her experience is not enough to compete with the younger girls, winning just one round in the last four years. Tanasugarn has been limited to playing only three events till May this year, but she says she is looking forward to playing on grass. “”I will play singles only at big tournaments and on my favourite surfaces. Luckily, I don’t have a lot of points to defend this year, and I hope I can reach the later stages of the two events on grass I will enter. The deeper the better.”

It’s a pity Tanasugran will likely not be around in 2015 when Wimbledon will be moved one week back to create a three week gap between itself and the French Open. For Riske, Paszek and Pironkova, that means one more week of getting high on grass.