Danielle Collins brought about an interesting name to be revived in the mind of tennis fans in Elena Dementieva after she sunk Iga Swiatek on Saturday at the Rome Open.
Collins sealed a 6-1, 7-5 win over the former World No.1 and current Roland Garros champion. But it is a different Swiatek who in reality is in crisis compared to her previous domination of the surface in previous years.
The American though no doubt revelled in the win after being open in calling Swiatek fake before during a fractious Olympic Games clash last year. But she talked through the keys of the match and why Dementieva came up.
“Sometimes you need a warm-up before the real serve, right? I don’t know. I think about that sometimes, too. I really am not sure,” said Collins during her post match press conference.
“I think sometimes I’m, like, missing some of the serves so close. Sometimes, maybe just going for a little bit too much on the target, trying to really get it in one spot, but it’s like too close to the line, and that’s why I end up missing it by a little bit.
“The same sometimes, missing it, where it just clips the net. I felt like Iga was doing that today on her serve, as well. It was contagious. I couldn’t figure out why both of us were not making a lot of first serves.
On the Russian, she said that the fact she made a career out of missing a lot of first serves inspired her during the contest and saw her believe in herself.
Dementieva won sixteen titles in her career including three WTA 1000 crowns beating Martina Hingis, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, three of the greatest of all time. As well as beating Dinara Safina to win the gold medal 17 years ago.
The 43-year-old reached two Grand Slam finals in her career and was often in the top 10 year end despite the issues with her serve.
“Growing up, I watched a lot of Elena Dementieva,” she said.
“Elena Dementieva made a career for herself not making many first serves. That was a really tough shot for her.
“She had so many other special parts of her game that made her the player she was. She was athletic.
“Sometimes when I have a bad serving day, I think about Elena Dementieva and all of the things she was able to achieve even when the serve or first serve wasn’t working well for her.
“It just shows you can have one area of your game not be effective one day, but if you have other skills and talent, you can apply that and really achieve some great things. She’s inspiring to me at times.
“I loved her. She was one of my favorite players to watch.”
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