Hantuchova regains her sparkle with recall of coach
The Slovakian was a mess last year; now she is smiling and winning
Richard Jago
Thursday June 24, 2004
The Guardian
Daniela Hantuchova is cheerful and, after one impressive win and a walk-over
against the injured Elena Bovina, is the only player in the third round of
Wimbledon.
The Slovakian deserves her good fortune because there could be no greater
contrast with last year, when her shock second-round defeat by Shinobu Asagoe
contained some of the most harrowing scenes witnessed at Wimbledon. Hantuchova w
as so overcome with grief and confusion that she stood by the backstop to hide
her tears, walked in circles to regain a half-adequate composure and looked
emotionally unfit to continue. In most jobs she would have been allowed to go
home.
But in the last two weeks the talented 21-year-old has begun again to look what
she was - a sparkly-eyed, sinewy-strong competitor playing to a top-10 standard
and capable of pushing into the top five.
Overseeing this uplifting recovery has been Nigel Sears, the British coach she
sacked last year but telephoned in March asking for him back after a six-month
interlude. It landed Sears with the tough task of generating a sense of well-be
ing while persuading her to change what was in her head. He had to rebuild her
confidence in her ability while altering the immature shot selection brought
on by her emotional state.
"She had been stressing out over everything and panicking in tight situations,"
Sears said. "She had got into a nasty spiral and it was difficult to deal with
everything. She needed to get her head round what she was going to do and
re-prioritise. I needed to feel she was going to restart with a clean sheet and
a full head.
"I am very happy she seems to be more like her old self. She's at full weight,
a lot of power has returned and she's taking the ball on again."
Few know for sure what caused the anorexic look. There were whispers of a failed
love affair and gossip that Daniela now travels without her mother Marianna,
once a regular companion. Sears will not get into any of that but suggests
there has been a substantial shift of ambience.
"She's growing up and has reminded herself that playing tennis is a privilege
and she loves to do what she does," he says. "That can get lost in all the
stress, anxiety and pressure."
Hantuchova agrees. "I needed to get tougher, not only in my tennis but in
things off the court, and I learned a lot. It might sound crazy but I
appreciate what I had to go through," she said.
She has a distance to go to reverse the fall from five to 50 in the rankings
in little more than a year but she is up to 38 and Sears feels she can make it.
"Everything's heading in the right direction and she's too good to be where she
is," he said. "Two things are still missing: confidence and a [decent] ranking.
She needs to feel accomplished and secure enough to take risks."
Sears, too, has had to take risks. Hantuchova left him to work with Harold
Solomon, a bigger-name American coach who, it turned out, did not empathise
with her as well as the man from Sussex. Second time round the problems are
dauntingly unique. One thing helped convince Sears it was worth another try:
Hantuchova's attitude.
"I felt I needed to change something to help me and my game," she said. "But
then I realised what I had to change is myself." That is simple and perhaps
obvious but uncommon. Which is why they sound like the words of a winner.
Nigel Sear和韓娃的互動真的不錯的感覺^^
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