Joseph Romanos writes... Marina Erakovic gave us a peep at the other side of being a professional athlete today. Erakovic, New Zealands best tennis player, lost in the quarter-finals of the singles at the Commonwealth Games, beaten by local hero Sania Mirza 6-2, 6-3. Though it was her third singles match in Delhi, her first two opponents offered Erakovic negligible opposition and todays was her first real test. She tried hard but was unable to make any headway against an opponent who looked confident and who wielded a formidable forehand and a tricky sliced service. So it ended up being another forgettable day for Erakovic. A pity. Shes had a lot of them lately. She was flying a couple of years ago when good performances at the French Open and Wimbledon, and a couple of tournaments in between, lifted her to a career-high world ranking of 49th. Then she was struck down by a severe injury hip stress. Her ranking, which she had worked so hard to build, tumbled. She tried to come back earlier this year and hurt her thumbmore time off. Now shes endeavouring to pick up the pieces. This is a step, a small step, she said. Delhi was a long way to come, but it gave me the chance to play an important match like this. Thats the way it is with tennis. You can lose a lot and you have to make sure you enjoy your victories. She is not the same confident player of two years ago. I havent had enough wins, thats the trouble. One thing follows the other. You win more, you get more confidence. Today I couldnt get my forehand to work as a weapon. Maybe I should have sliced her more. It worked quite well near the end when I did. I was trying out there, but it wasnt easy. To compound her problems, she had to play a woman who is one of the poster girls of the Commonwealth Games. Mirza is quite a story in India. She is a Muslim, but has run foul of strict Muslim disciplines because they dont like how short her tennis dresses are. Pictures of her in bare feet have added to the criticism of her. On the other hand, she is the first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam title the mixed doubles at last years Australian open with countryman Mahesh Bhupati. She is the first Indian woman to gain a singles seeding at a Grand Slam event, and the first to win a professional womens tournament. She has beaten top 10 players like Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Martina Hingis and has climbed as high as No 27 in the rankings. Mirza is a pioneering figure in India and they love her here. That was evident in her match against Erakovic, though the New Zealander was quite low-key about it. You play Sania in India, its a no-brainertheyre going to support her. It didnt really worry me. You focus on the match and forget about the crowd. So what now for Erakovic, whose ranking is south of 300, which means she cannot get direct entry into any big tournaments? Im going to head off to the States to play in some ITF tournaments, see if I can get some wins and some points. At Beijing two years ago, Erakovic spoke of how much she enjoyed being part of a bigger team environment. So would she be sticking around in Delhi to watch some other sport? This goes against the general tennis trend when players are eliminated from a tournament they get out of the place as quickly as they can. I dont know. Ive just lost. Ive got to move on. I just dont quite know when. Erakovic, still only 22, is a thoroughly admirable professional player, a proud New Zealander. I felt sorry for her yesterday, not because she lost, but because persistent injury had forced her to enter the match so lacking in confidence and form. She recalled playing Mirza a couple of years ago on grass in Europe and beating her. But this is a different time. Such is the lot of the professional tennis player. You enjoy the good times, take the knocks on the chin and move on. Being a professional sportsman or woman sounds glamorous, but there are times when its nothing but hard graft. For Erakovic, this is one of those times. Joseph Romanos
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