The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Tulyaganova in main draw

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 18, 2006
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Tulyaganova in main draw

Amitabha Das Sharma

KOLKATA: Asian champion, Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan, who won the continental title hardly a week ago, had to use the qualifying route to get into the elite round of the WTA tier III tournament. She blew out the challenge of Indonesian Sandy Gumulya in straight sets to move into the main draw and that's where she would be looking reinvent her form that took her to the top-20 of world rankings in 2002.

She has in her collections titles earned from both WTA and ITF organised events. Added to this are the continental crowns — the Asian Games singles gold in Busan Asiad in 2002 and the Asian crown she won recently. The latest achievement marks her comeback bid after a prolonged lay off with injury.

The year 2002 saw her career soar. Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Anastasia Myskina, Elena Dementieva, Dinara Safina, Jelena Dokic, had all bowed to the Tulyaganova's gaining stature. Just when things were looking good her right arm elbow began to complain. "I was playing the best tennis of my life. But I think I overdid it. My bone gave way. It broke under stress and took me three years to rehabilitate," she said after securing a main draw berth here on Sunday.

Injury woes

"I too could have been where these girls are now. I was playing on top of my form when the elbow injury took me out of competition for three years,'' she said. ``I went through a hard time - both mentally and financially. But, I guess life's like that," said added. Tulyaganova had made headlines winning the junior Wimbledon title in 1999.

"I have always been a winner in my life. Now that I have another chance, I will try move higher than my last best ranking (that of 16th) in the WTA,'' Tulyaganova said. "Frankly, I see myself ranked within the top-10 in the world in future. For the moment I will be happy if I can finish this season inside the Top-200," she added.

The Sunfeast Open will be her sixth WTA event after she started playing competitive tennis early in the year. Her title in Asian championship has already bagged her a wild-card for next year's Australian Open and this gives her enough reason to get back into the old rhythm. "These tournaments are a build-up for the Australian Open. I am looking forward to making every tournament I play count,'' she said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport