Fresh from winning both of her Fed Cup singles rubbers for her adopted country, Australia, Gajdosova is the second seed at a tournament where she has twice been a quarterfinalist. She has been to the fourth round at Roland Garros, so the surface transition should pose no problems, but the first set against Czech Renata Voracova is a battle from start to finish. After missing multiple break point opportunities in the second game of the set, Gajdosova spends much of the set down a break with an unhappy look on her face, scuffing the toes of her trainers in the clay in a desultory fashion. At one point, after another chance to get back on serve goes begging, I apologize for blocking the view of the man sitting behind me. He responds that he?s not sure he wants to look. It turns out he?s her coach.
Still, if her background and her accent are a melange of influences and inflections, her tennis isn?t. It seems to come from her hips and thighs, solid and aggressive. Her coach for the week, David Gaves of the Club Istanbul at Enka International Tennis Academy, where Gajdosova trains, refers to her as ?born on clay? and once she gets herself in hand to break back the rest is a formality. Gajdosova wins the next nine games to cruise to a 6-4, 6-0 victory. I notice that she plays her best when she?s up against it, at one point coming back from 0-40 with two clean winners and an ace. ?That?s one thing you always have to do, to fight,? she says afterwards. ?It doesn?t matter how bad or how great you?re playing, so then you can be happy with yourself and walk off the court with your head held high.?
Despite the sunny disposition that Gaves rhapsodizes about, life right now isn?t easy for Gajdosova. She relocated from Slovakia to Australia at the age of 15 after she fell in love with the country, leaving her family behind. After seven years living there, she qualified for citizenship in September 2009. Under such circumstances, it?s reasonable to ask where ?home? is.
?I will never say that I?m not Slovakian any more. I was born and spent 15 years of my life there. So then I?m obviously Australian, I lived there for nine years and kind of grew up there since I was fifteen. So I think there?s a bit of both in me, they both have very special meaning for me?one that I?ve been born to and one that I?ve kind of grown up living there, and the people took me as Australian, so of course it was very special to me and it?s going to stay that way.?
Later in the interview she repeats the sentiment??I?m Australian and always will be??with a faint note of defiance. The news of her separation from her husband of just over two years, Australian tennis player Samuel Groth, came as a shock when it broke over the weekend. Gajdosova doesn?t go into details, other than to say it was ?very recent,? but the fact that she is competing under her maiden name speaks volumes. As do the updates to her personal Twitter, when she posted a number of angry assertions shortly before her match: ?I didn't need get married to become aussie citizen-check the facts!!and check the law!!!? and ?I got married because I loved sam and did it from my heart not because I am from poor country or I need it him for passport!?. She married Groth in February 2009 and they have both spent time training in Istanbul, but since that time Gajdosova?s star has risen while Groth continues to struggle with form and injuries. ?It was a big change in my life but it?s all I can do, just try to get on the court and do my best,? she says. ?I enjoy what I do and every match I get to play, it?s really exciting and it?s the good thing about my job, you get rewarded for playing well.?
I think the moment I like her the best comes immediately after the end of her win over Voracova, when three small girls run up to her for autographs. She asks each girl?s name and shakes her hand, saying ?Hi, I?m Jarmila? with a beaming smile. Later, asked about whether her difficult personal life makes it difficult to focus on the court, she says, ?tennis is at least one thing I have. It?s kind of a happy place.?
Maybe that?s the paradox for all those who make their living in tennis; never at home and yet never away from it when they?re on the court. As for Jarmila Gajdosova, formerly Groth, she?s still the stubborn girl whose old coach punished her with sit-ups in an attempt to cure her addiction to drop-shots. The drop-shots are largely gone, but the determination remains.
Source: http://feeds.tennis.com/~r/tenniscom-features/~3/QxVDMzHv_u4/
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