Daniella Hantuchova., Maria Sharapova hit out

January 26, 2008

THE snarling, spiteful side of women’s tennis went on show yesterday as Daniela Hantuchova and Maria Sharapova let fly at their semi-final opponents.

Hantuchova took a furious swipe at Ana Ivanovic’s squeaky runners after the Serb fought back to win 0-6 6-3 6-4. And Sharapova became incensed at the medical time-out called by Jelena Jankovic during their semi-final, offering some advice as Jankovic received courtside treatment. “She should get on with tennis and stop whingeing,” Sharapova said as she waited at the courtside. Already well in control of a match she went on to win 6-3 6-1, Sharapova wasn’t going to let any interruptions stand in the way of her march to the final. As the match finished, the women exchanged lukewarm formalities at the net and the incident was never mentioned. But it was different for Slovakian Hantuchova after she lost a topsy-turvy match.

When she got to the net after the final point, she barely looked at Ivanovic and pointedly refused to offer a word of congratulation. Having said her black mood had been brought on only by disappointment, Hantuchova proceeded to complain about bad calls, bad bounces and Ivanovic’s bad manners. Hantuchova accused Ivanovic of being “unfair” by allowing her tennis shoes to squeak on the court as she returned serve.

“Yeah, that’s ridiculous, I think,” Hantuchova said. “I was really surprised with that. I think it’s unfair. “It’s a distraction to the server. We played before and she never did it.” Asked if she had complained to the umpire, Hantuchova said: “Yeah, in the first or second service game, but she didn’t do anything about it. I don’t think that was very nice.”

Ivanovic dismissed claims of using distracting gamesmanship, before taking a veiled swipe at Hantuchova’s inability to go on with it after winning the first set 6-0. “Once I saw she was complaining to the referee, you know,” said Ivanovic, who will rise to No. 2 in the world rankings next week. “But there was nothing I could do, because if I want to move my feet to return a ball, you know, this was the sound I was producing.

“And, also, during the point, if I want to run with small steps around the ball, it was exactly the same thing, so, you know, maybe she was just trying to pick on something, to get upset.” The bizarre controversy took some gloss away from a gripping battle between two players yet to break through for grand slam glory. Hantuchova won the opening eight games, before crumbling under pressure.

Hantuchova denied she was a bad sport for not congratulating her opponent. “It’s just tough, tough to accept that you lose,” she said. “So I just wanted to get off the court as soon as possible.” Hantuchova said luck, which included a close double-bounce call that went the way of Ivanovic, had not been on her side yesterday.

“Talking about luck today, I think there was no point,” she said. “It was just one of those days that everything was going against me, but I felt like I still kept trying, kept fighting.”

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