Wimbledon Day 6: Lucic

Curtain Call

Player: Mirjana Lucic
Age: 30
Nation: Croatia
Current Ranking: 129
Notable Conquest: Marion Bartoli (France, 9th seed)
Today's Result: loss to Roberta Vinci (Italy, 21st) in straight sets

Photo via FUTURETENNISSTARS.COM

In 1999, 13 long years ago at the age of 17, Lucic made the semifinals at Wimbledon.  At that point, she'd already won the 1998 Australian Open women's doubles title at 15 alongside Martina Hingis (Switzerland).  To say that expectations were high is putting it mildly.  Then it all fell apart.  A vicious downward spiral started in 2000 with personal and financial troubles, many later attributed to an abusive father.  But she has clawed her way back.  Her third round finish at Wimbledon 2012 is her best Slam performance in eleven years. 


Catching Up with Old Friends

Varvara Lepchenko (Curtain Call, Roland Garros Day 9) - Lepchenko got tuned by defending champion Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic, 4th) today, losing 6-1 6-0 (aka "bacon and egg").  That's likely to happen to a lot of people over the next several years so let us not dwell upon it.  Lepchenko's third round result is her career best at Wimbledon and she can also take credit for taking out the 31st seed, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia), in Round 2.  She had a decent doubles tournament, too, making it past the first round for the first time at a Slam.  She and partner Liga Dekmeijere (Latvia) lost in the second round to Raquel Kops-Jones/Abigail Spears (USA, 10th).