She was the last to qualify for the WTA Finals in Singapore – securing her spot just 24 hours before the tournament started – and is the first one to make it through the round robin stages and into the semi-finals. Svetlana Kuznetsova is without a doubt THE story of this season finale.
The Russian’s career is like none other; it literally had everything. She won a slam as a teenager at the 2004 US Open, waited five years before she won a second major, this time at the French Open, got injured and missed half of 2012 to drop out of the top 80, and finally returned to the top 10 for the first time in six years this season.
Her only chance of making Singapore was to defend her title in Moscow last week. She did just that to reach the season-ending championship for the first time since 2009.
Kuznetsova had never made it out of the group in any of her previous five appearances at the WTA Finals. This week, she has finally ended her group stage hoodoo as she dug deep to win her opening matches against Agnieszka Radwanska and Karolina Pliskova, to reach the last four.
She was down a set against Pliskova, and was down a break at 4-5 in the decider against Radwanska. This is a player who lost a semi-final in Tianjin on a Saturday, won a final in Moscow the following Saturday, and played her first match in Singapore on Monday. She was asked if her past week was made into a movie, what would it be called.
“Life of a Hustler” replied Kuznetsova. It’s an apt description of her 2016 season as a whole.
Although it wasn’t a grand slam-winning year for her, this could arguably be considered Kuznetsova’s best season to date. Not
because of results but because of how she has approached it.
She’s talked about how resilient she’s been. Her coach told her: “You never gave up in one match all year.” It’s true. She’s also been focusing on the journey rather than the ending.
She’s been trying to enjoy every moment on court, knowing that she is closer to the end of her career than the beginning. She describes herself as “an artist” and takes pleasure from every topspin that comes off her racquet.
Granted, she hasn’t fully ditched her erratic behaviour. The Russian still suffers mid-match meltdowns, and as we’ve seen this week, she can cut her own hair during a changeover. But that’s what makes Sveta, Sveta, and whatever her process is, it’s been a privilege to witness it.
The players can learn a lot from her too. Garbine Muguruza, who crashed out of the WTA Finals after going 0-2 in her first two matches, has admitted to struggling since her French Open title triumph in June.
The Spaniard has been trying to take pressure off of herself but has failed miserably in doing so. As a slam champion, she almost didn’t even qualify to the Finals because he results year-round have been sub-par.
It feels that with Muguruza, it’s all about the big stage. If she started focusing on enjoying every single match, irrespective of the tournament or setting, perhaps she can get back to what got her into the sport to begin with: her love for tennis.
If she’s short on inspiration, she need not look any further than the woman across the net from her on Friday. Her name is Svetlana Kuznetsova.
