| Pierce's Best Performance | |
Dateline: 04/24/00
Mary Pierce has always been one of the most dangerous players on the WTA Tour. Her power makes her capable of beating anyone on a given day, but her history has been a roller coaster of great and dismal performances. What changed for her at this year's Family Circle Cup was her hitting well -- make that spectacularly -- in every match. She dropped only 12 games in the entire tournament, beating Chris Evert's 1985 record of 15.
The final against Arantxa Sanchez Vicario exemplified Pierce's dominance. Arantxa is one of the most tenacious fighters in tennis, but she could hold onto only one game, losing 6-0, 6-1. Pierce used a mixture of hard groundstrokes into the deep corners, serves well over 100 m.p.h., and sharply angled short topspins to put the ball out of Arantxa's reach.
Arantxa didn't have enough firepower to strike back. She tried running Mary, but Mary has gotten noticeably quicker. Arantxa can often get the ball back often enough to eventually draw an error from her opponent, but Mary seems to be hitting with a little more topspin now, and she just wasn't missing.
Monica Seles had an equally tough time with Pierce in the semifinals, losing 6-1, 6-1. Seles has a lot more firepower than Sanchez-Vicario, but nowhere near Arantxa's speed. A few months ago, many more of the hard, flat, sharply angled Seles shots might have gotten by Pierce, but the work she's been putting in on her speed, fitness, and consistency are paying off. Seles, having just captured the Amelia Island title, is playing well, so the ease of Pierce's victory was a big surprise.
The other semifinal, between Sanchez-Vicario and Conchita Martinez, was particularly interesting because of the height and topspin on Conchita's shots. I would estimate that Conchita's average shot cleared the net by ten feet, landed six feet inside Arantxa's baseline, then bounced to a height of seven feet at its peak. Arantxa, one of the shorter players on the tour, met almost every other shot above her head, and when she managed to meet the ball lower, it was either by backing up way behind the baseline or by taking the ball on the rise. Conchita's strategy almost prevailed in this close match, but Arantxa scrambled her way to a 7-5, 7-5 victory.
Mary Pierce attributes her strong play largely to the fact that she is, for the first time in a long while, actually having fun playing. She has begun to renew ties with her difficult father, she is engaged to be married to baseball pro Roberto Alomar, and she has her brother now accompanying her as her coach. Let's hope that her happiness continues. If so, she's likely to be a very strong contender for the biggest of all clay court tournaments, the French Open.
The Family Circle Cup said goodbye to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina as Mary Pierce and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario accepted their trophies. It will move up the coast to Charleston for next year's and subsequent events.
Could Hingis or Davenport have overcome Pierce's razor-sharp play at the Family Circle Cup? Share your thoughts at our tennis forum.
