Agnieszka (aka Aggie) has always puzzled me. When you watch her practice she tends to always have this look on her face that is a combination of seeming annoyance and “I’d rather be somewhere else right now doing almost anything else”. The same look is present even when you watch her expression during matches. She’s running down balls and making plays, yet there always seems to be a disinterested air about her.
Looks can be deceiving, however, as Aggie won the Mercury Insurance Open this past week 6-3 6-4 over Vera Zvonareva. It was her first tournament title since 2008. Her path to victory included two gutsy 3 set wins against Daniela Hantuchova AND Andrea Petkovic. Though the top ranks of the WTA may not have been present, this was a hard-earned and well-deserved title!
In spite of having no clear-cut weapons to hurt her opponents (no killer serve, forehand, or backhand), she gets a tremendous amount of balls that are virtual “winners” back into play. Then she waits for chances to strike back with her own well-placed shots. She’s also good at staying low and effectively using her opponent’s pace to her own benefit. It’s like watching a Polish version of a slightly less aggressive Caroline Wozniacki. Caroline’s game might be a tad more aggressive, but Aggie’s game is about as smooth as it gets. These are not the actions of a disinterested player.
While watching her quarterfinal against Sabine Lisicki at Stanford a couple of weeks ago, I took a break early in the third set to go for a quick stretch/stroll. The match was frustrating me. Aggie wasn’t attacking or taking any initiative in rallies. Sabine was attacking, but the results were “winner-unforced error-winner-unforced error”. It was maddening. A never-ending “tug of war” struggle — in the hot sun — the third match of a very long day — and the last match (the biggest of the quarters with Serena vs. Maria) not even starting for 3 hours!
While on my mid-match sabbatical, I ran into Matt Cronin and said “Is it just me or is this match kinda painful to watch?” He said, “I wouldn’t call it painful. I think it’s a great match-up on paper with very little between them. And you have to love how smooth Radwanska’s game is.” He was right. No matter how big Sabine served or struck her forehand, Aggie was able to stay in the point if she could get her racquet on the ball. This made Sabine try for bigger shots in order to end the increasingly long rallies. Error city, and Aggie was more than happy to help Sabine get there. My attitude sufficiently readjusted, I went back into the stadium.
On that day it wasn’t enough, and Aggie lost in 3 tough sets. But she turned it around in Carlsbad and came through the tough ones to win the title. Matt was right about the smoothness of her game. You don’t see the effort and hear the loud grunts of the other women. She is, to some extent, a female equivalent to Roger Federer with respect to her footwork. You don’t see the effort, and you don’t hear the shoes squeaking. But there she is at every ball, giving herself one more chance to stay in the point with deep groundstroke replies.
Match stats tell the true story behind any victory. Aggie hit less winners (17-25) than Vera, but also had substantially less unforced errors (15-28). A match can’t necessarily be won with winners, but it can certainly be lost with errors. Aggie also had a 71% first serve percentage, never lost her serve (saving both break points Vera had against her), and converted two of the six she had against Vera. That’s some good solid tennis. Clean tennis. And clearly, winning tennis.
It’s probably unfair of me to judge her motivation from something as subjective as facial expression. How many times have we met people who seem to be in a bad mood only to discover that they were thinking about nothing in particular, or simply just didn’t have their glasses on to prevent the squint-y look. And to be fair, Aggie’s expression was the same across many situations: practice, match, watching her sister play qualifiers. All situations where a level of concentration/concern is probably necessary.
There is one expression that was great to see and could never be misconstrued: her beaming smile as she hoisted the winner’s trophy.
