Molik eases back into tour after illness<\/p>\n
Bruce Emond, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali<\/p>\n
As Mariana Diaz-Oliva served for the first set in Tuesday's
\nnight match at the Wismilak International, Alicia Molik could
\nhave been forgiven for having that here-we-go-again feeling.<\/p>\n
Since her return to the WTA tour last month after a five-month
\nhiatus due to illness, the Australian had yet to win a set in
\nboth of her first-round losses. Finally seeing the ball better
\nunder the lights, the third seed buckled down against the
\nArgentinean and came through in a 7-6 (6), 6-3 victory.<\/p>\n
It was a welcome confidence booster, although the 24 year old
\nis not getting ahead of herself in setting a timeline for
\nreturning to the superb form she enjoyed in the latter part of
\n2004 and early 2005.<\/p>\n
\"That is what I project to other people, but I'm still hard on
\nmyself,\" Molik told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday of her
\nmagnanimous attitude to the long, hard road back to form. \"But I
\nneed to cut myself some slack.\"<\/p>\n
You can't expect yourself to be a machine.\"<\/p>\n
Molik tasted the highs in 2004, winning in Stockholm, Zurich
\nand Luxembourg, and chalking up wins over Maria Sharapova, Patty
\nSchnyder and Anastasia Myskina, the latter in the bronze medal
\nmatch at the Athens Olympics.<\/p>\n
At the Australian Open in January, Molik beat Venus Williams
\nand then ran Lindsay Davenport close in the quarterfinals before
\nthe American eked out a 9-7 third-set victory. Her world ranking
\nrose to a career-high of 8 in February, with commentators saying
\nthat her powerful serve (she is 1.82 meters tall) and all-court
\ngame made her a Grand Slam title contender.<\/p>\n
And then she got sick.<\/p>\n
In Charleston at one of the traditional U.S. claycourt
\ntournaments in March, Molik woke up feeling strange. She compares
\nthe symptoms -- blurred vision, a lack of focus, loss of balance
\n-- of vestibular neuronitis, a viral infection of the inner ear,
\nto feeling drunk all day.<\/p>\n
\"Last summer and the Australian Open were like a fairytale,
\nbut just when you think you're invincible, something brings you
\nback down to earth. I started realizing that there are other
\nthings than winning, it's not all about sport, but your health
\ntoo.\"<\/p>\n
She spent the recovery time with her family and friends back
\nin her hometown of Adelaide, where she grew up playing in the
\nsame club as Lleyton Hewitt.<\/p>\n
\"Having the time led me to lead a normal life. It was fun
\ngetting into a routine, cooking, going to football games, it's
\nnice compared to living in a tennis bubble.\"<\/p>\n
She comes from the long tradition of Australian tennis, but
\ntalent has been thin on the ground in the women's game since the
\nheyday of the 1960s and 1970s, the era of Margaret Court and
\nEvonne Goolagong Cawley.<\/p>\n
After such a long wait for the new great hope, a leading
\nAustralian women's magazine profiled Molik earlier this year and
\ngushed that she was poised to overtake the great Court.<\/p>\n
She concedes that it's a bit premature to be comparing her to
\na woman who won the Grand Slam of the four majors in 1970 -- she
\nwants to be acknowledged for her own achievements.<\/p>\n
\"I'm walking to my own beat, I can't be compared to them
\nbecause I haven't done what they did. But I'm mixing it with the
\nbest of them, and I want to show what I can do.\"<\/p>\n
She feels her best bet for a Grand Slam title is the
\nAustralian Open.<\/p>\n
\" I really enjoy playing there, the crowd gives me a lift, I
\nlike it being hot and it's in my own backyard. It couldn't be
\nbetter for me.\"<\/p>",
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