Is Yayuk ready to make her move?

Is Yayuk ready to make her move?

By Bruce Emond > //10pt ML

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's Yayuk Basuki has the tennis world at
her fingertips. The only question remaining is how much she
really wants the glory.

Few tennis players are blessed with her talent. Yayuk's
artistry is a rare blend of power and finesse, a class above the
pigtailed teen phenoms of women's tennis who stand glued to the
baseline and pound away until their opponents fall under the
barrage.

At her best she is a gifted touch artist. With her explosive,
compact service motion, Yayuk has a cannonball service, sends her
opponent scurrying around the court with searing sliced backhands
or thumping forehands, and finishes the point by effortlessly
flicking a crosscourt drop volley.

Occasionally she commits excruciatingly bad errors. During the
Danamon Indonesia Women's Open here last month, Yayuk would
sometimes follow a brilliant shot with an embarrassing error.

The problem is that she is endowed with such variety of
strokes that at times she seems confused over which shot to
choose.

Crossroads

Yayuk now finds herself at an interesting crossroads. At age
22, she has risen to an all-time personal high of 30 on the
Women's Tennis Association (WTA) computer, become the first Asian
woman to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon two consecutive
years, and won more than US$500,000 from tournament play in only
four years as a professional.

The Danamon was her sixth WTA tour title, which is more than
many top 20 players achieve in their careers. Granted, all of her
wins have been in Asia and in $100,000 tournaments, the lowest
tier of competition on the tour.

That said, it should be noted that only Steffi Graf, Martina
Navratilova and the now retired Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere have
won at least one WTA event in each of the last four years. Yayuk
has wins over Anke Huber, Magdalena Maleeva, Mary Pierce and
Nathalie Tauziat, all ranked much higher than her.

Breakthrough

There is no doubt Yayuk has the talent to break into the top
20. In interviews she often mentions this as her goal, one she
hopes to attain by the end of this year. Now is the time for her
breakthrough.

But she has remained stagnant at around 40 in the rankings
since bursting onto the tennis scene in 1991. She will be 23
later this year, no longer young in a sport dominated by teenage
girls. We often forget that Tracy Austin, Monica Seles and Steffi
Graf were ranked number one in the world by the age of 18.

Her game still needs improvement. Her sliced backhand is a
weapon on grass and fast courts as it keeps low and is ideal for
approach shots to the net. But on slower surfaces, particularly
clay and carpet, it merely keeps the ball in play.

Yayuk needs to hone a topspin backhand which is consistent.
Several times during the Danamon tournament her attempts at
topspin backhands landed in the bottom of the net. She did not
have the confidence to try it again, falling back on her trusted
slice shot.

Yayuk's forehand, hit hard with little topspin, is spectacular
when it hits the target. Too often, however, Yayuk appears to go
for too much. As Jennifer Capriati remarked after beating Yayuk
in the Olympics in 1992, Yayuk loses as many points as she wins
on the forehand.

Comebacks

Other players have made comebacks after injury or years in a
slump. Evonne Goolagong Cawley came back to win Wimbledon in 1980
after having a child and suffering through painful ankle
injuries.

In 1981, Martina Navratilova was an abject figure on the tour.
I remember watching on TV a tired, saddened Navratilova leaving
the Center Court after losing a semifinal to Hana Mandlikova.

Hounded by the press about her lesbianism, Navratilova seemed
to be going through the motions on the tennis court. But she
recouped, put herself on a revolutionary diet and fitness
regimen, and won almost everything for six years.

I have only seen a few players with the flowing natural talent
of Yayuk. These include Cawley, Navratilova, Mandlikova, Jana
Novotna and Gabriela Sabatini (although she is not a natural
volleyer).

Another was a German named Bettina Bunge. With her classic
sliced backhand and stylish service motion, Bunge played a very
similar game to Yayuk. Except for some tournament wins and a
semifinal showing at the 1982 Wimbledon, Bunge never made it to
the top. With all her abundant, mesmerizing skills, she did not
seem to have the perseverance to fulfill her talent.

A player at the Danamon tournament said she had seen Bunge in
Miami recently. She agreed that Bunge and Yayuk share similar
talent but quickly reminded me that this is not enough to make it
to the ranks of Graf and Seles.

"There are lots of talented players today," she reminded me.
"What counts in the long run is how much someone really wants to
work for their goals. Steffi has incredible talent but she also
wants to win so much. She still cries after a loss."

Her reminder, uttered before she lost to Yayuk herself, is one
we would all do well to remember as the Indonesian star begins
her bid for the top.