Yayuk can achieve Wimbledon glory

By Bruce Emond

JAKARTA (JP): Yayuk Basuki will be looking to continue her outstanding record at Wimbledon this year in what may be her swansong at the world's most famous tennis tournament.

Yayuk, one of the most talented players ever from Asia, has announced that she will probably retire at the end of the season even though she will still be only 26 years old. Hopefully, a good showing at Wimbledon will dissuade Yayuk from retirement as there are few players who share her fluid and lyrical shot-making abilities.

Yayuk is undoubtedly one of the most gifted players on the women's circuit. Her all-court game is a refreshing contrast to the packs of teenage girls who plant their feet on baseline and stubbornly refuse to venture to the net.

Furthermore, Yayuk's game shines on grass, which requires greater athletic ability and reflexes to deal with uneven, low bounces. She is one of only three Asian women in the 112 years of the Wimbledon women's competition to reach the fourth round (Naoko Sawamatsu and Kimiko Date of Japan are the others. Date reached the quarterfinals last year).

In her debut at Wimbledon in 1991, Yayuk reached the third round and lost to the eventual winner, Steffi Graf. For the past four years, she has made it to the fourth round at Wimbledon, one of the finest records of any contemporary women's player and more consistent than most members of the top 20.

"Yayuk has real natural talent," says Russel Ballow, a former resident of Jakarta during his tenure as consultant to the ATP Tour World Doubles Championship and a tour player during the 1980s. "She is one of the few women players who has good hands, meaning she is coordinated and can volley well."

If Wimbledon determined its seedings by performance on the surface instead of by rankings alone, Yayuk would probably be seeded among the top 16. Her game is text-book perfect for grass. Her sliced backhand keeps low and skids, making it difficult for opponents to find any rhythm.

Her service, such an important stroke on grass, is among the hardest in the world. The motion is one of the shortest in the game, making it difficult for opponents to anticipate. She can impart a high kick spin on the ball or hit it hard and flat down the service line at will.

Yayuk's much-vaunted forehand, hit either with topspin or flat, is a weapon on any surface but it can be brittle. A flood of winners can quickly become a wave of embarrassing errors if Yayuk's timing is off.

Yayuk's ability and determination has paid off with a current ranking of 26 in the world (she rose as high as 21 in 1995) and a slew of victories over some of the best in the world. Yayuk has beaten Anke Huber, Gabriela Sabatini, Helena Sukova, Magdalena Maleeva, Zina Garrison-Jackson, Nathalie Tauziat and Mary Joe Fernandez. All of these wins, with the exception of those over Fernandez and Sabatini, were on grass.

A case in point is Yayuk's victory over Lindsay Davenport at Eastbourne last week. Yayuk had lost to the world number 7 at the French Open last month, but evened the score at the traditional Wimbledon warm-up with a 6-2, 6-3 drubbing. As well as reinforcing Yayuk's excellent form on grass, the win also reveals the limitations of Davenport's game, which is based on bludgeoning drives and a distinct lack of variation.

Yayuk should at least be able to reach the third round at this year's Wimbledon. She plays Ruxandra Dragomir in the first round, a steady baseliner whose game is likely to fall apart under pressure on grass.

If she wins, Yayuk will face the winner of the match between Asa Carlsson of Sweden and Karin Kschwendt of Luxemburg. Carlsson has recorded a couple of impressive wins on hardcourts, reaching the final in Houston last year and then only losing to Graf. Kschwendt uses her height in a powerful but erratic serve-and- volley game; Yayuk should have the measure of either player.

The third round could be a different story. Yayuk is drawn to meet Jana Novotna, probably the most naturally gifted and athletic of all women players. Nobody who saw the first two and a half sets of Novotna's final against Graf in 1994 can forget her beautiful stroke-making and intelligent placements.

The Czech would be the world's best player but for her nerves. She is notorious for choking in important matches, including the Wimbledon final, when Graf was as surprised as anyone to emerge the winner, and when she "snatched defeat from the jaws of victory" against Chanda Rubin in the French Open in 1995.

Yayuk is likely to give Novotna a tough match and could even pull off a victory if Novotna is off-form. The next round would probably yield Magdalena Maleeva, who Yayuk has defeated three times, with two of the victories coming at Wimbledon.

Yayuk could also spring some surprises in the women's doubles. She is seeded 12th with Caroline Vis of the Netherlands, itself an honor as Yayuk is the only Southeast Asian women ever to be seeded at Wimbledon (she was also seeded in the women's doubles in 1994 with Nana Miyagi of Japan).

Yayuk may do well to take some time out and reflect on her future after Wimbledon. Serve-and-volleyers and all-court players take longer to mature than baseliners in the women's game, and Margaret Smith Court, Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Martina Navratilova achieved some of their loftiest successes in their late 20s and 30s.

Yayuk may not attain their heights, but let's hope she will continue to bring her stylish game to courts around the world.