Yayuk can achieve Wimbledon glory

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.