Can the 'once' big Russians come back?

2004 it was , when the Golden Russian Womens tennis era took place.Started by Anastasia Myskina who won the French Open beating fellow Russian Elena Dementieva in the finals.Then came,teen princess Maria Sharapova surprising the world with her beauty , grunts and above all her game,overpowering the then No.1 and defending champion Serena Williams,to win Wimbledon .Finally,to end the year , it was Svetlana Kuznetsova who again over-powered just retired Elena Dementieva 6-3 7-5 . Golden Era it was,Russians surely showed that Tennis is not only Williams or Belgians!

Then came 2008,Sharapova started the year perfectly winning her 3rd Grand-Slam at the Australia Open,where in she beat big players like Davenport,Dementieva ,Henin ,Jankovic and Ivanovic without dropping a see,followed it by wins at Doha and Amelia Island.As Sharapova started to get erratic due to injury,a new star Russian was born-Dinara Safina,who ironically saved match points to beat Sharapova at the 2008 French Open and went on to be the Finalist there.Cometh 2009,Dinara made it to the finals at Australia,then did what no one ever would have expected-Rising to the Top Spot! Numero Uno she was! and boy she did live up to it,Finalist at Stuttgart,titles at Rome,Madrid and clearly if there was to be a winner it surely had to be Dinara at the French Open 2009.She did start perfectly with a 6-0 6-0 win over Keothavong and then steadily moved on with wins over Diatchenko Rezai,Azarenka,Cibulkova,and finally she made it to the finals again! In the Finals,on the other side of the net was Svetlana Kuznetsova! Certainly,most people had their money on Dinara to fetch her first Grand Slam after impressive performances in the previous rounds.But boy did she disappoint yet again!Going down in the finals to Kuznetsova 4-6 2-6 , ending with a double-fault ,giving Svetlana her 2nd Grand Slam title after US Open 2004.Russian domination it was,but now…..?

2010 Australian Open-One big Russian Sharapova goes down in Round 1 going down to Maria Kirilenko ,another rising russian! Troubled with Injuries , Once world No.1 Dinara Safina too fell to Kirilenko in Round 4.Elsewhere,an in form Dementieva was overpowered by Justine Henin in Round 2.Svetlana fell prey to Petrova,who was then defeated by Henin eventually.In the Semis,there were no Russians! Something which happens very rarely.

2010 French Open draws were out and we had Sharapova and Henin on for a 3rd Round clash!Messed with Injuries-Last year’s finalist Dinara Safina was put out by veteran Kimiko Date Krumm in Round 1.Then came the match of the tournament,Sharapova vs Henin,renewal of old rivalry,Very much anticipated to be a great match,given Sharapova was in form with a title at Strasbourg and Henin was on her favorite surface along with a title at Stuttgart!and it didn’t disappoint.First set to Henin,comeback by Sharapova in the 2nd.Then in the 3rd,Sharapova was 2-0 and 3 points for 3-0 ,when she blew up,handing Henin a win.Out of form defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova was ousted by Kirilenko in Round 3.Only 1 Russian made it to the Semis-Elena Dementieva that too retiring due to injury.

Wimbledon 2010,SW19! Started with a pullout from Dinara Safina,citing injury scare.Kuzentsova was bundled out in Round 2 by Australian Rodionova.Finally,Sharapova again struck with bad luck with Draws,met Serena Williams in 4th Round.Sharapova started off well and even had set points in the first set tie-break at 6-4,but couldn’t convert! Serena roared back to out gun the russian,taking her revenge of the 2004 loss.Elsewhere,a new Russian rose to power-Vera Zvonareva,surprising everyone by defeating Kim Clijsters in the QFs.She then made it to the finals,only to go down to Serena in straight sets.

US Open 2010,Optimism in the air,as Sharapova and Kuznetsova came in with some form as the former made two continuous finals at Stanford and Cincinatti while the latter won San Diego.Safina too got back to winning ways with a 3rd showing at Montreal and a QFs at New Haven.But again disappointing everyone ,Safina went down in the first round to Daniela Hantuchova,an opponent she had beaten two weeks ago at New Haven!Sharapova and Kuznetsova made smooth progress to the 4th Round.But both were then bundled out ,Sharapova by No.1 seed Wozniacki,serving 9 double-faults adding to the trouble and Kuznetsova went down to Cibulkova! Zvonareva proved that her Wimbledon Finals was no Fluke after reaching the Finals at US Open too! But again falling down handily to Kim Clijsters in the Finals.

The Big Question Remains can the once big Russian Trio of Sharapova-Safina-Kuznetsova come back to their best.Russians like Kirilenko,Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Vera Zvonareva are coming into the scene currently!Once No.1 Sharapova currently stands at No.18 in the world.Can she get back to her best and maybe win a Slam! Probably yes,in 2010 she did show some parts of her best game against Justine at French open and against Serena at Wimbledon.Injury marred Safina,struck by bad luck,will be looking for a better 2011 after ending 2010 early.If she can stay healthy and fit , she surely can be a force to reckon again!Coming to Kuznetsova,very much possible,you never know,her career has been like this throughout-up-down-up,hopefully up in 2011!

Will be interesting to see , whether the big Russians can come back again and give a hard time to the young force thats coming up ! What are your views about it?Can they or Can’t they? With just one Russian in the Top 10-Vera Zvonareva(After Dementieva’s retirement) ,Russian tennis surely needs a savior in these biggies!