Dumped Out..

Defending French Open champion Anastasia Myskina crashed out of this year's tournament with a horrid display of tennis. Plagued with personal problems, a lack of match practice, a loss of confidence and a shoulder injury, the Russian produced a whopping 69 unforced errors in a 3 set battle with a lowly ranked Spanish opponent, Maria Sanchez Lorenzo, better known as Felicia Lopez's girlfriend. Myskina looked out of sorts as she often sprayed her shots wide or dumped her normally reliant forehands into the net. The loss came as no surprise to many as the first ever Russian female Grand Slam champion has been undergoing a slump ever since her win here twelve months ago. This can be attributed to her mother's illness, which has put the Moscow-native through an emotional turmoil throughout this difficult period of time. With the loss, Myskina created history by being the first ever defending champion in the open era to lose in the opening round.

I personally feel for Myskina. Her achievements included single-handedly assisting her country to the Hopman Cup last year, where she won her 2 singles matches and the doubles match. She has always been one of my favourite female tennis players despite being less well known and popular compared to her fellow Russian, Sharapova. From all her fans and myself, I wish her mum a speedy recovery and hope that Myskina can once again regain the form that helped her lift the crown just a year ago.