Bally’s 2010 review – part one

Written by: Elena Baltacha on 19th November 2010

Bally’s 2010 review – part one

Elena Baltacha (GBR) |

Hello everyone,

I can’t believe that we’ve got to the end of another season. It seems like a minute ago that I was sitting at the end of 2009, planning my schedule for the upcoming season and dreaming about what I might achieve.

At that point, I had just broken into the top 100 and that felt like a really big deal before I did it. Now, at the end of what’s been the best season of my career and having broken into the top 50, I realise in hindsight that it was just the start. One year on, I know that where I am now can be a springboard and I can take more big steps forward over the next twelve months.

It’s been a crazy year in many ways, with massive highs and a few lows to learn from. I think I set the tone for myself in Australia at the start of the year, qualifying for two WTA events in my first two tournaments before reaching the third round of the Australian Open, where I lost to Dinara Safina. Getting to play on Rod Laver Arena against Safina – a former World No.1 and the World No.3 at that time – was a big highlight for me and you can never have enough of those big occasions. It’s a privilege and though Safina was too tough for me on the day, it was a really valuable experience.

When I moved to the US hardcourts, things got even better and I reached the quarter-finals in Memphis before playing a feisty match against Maria Sharapova there. I love the heat of battle and I think she does too so we didn’t take any prisoners out there. I’m not sure she realised that I spoke Russian, judging by a few of the things she was saying, but that’s all part of the fun and you don’t take that stuff too seriously. I have a lot of respect for her as a competitor – as we say in Britain, I think we both like a scrap!

Indian Wells was another big high because I qualified for the Pacific Life Open and beat Na Li to reach the third round, which was my first top ten win (watch my video interview after that match below). I was also the first British woman since 1998 to beat a top ten player so that was a big milestone. I also qualified for the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami and won a round before losing to Yanina Wickmayer, another really good player.

The clay season hasn’t always been my best time of year in the past but I’m determined for that to change. This year is was a good learning experience but it wasn’t always fun and my preparation for it wasn’t helped by getting stuck in Johannesburg for longer than planned when the volcanic ash from Iceland grounded all the planes and shut the airports in Europe. The big high of the clay-court season was beating Sorana Cirstea in Strasbourg, which was definitely the best win I’ve had on clay, and though I had a tough draw against Agnieszka Radwanska in the first round in Paris, I took a lot of confidence from the way I played, particularly in the second set. It’s one of the reasons why I really want to give clay a good go in 2011.

Onwards to grass and another high, this time at the AEGON International in Eastbourne, where I made the quarter-finals of one of the toughest events on the regular WTA circuit. You can’t beat playing well in front of your home crowd and it was such a buzz to get wins against Na Li and Jie Zheng with lots of British tennis fans cheering me on. I get goosebumps when I think about it. Wimbledon wasn’t nearly as much fun because I allowed a winnable match against Petra Martic to slip away. It was such a horrible loss for me, partly because it was Wimbledon and losing there always hurts more than it does anywhere else, and partly because I was a set and 5-3 up against her only to lose the match in three sets. I can’t really tell you how gutted I was. At least the doubles – with Olga Savchuk – and mixed doubles – with Ken Skupski – were a bit more enjoyable!

It’s amazing how quickly things can turn around and a couple weeks later I found myself getting my first career win over a reigning grand slam champion. I tell you more about that in part two of my look back at my season.

Get ready for Part Two!

Bally x

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4wFVgZcMHY&p=B2D20B9B6BD5F2C3&playnext=1&index=25[/youtube]

Topics: Australian Open, Bally, Dinara Safina, Hardcourts, Heat Of Battle, Hello Everyone, Hindsight, Indian Wells, Lows, Maria Sharapova, Pacific Life, Pacific Life Open, Quarter Finals, Rod Laver, Rod Laver Arena, Springboard, Twelve Months, Video Interview, Wom, Wta