Aravane Rezai Hopes To Revive Game Under Controversial Father

Written by: Staff on 30th May 2013

Aravane Rezai Hopes To Revive Game Under Controversial Father

epa02691961 French tennis player Aravane Rezaï returns the ball to Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez during their Federation Cup's Group 1 qualifying match between France and Spain, in Lleida, northeastern Spain, on 17 April 2011. Martinez won 6-1 and 6-4. EPA/Alberto Estevez |

Aravane Rezai’s game has been in shambles since the 2011 Australian Open, when her father Arsalan, who was then coaching her, was allegedly investigated by police for abusing his daughter in Melbourne.

There were also reports that he got into a fight with Aravane’s boyfriend, but Aravane later denied there was a major problem.

The former top 20 player’s ranking dropped through the floor, she severed ties with her family and the 2010 Madrid winner had a hard time stringing wins together. The Frenchwoman kept trying to put her game and life together without much success, but she began to make progress last winter and has pushed her ranking back into the top 200. She accepted a wild card into the Roland Garros and played fairly well in a three-set loss to former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.

Then she announced that three weeks ago she decided to bring her father back into the fold.

“I’ve been training with him for a week now. It’s going very well,” she said. “Why go back? I think you need to ask yourself the right questions, the searching questions. For me, that’s the best way to go. My objective is to get there in the end, and I think he’s also there for me to help me. So we’re going to try and put the past behind us now.”

Rezai said it took her two years of deep thought before she decided it was OK to re-involve her father in her career. She added that her family situation is much improved.

“We all deserve a second chance,” said Rezai, who once lived with her father in a van parked outside Roland Garros. “So for the time being, this works. I entrust everything to my dad [tennis wise]. Our relationship has changed. I think that everybody in this room has problems with their parents. We’ve all got problems with our respective families. I’m in the public eye so this is blown out of proportion a bit. We’ve all got problems. We always try and iron them out and move on. This is my objective with my family. It’s much better than it was in the past in my mind, and I’m delighted to have made the decision I did.”

Rezai has been training at the Patrick Mouratoglou Academy just outside of Paris and is unsure whether she will continue to work there, but she left open the possibility.

Her fitness level is still lacking and so is her mental toughness. Against Kvitova, she froze when it mattered most.

“I was frightened of winning quite simply. Frightened also of losing primarily, but after a set I said to myself, Well, I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m playing well,” she said. And that’s where the fear of winning set in. At the beginning it was fear of not losing. I wasn’t frightened of being destroyed, but I was frightened of not using every effort. When I saw what I could do I won the second set, and that’s where the fear of winning just set in basically.”

Rezai is hoping to crack the top 100 before the end of the year so that in 2014 she is placed in the main draws of all the Grand Slams.

“Even though I’m disappointed, there is a silver lining to it. It’s a match that will be a yardstick for me when compared with the matches I’ve had since the beginning of the year. It’s good to have been able to play against strong girls. I haven’t had that opportunity for a while now. It was a great source of pleasure for me to feel feelings that I felt before, to strike the balls, and get the points that I couldn’t have done before. So this builds my confidence. Now it’s just a question of time and winning more matches and gaining more confidence.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Aravane Rezai, French Open, Kvitova Petra, Sports, Tennis News