NEWS
OTHER SPORTS
DIARY
PEOPLE
MATCH REPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Surgery on Vicario's mind as she defends French crown

The glamour in tennis may belong to the likes of Martina Hingis, Venus and Serena Williams, and Anna Kournikova, but never count Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario out at the French Open.

Three times the champion and three times the runner-up, the 27-year-old spaniard still can run balls down all afternoon and, if need be, all evening.

Lately, though, when she's swung with her two-fisted backhand, she's felt shivers with pain radiating from her left wrist.
"One of the ligaments is out of position,'' the defending champion said yesterday as she prepared for her opening match against one of the strongest of the new generation of players, Mirjana Lucic.

"The doctors told me the best thing to do is operate if I want to fix it. I'm trying not to do that, if I can help it. It's kind of like something is always turning around in my hand. It's a lot of pain when I want to hit my backhard hard.''

Physical therapy is helping, and after missing more than three months she's been able to play the past three weeks.
"I'm not 100 per cent, but I'm optimistic,'' she said. "I'm here. I'm the defending champion. I love the atmosphere, and I've always done well here. So I came here thinking that I'm going to try to win my fourth French Open.''

She was only 17 when she won the French in 1989, beating Steffi Graf in the final and becoming the toast of Spain. One of the youngsters watching her and getting inspiration from that victory was a 12-year-old named Carlos Moya.

"I remember that day,'' said Moya, who won the men's title last year and opens play on center court on Monday against an Austrian he once met in the juniors, Markus Hipfl.
"It was a great day for the people in Spain. Graf was already so big, so nobody expected (Sanchez-Vicario) to win. I think she's been one of the greatest sportswomen ever in Spain. What she has done is amazing. She always gave 100 per cent for her tennis, fighting so much.''