Piercing through

When she won the 1995 Australian Open, Mary Pierce was thought to be the next tennis sensation. However she almost faded into oblivion before resurfacing in the 2000 French Open. After that, she's hardly ever been heard of.

In a sport like tennis, you become a veteran if you cross 28. The women's version has lowered the bar still. But Mary, the original power-girl of tennis, announced to the world yesterday that no one can afford to count her out yet. After all, if you wallop the number one seed 6-3 6-2, who cares if you are 30 or 300?

Probably M'lle Pierce has vowed to win a Grand Slam once every 5 years. But she's got to overcome Likhovtseva in the semis and then almost certainly Justine-Henin Hardenne in the finals. A tough proposition, but she can take heart from the fact that she's got my backing -:)


An interesting piece of information. Pierce's two previous Grand Slam final victories came against Spaniards, Arantxa Sanchez and Conchita Martinez. She would have loved Henin-Hardenne to be Spanish.