Stevenson tries to shoulder burden of tour
Alexandra Stevenson's opponent yesterday was 18 years old and full of energy, and the 27-year-old Stevenson, frankly, was hurting.
Anna Tatishvili, a native of the Republic of Georgia but a resident of Florida, took advantage of the older player's left thigh "tweak" in the second set to knock out a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 victory in the quarterfinals of the USTA Pro Circuit Women's 50K Challenger at Sportsmen's Tennis Club in Roxbury. Tatishvili is ranked 212th in the world and rising. Stevenson, once ranked as high as 18th but now lodged at 234th, is trying to regain her elite status.
Did Stevenson look across the net at Tatishvili's quick, fluid movements, and remember how easy it was when she was 18? "You have to play the ball, not the person," Stevenson said. "And I wasn't able to play my game in the last two sets, so then I lost. She's younger than me but that doesn't mean anything. I've been off for 3 1/2 years anyway, so in tennis years, I'm really 23."
It was nine years ago when Stevenson became the first female qualifier in Wimbledon history to reach the semifinals. It was her first tournament as a professional, just weeks after her high school graduation in San Diego, and it was also the week the world found out her father is Julius Erving, one of basketball's biggest stars. Not an introduction easily forgotten.
Stevenson is still charged with the bravado of the 18-year-old phenom, pushed, pulled, and nurtured by her mother, Samantha Stevenson.
Alexandra Stevenson is tall and rangy, with large limbs that pull and twist as she steps into powerful serves and ground strokes. After her initial splash, she reached No. 18 in the rankings in 2002-03, but then she injured her right shoulder. She had surgery in September 2004 to repair a labral tear. While she rehabbed for the next 3 1/2 years, she also continued her studies and recently graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in sociology.
This year, she said, at last she is healthy and strong and she's back on tour, the very minor league tour, trying to regain her top-20 form. It's not easy. Yesterday, after cruising through the first set, she tweaked her thigh and thereafter couldn't push off to serve.
Stevenson, who jumped 200 points in the rankings in April, the same month she reached the main draw at the Family Circle Cup, calls this her second career and she's working hard at it.
Yesterday, when she relaxed into a chair and unzipped her sweat shirt, pulling her arms out of the sleeves, bags of ice fell to the floor. When she adjusted her position in the chair, there was a rustling noise from another bag of ice, this one jammed into her sweat pants to soothe the left thigh.
She is determined to move forward. "I mean, I was very angry," Stevenson said. "I was by myself, with trainers, for eight hours a day, so you do a lot of thinking. Then in the last year, when I had to go out and get my shoulder stronger, and I had to retire so much, and then to come out to these tournaments, it's not fun. I mean, I'll just say it: These tournaments [stink]. They're horrible. It's like the dregs of tennis."
Stevenson was quick to add that the Sportsmen's Club is an exception, with gracious hosts and trained ballkids having a great time.
"Once you're in the WTA Tour, and you have ballkids all the time that are professionally trained and you have good linesmen that cover every line and you have physical therapy - it's just different," she said.
"They run it different. It's like minor leagues in baseball, except in minor league baseball, at least you have a team to support you. Out here, I have my mom."
