Lady and the Tramp...

[Deuce]

That's what I was thinking as I watched Kirilenko and Serena. Quite the contrast...

On one side, big, brash Serena, bashing the ball with seemingly reckless abandon, attired in yet another "PLEASE LOOK AT ME!!!" outfit, which recalled the 'uniforms' certain women wear whilst standing on street corners, more than high-lighting certain... 'commodities'.

On the other side, pettite, humble Maria Kirilenko, dressed in a classy outfit, not needing to reveal nor advertize any unnecessary flesh, striking clean, beautiful strokes as she came within a teenager's nervousness of beating one of the planet's top players. Her strokes were better than Serena's; her dress was certainly better... I believe, even though she lost the match due to Serena's superior physical and mental strength, little Maria Kirilenko won the battle of class.

Mary Carillo said that, of all the Russian girls on the Tour, Kirilenko is the one who stands out. "This kid is something special," she said. Indeed, she is.

I first saw Kirilenko play about 2 years ago - she won the Junior tournament I attended, and then went on to win the Junior U.S. Open two weeks later. She did this at 15 years old, beating 18 year olds. She stood out from all the others with her obvious and exceptional class, poise, humility, fairness, and, well, maturity. She's a really nice kid who seems to be extremely well grounded - a very refreshing change from the perpetually publicity seeking Serena, the always miserable, cranky, and whining Capriati, etc...

I wish her nothing but the best, and hope that she continues to improve and work her way to the top, where she can restore some much needed class and respectability to women's tennis.

[katarddx]

you said it; it is about having/being a class and not... Clearly you can see who has it and who doesn't...

[steve d]

Based a great deal on Deuce's high praise, I made it a point to watch Kirilenko's matches at last years US Open. Including the qualies I saw 3 of her matches and I became an instant fan. It was obvious she was talented but I loved her fighting spirit. No matter what the game score I knew she was never out of a game. And she was not afraid to come to the net if the situation called for it. She reminded me a little of Hingis in her resourcefullness and her all court game. I remember thinking that all she needed was experience, a bigger serve and possibly some sort of weapon she could fall back on. The experience will come and hopefully the serve will too. And I might have been mistaken about the weapon. Her attitude and athleticism might be plenty good enough to shoot her up the rankings.

And she did seem like a genuinely nice kid. Hopefully she will stay that way despite her eventual jump in popularity. I bet it won't be so easy to get into her matches in the future. I have a bunch of action photos I took during her matches and in some there are hardly any fans in the stands. I imagine she will be getting some time on the show courts in upcoming tourneys.

[a verrry large duck]

please, if somehow you magically switch their outfits before the match, there wouldnt be any less praise for kirilenko or any less negativity on serena, just the facts ma'am. Matter of fact there might even be more tongue waggling kind of like when harkleroad did the same number at the us open.