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March 27, 2022,
In a global village, mostly not united, major bad news in the world affects all of us.
Even if the greatest fear lies in our mind.
It keeps encroaching. Pushing us back to the baseline, where we are determined to protect our territory.
Or our escape route.
Our fairytales.
Sometimes they are the only place that we can escape from the madness that surrounds us.
Slovenia is a land of fairytale scenic landscapes and currently a Fairytale Princess trying to spread winning stardust in the WTA.
Tamara Zidanšek is a Slovenian tennis player.
Slovenia has historically been the crossroads of Slavic, Germanic, and Romance languages and cultures.
Slovenia is a developed country, with a high-income economy ranking highly in the Human Development Index.
The Gini index rates its income inequality among the lowest the world. It is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, the Eurozone, the Schengen Area, the OSCE, the OECD, the Council of Europe, and NATO.
Slovenia has a developed economy and is the richest Slavic country by nominal GDP.
National Geographic Traveler’s Magazine declared Slovenia as the country with the world’s most sustainable tourism.
In terms of traveling to this fairytale kingdom, the group at travelsafe-abroad.com state, “Overall, Slovenia is a very safe country to travel to.”
Slovenia is famous for her beautiful landscapes, lakes and dramatic scenery.
It is a perfect place for adventure seekers and nature lovers. This country is home to one of the most beautiful lakes in the world and some of the best ski resorts in Europe.
We suspect Slovenia is watching very carefully how their top female tennis player fares.
Tamara has a career-high WTA rankings of No. 25 in singles as of this March 26, 2022 writing.
She is currently the No. 1 Slovene singles tennis player.
She has won one singles title and two WTA 125 singles titles.
Ms. Zidanšek made a perfect professional debut in 2014 at her home in Velenje, passing three qualifying rounds to go in the main draw and claim the first title on the pro-level still at the tender age of 16.
She reached the quarterfinals and the semifinals of a Grand Slam event at the 2021 French Open for the first time in her career, after defeating Sorana Cîrstea in straight sets and Paula Badosa in three sets, making her the first Slovenian female player to accomplish this since the country achieved its independence in 1991.
As a result, Ms. Zidanšek entered the top 50 for the first time in her career. She also scored her first top-ten win in the first round over No. 6 seed, Bianca Andreescu.
On January 15, 2022, the team at tennisworldusa.org .posted, “Slovenian tennis star Tamara Zidansek was a bit disappointed after giving a walkover in her Adelade 2 semifinal. Zidansek, ranked at No. 31 in the world, was scheduled to clash Alison Riske in the Adelaide semifinal on Friday.”
Tamara made it to another semi-final. That is impressive. We still have questions tough.
One big one.
Currently ranked 25 in the world, where is she headed?
As an example, by comparison, a player who we have been intensely following is America’s sweet heart, Jessica Pegula.
Who comes across as very nice and extremely honest.
After a very impressive run at the 2022 Australian Open where she survived into the quarterfinal round where she was blistered by the eventual champion, Australia’s Ash Barty 2-6, 0-6.
In terms of Jessica’s career, in March 2012, Jessica was given a wildcard to the qualifying draw in Indian Wells, and surprised higher ranked players Bojana Jovanovski and Paula Ormaechea to qualify for the main draw where she lost to Magdaléna Rybáriková in three sets.
In 2019, Ms. Pegula began the year primarily playing on the ITF Circuit, before cracking inside the top 100 in February for the first time in her career.
Let’s take a breath.
Her career started in 2011.
She cracked the top 100 for the first in 2019.
That’s 8 years not being in the top 100. That’s a long time for a player who is now the third top ranked American player in the world who, according to tennisnow.com, is presently ranked number 21.
After the 2022 Australian Open she was ranked 17.
Wouldn’t you say that Jessica is a rising star?
You know what.
We respectfully would not agree. Why?
We think that Jessica has peaked. Could be wrong. Hope that we’re wrong, but we don’t think so.
Now if some players ranked ahead of her take a big tumble, her rankings could rise but if it is going to be based upon her play, not going to happen.
Jessica just doesn’t have the weapons to fend off the top players. Most important?
It was what she said in an interview after her very impressive performance at AO 2022.
She indicated, words to the effect that she almost wished she hadn’t done so well in 2021.
Really?
Why? It is because in 2022 now she has all of these points to defend and if she hadn’t done so well in 2021, her road would be a little easier.
That’s heavy. Time for some dime store psychology.
That is not the way a champion headed towards a title fight speaks. That is the phrasing of someone who most likely, in the future, will play not to lose, as opposed to fiercely surging to win.
That is sad, as we are huge Jessica Pegula fans.
We expected her to say, words to the effect, I had a great breakthrough year in 2021 and now, being aware of the limitations of my current game, I am discussing it with my team on what we can do to improve and break into the top 10 and win a Grand Slam.
Which now brings us to Tamara, from the land of mystic waters, mountainous beauty and fairytales.
Has she peaked at number 25?
Does she have it in her current game to surge ahead or is this it. We’re not sure.
The good news? Major arrows are pointing upward.
In 2022 for the first time ever she made it into the third round of the Australian Open.
In 2021 for the first time ever she made it into the semi-finals of the French Open.
Tamara? Please no comments about protecting points.
Keep surging. Keep winning. Keep moving forward? Why?
In a world filled with strife and madness, we still need our fairytales.
~ ~ ~
OPENING PHOTO Femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com, fciwomenswrestling.com, fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com Mai-Groves-Shutterstock-photo-credit-Editoria-use
http://www.tennisnow.com/Rankings/WTA-Singles.aspx
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamara_Zidan%C5%A1ek
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
https://www.travelsafe-abroad.com/slovenia/
https://travelwithmansoureh.com/blog/14-fun-facts-about-slovenia
