KIRRILY Sharpe might never be the same again after her visit to
Wimbledon yesterday. She arrived just after midday clutching her rackets
and outrageous dreams, and in less time than it takes to scoff a helping
of strawberries and cream she was on her way home again, biting her
bottom lip and holding back the tears, writes James Traynor.
Her good fortune in winning through the qualifiers at Roehampton last
week turned out, in fact, to be a dreadful misfortune. The 20-year-old
Australian went on to Centre Court with the defending champion and top
seed, Steffi Graf, who was in no mood to hang around.
She dallied only 38 minutes with Sharpe, who was able to win just 18
points as she was driven all over the court to a 6-0, 6-0 defeat. It was
nothing personal. It was expediency.
Earlier in the day while practising, Graf had been upset by a German
supporter, who is in the habit of shouting things at her. The same man
was sitting in the front row of the Centre Court when she arrived with
Sharpe, and when he started calling to her during the first set, Graf
had to approach the umpire.
''I was being disturbed and I asked the umpire to tell him to be quiet
during play,'' she said. ''He happened to be in Paris a couple of weeks
ago, too.
''It doesn't hurt me that he follows me around, there's nothing I can
do about it. I was surprised he was there again today, but I don't take
it too seriously.''
Asked if the German spectator, who was removed from the complex by the
police, had been abusive, she said she had no desire to talk about him
any more. Graf, who has just turned 24, seems to attract a strange kind
of fan, and a couple of years ago one young man cut his wrists in front
of her on a practice court.
Then, a couple of months ago, a deranged fan stabbed Monica Seles
during a match in Hamburg because she had taken over the world No.1
ranking from Graf.
Meanwhile, the other victim, Miss Sharpe, was trying to come to terms
with her thrashing. She is ranked No.231 in the world, but the gap in
quality between the two players seemed much wider, with Graf hitting
winners at will despite a foot injury which had been causing her pain
before she played.
However, she had no problem with it during the match and apart from
the spectator, the thing that gave her most trouble was the ribbon
holding back her hair. It kept working its way loose, which was more
than her opponent could do from her own predicament. Perhaps she needed
someone to shout at her. Someone to make her raise her game to a higher
level.
Then again, probably if someone had even called out something
supportive like: ''Come on, Kirrily, don't give up,'' she most likely
would have lapsed into floods of tears and that wouldn't have done at
all. Kirrily apart, it continues to be fine and dry here.
Martina Navratilova had to wait until Boris Becker's struggle against
Marc Goellner was over before she could get to work against Michelle
Jaggard-Lai, but when she started swinging there was no stopping her.
The woman who is here in search of a tenth singles championship won 6-2,
6-1.
Jo Durie, Britain's No.1, couldn't do too much after an encouraging
start against the world's No.104, Elizabeth Smylie on Court 14, and
after her 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 defeat complained about her legs, particularly
the left one, which has been causing her pain for some time.
''I knew I had to win in two sets,'' she said. ''My body was telling
me, 'please, two sets,' and I knew I didn't have enough strength in my
legs to win in three.''
While she was lamenting two other British players, Monique Javer and
Clare Wood, were celebrating their first-round wins against Hungary's
Andrea Temesvari and Kimiko Date, of Japan, respectively. Javer won 6-2,
6-2 and Wood cruised through 6-1, 6-1.
Wood's reward will be a second-round match on one of the main courts.
That's the good news, the bad is she meets Graf.
Before their game, perhaps she should seek out Sharpe and ask if there
is anything that can be done to stop the German from making her look
foolish. ''Certainly, just don't show up,'' Kirrily might tell her, but
Clare's British you know and she'll be there.
Javer will play the No.16 seed, Nathalie Tauziat, who beat Rennae
Stubbs 7-5, 6-4.
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