Ana Ivanovic Relegated to Rogers Cup Qualifying in Canadian Home Cooking

If Ana Ivanovic were a musician, she’d be the equivalent of a one-hit wonder. Since winning the French Open in 2008 (which marked a run of reaching three finals in five grand slams), Ivanovic’s play has dropped off dramatically. Ana posted a losing record the rest of the year after winning at Roland Garros in ’08, falling in the third round at Wimbledon and the second round at the U.S. Open despite being the tournament’s top seed. Ivanovic had a thumb injury in ’08 and has gone through a slew of coaches since but she has failed to regain her form.

Ana did not make it past the fourth round of any major in 2009. 2010 has proven to be an even more miserable year for Ivanovic; she bowed out of the Australian Open and French Open in the second round and Wimbledon in the first. With an 11-12 record on the year, the Serbian beauty’s world ranking is down to 63rd. As a result, Ivanovic can’t make it into most tournament draws so she has to request a wild card from the hosts. Unfortunately for Ana, the people running the show in Montreal are denying her a wild card for the Rogers Cup, forcing her to go through qualifying.

Ordinarily I’d say that Ana has done this too herself and that is the truth. However, it must also be noted that there are three wild cards available for the Rogers Cup draw and it appears as if one is going to 125th ranked Stephanie Dubois, who also happens to be Canadian. Between Dubois and Aleksandra Wozniak, that’s two wild cards going to Canadians. Ivanovic’s poor play speaks for itself this year, but she is ranked twice as high as Wozniak, a former winner in Montreal, and they’re using her in a promotional ad on the tournament’s Web site. You would think they’d find a way to work her into the main draw but obviously that’s not the case. Oh well, looks like she’ll have to earn her way in — something Dubois should be doing.

Sources:
A humbling decline for Ivanovic [Globe and Mail]