Tennis: Good times are afoot for Gavrilova

Daria Gavrilova was neck-and-neck with Ash Barty before injury struck her down. She’s on her way back and despite a loss to Serena Williams on Monday … there’s still something there.

Australia's Daria Gavrilova and Serena Williams touch racquets after their Yarra Valley Classic women's singles match in Melbourne

Daria Gavrilova was in Interview Room 1 at Melbourne Park. Interview Room 1 is where the big dogs of world tennis hang out. If it was a scene from Ron Burgundy – which it sometimes may as well be – Interview Room 1 would come with many leather-bound books and the smell of rich mahogany while players sit down and say, “I don’t know how to put this but … I’m kind of a big deal.”

It was the 2016 Australian Open. She’d beaten Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in round two. Kind of a big deal. She’d beaten the dangerous Kristina Mladenovic in round three. Kind of a big deal. She annihilated top 10 Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro with a duck egg of a golden set before losing 0-6 and throwing the toys, mattress and blanket out of the cot in a meltdown that was distressing to watch.

When she calmed down post-match, she said there was no limit to how far she could go if she got her emotions in check. Nobody doubted her. She was kind of a genuine talent.

She was ranked in the 20s for the next three years. She knocked over Maria Sharapova at the Miami Masters. A Moscow-born livewire with the physique of a Russian gymnast, and the speed of foot not always seen on the WTA Tour, she had as many weapons as players who would go on to win majors. Jelena Ostapenko, Angelique Kerber, Garbine Muguruza, Sloane Stephens, Caroline Wozniacki … please, Gavrilova was potentially as good and great as any of them in every regard.

She beat Ash Barty in a classic three-setter at Strasbourg in 2017. They were neck-and-neck for future prospects. When Gavrilova was top 20, Barty wasn’t even on the tour. At the end of 2017, Barty was the world No 17 and Gavrilova was No 20. Back then, if you had to pick who would go further … it was nigh impossible to split them.

But then Gavrilova, the quickest player on the women’s tour, an attribute guaranteed to take her far, was stopped cold by achilles tendinitis in her right foot. She was unable to play. Forced off the tour. She fell to the world No 788 ranking in an unfathomably cruel twist of fortune. The most nimble and energetic of players had been rendered immobile.

Just like Barty, she could accurately be described as a top chick. After the total psychological meltdown against Suarez Navarro, she said words to the effect of, jeez, sorry about that! But for a few years now, she’s kind of been nowhere to be seen while Barty has swept onwards and upwards.

Now Gavrilova is 26 years of age. Still gloriously young. Still nursing the tendinitis, which she always will, but she’s playing again. There’s still something there. There has to be. When she won her opening match at the Yarra Valley Classic to ensure a return to the top 400 in the world, she said, “I could have frickin’ cried.” When she learned she was playing Serena Williams in the next round, she nearly fainted on the spot. What an opportunity.

I remember the build-up to their match at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Australian boxer Shelley Watts had taken a shine to Gavrilova in the athlete’s village. She thought Gavrilova had a fighter’s spirit. She was so sure Gavrilova had enough spunk and fearlessness to beat Williams that she got herself courtside to watch. Williams won 6-4 6-2. She does that, she crushes players’ gold-medal dreams.

Watts was called the “Iron Maiden” at Rio but really, Williams warranted the tag even more. They got back in the ring on Monday at Margaret Court Arena. Gavrilova was about to receive an accurate gauge on the progress of her comeback.

For Williams, this was a tricky assignment. It was all well and good to swing freely in last week’s exhibition against Naomi Osaka, when nobody expected anything of her, but this was a real tour match against an opponent she was expected to nail.

A wry smile from Gavrilova. Good to be back. She won the first three points. Had 0-40 on Williams’ serve. All over her. Williams might be lucky to trouble the scorers. The American wriggled free of the first game and won 6-1 6-4. But it was closer than that, a lot closer. Gavrilova took the ball early, hit it cleanly, had moments to get genuinely excited about. Williams was superb.

“In a zone,” she said. The games were long but the sets were short. There’s something in Gavrilova. It’s still there, the smell of rich mahogany. Achilles troubles or otherwise, good times are afoot.