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D2 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday May 21, 2003 New Oakville resident hopes to crack top-200 this year By Steve Dominey SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER D iana S rebrovic, C a n ad a 's sev enth ranked w o m en 's tennis player w ho ju st recently m oved to O akville w ith her parents from M ississauga, is tuning up against a local m ale player, w ho like many o f her practice opponents, played com petitive tennis at a U.S. C ollege. A few club m em bers are w atching the afternoon m atch inside B urlington's C edar Springs athletic facility, m arveling as the events unfold. S reb ro v ic's 5 ' 11" slender fram e floats across the court, effortlessly pounding her signature forehands dow n the throat o f her young m ale opponent. A fter the man w ipes his racquet handle on his increasingly sw eaty grey t-shirt. she strikes again, sm ashing a 100-plus niph serve for an ace. The 18-year-old athlete looks as if she w ould have trouble ju st lifting the large racquet, but goes on to alm ost effortlessly defeat her opponent 6-2 in the one-set practice match. S rebrovic breezed through the m atch m uch like she has her am ateur career. Betw een the ages of* 14 and 18, the tennis phenom w on ten national ju n io r cham pionships. T hrough playing both singles and doubles in the indoor and outdoor events, she won six C anadian titles in 2001 alone. In N ovem ber o f 2001. she took the next step and played her first pro fes sional event at age 17. O verw helm ed by the increased com petition, she hired her first coach in July 2002. only to alm ost quit the tour in S eptem ber after a disappointing show ing at an O hio tournam ent. A fter m uch consultation, her coach convinced her to travel to A ustralia to play in three tour events. W hen she returned to C anada tw o m onths later, S rebrovic w as reborn. W hile dow n-under, Srebrovic played the best tennis o f her career. She beat m any players ranked above her. including the w o rld 's 130th ranked fem ale, vaulting her alm ost 200 spots in the WTA rankings. T his year, she picked up w here she left off. At her first WTA tournam ent stop o f the year, in M idland, M ichigan in February, she won three straight m atches, all in straight sets to qualify for the m ain draw. T here, she lost in the opening round to a very good G erm an player. S rebrovic posted her best results o f the year tw o w eeks later in a $25,000 indoor ev en t in C olum bus, O hio. She qualified and w on tw o rounds to reach the quarterfinals, defeating tw o w om en ranked in the top 250, before losing to the to u rn a m e n t's second seed in a tight three-set match. E ven w ith success, the aggressive baseliner, hum bly takes a w ait-andsee approach to her career. "I w ant to w ork as hard as I can this y ear and see how high I can get my ranking." she said. "T hen. I'll Peter McCusker · Oakville Beaver SMASHING SUCCESS! D iana Srebrovic, 18, won six C anadian titles in ju st one year, in 2001. decide w hether to continue on tour or go to college on scholarship." Srebrovic, w ho grew up in M ississauga before m oving w ith her parents into a recently built house in O akville, expects to im prove her #325 ranking and crack the top 200 by the end o f the year. A ranking in the top 200 is im portant because it w ill ensure her a spot in the q u alify ing rounds o f a grand-slam to u rn a m ent. G rand-slam s, w hich include the A ustralian O pen. French O pen. W im bledon and the US O pen, have 128-person draw s. U sually. 100 o f the w o rld 's top players are fixed into the draw w hile others in the top 200 have to qualify for the tournam ent. H er dream is to com pete in one o f these m ajor events, but for the m ean tim e she w ill concentrate on sim ply p laying in m ore tournam ents. She hopes to en ter betw een 20 to 25 events this year, a drastic hike from the 10 she participated in last year. S rebrovic said, as a C anadian, this is a difficult feat. W hile m ost tennis nations have a plethora o f to u rn a m ents. C anada has only tw o. And w hile oth er countries help their young up-and-com ers by granting them w ildcards into their e v e n t's draw s. Tennis C anada chooses to grant these spots to established stars such as A nna K oum ikova and M ary P ierce in order to increase event attendance. W ildcards are spots in the to u rn a m ent granted to those w ith rankings below w hat it takes to earn a spot in the e v e n t's draw. T hey are im portant because they allow players exposure against the higher ranked players they need to beat in order to im prove their rankings. O ther than lim ited exposure, she said there are m any factors hindering the developm ent o f C anadian players such as herself. "I found it hard to m ake the transi tion to pro tennis because it's so hard em otionally," she said. " It's such a personalized sport. If you do w ell you get all the glory, but if you lose For All Your Soccer Apparel and Equipment Needs SO C C G R U UO RLD A G re a t S election o f R u g b y G e a r a n d A p p a re l also A v a ila b le 187 Cross A v e n u e (Across from Oakville GO) (905) 8 1 5 -8 9 3 9 www.soccerworldcentral.com Mon., Tues. & Wed. 10-6 · Thurs. & Fri. 10-7 · Sat. 10-6 · Sun. 12-6 th e re 's only you left to be blam ed." She credits her father Joe w ith g iv ing her a fierce determ ination and w ork ethic. "M y dad has really helped m e in every possible w ay." she said. "W hen I had no confidence, w hen I d id n 't think I w as good enough to m ake it. my dad w as alw ays there telling m e I could do it." Joe Srebrovic. a C roatian im m i grant w ho coached his d au ghter from the young age o f nine, is an anom aly am ong tennis fathers. In a sport fam ous for hard-nosed dads w ho drive their kids to exhaustion and eventual burn-out. Jen n ifer C apriati as the prim e exam ple. Joe has never pushed any o f his three children into sports. In fact. Srebrovic practiced m uch less than m ost o f her ju n io r tennis counterparts w hen she w as grow ing up. W hile she now puts in six hours o f court and w ork-out room tim e a day. she w ould only practice an hour each day w hen she w as younger. "I w ould never push my children because if they lose their childhood they lose ev ery th in g ," said Joe. " I'd rather see my kids having fun. Let them grow up before they decide if they w ant to play." O nce S rebrovic decided she w ould play pro tennis, her father stepped aside and hired M ohith V ijayakum ar to coach her. V ijayakum ar. w ho acts as co ach /ag en t, has coached players all o ver the glo b e for 10 years. He know s som ething about d eal ing with yo u n g players because he h im self turned professional at the ripe age o f 14. before quitting seven years later. He describes Srebrovic as a natu ral striker w ith im peccable tim ing. "A s a coach y o u 're alw ays looking for som eone w ho can control points and dom inate opponents like she can ," he said. He said she still needs to w ork on com ing to the net for volleys and on her m ovem ent and footw ork. "A t the pro level you m ust be able to read the balls and be at the right place at the right tim e. She has all the tools, she ju st needs to put them together." W*, ui PET R O -C A N A D A hosted by the Community Advisory Committee to Petro-Canada < /> D O WEDNESDAY May 2 8 , 20 03 4 :0 0 -8 :0 0 pm PETRO-CANADA OAKVILLE REFINERY at Rebecca & Mississaga Streets (follow the signage to farmhouse) · REFINERY TOURS will run every 15 minutes beginning at 4 :1 4 pm · DISPLAYS on odour control initiatives and the refinery's environmental programs HEALTH experts available to answer your questions Enter for a chance to WIN a trip for 2 to see Celine Dion in A New Day. .. created by DRAGONE at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas! No purchase/donation necessary. Contest closes June 20,2003. Approximate retail value $4,500. See your local Zellers store or w w w .zellers.com (or complete rules and eligibility requirements. Please pick-up a pledge form at your local Zellers store For more Walk details, visit our website at www.zellers.com or your local store. Together we can make a difference. · MEET the volunteer members of the community Advisory Cmte. who work on your behalf For more informationi, please call Colleen Stevenson 905-825-1762 (Pefro Canada) or Ward One Councillors; Kevin Flynn at 845-6601, ext. 3710 or Ralph Robinson at 827-7659