Slovenia With 3 Players In The First Round Of Wimbledon 2009
I just wanted to congratulate the 3 players from Slovenia who managed to enter the main draw in Wimbledon. This is the first time that Slovenia had 3 players in a Grand Slam main draw in singles.
Maša Zec Peškirič, ranked currently #98 in WTA, lost to Urszula Radwanska 6-3, 6-3 and it was her first Grand Slam main draw appearance so Maša will definitely learn from this and gain more experience and confidence.
Grega Žemlja, currently ranked #218 on ATP, managed to win 3 qualifying rounds at Wimbledon 2009 and came across Albert Montanes, ranked #33. Grega fought well and lost with 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 score with only one break of serve in each set.
There were no TV cameras on the court where Grega played so I even our national TV couldn’t show any play. I could watch Luka Gregorc though and Luka played an excellent match against the 15th seed Tommy Robredo.
Luka lost 6-7, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 playing with no fear and pushed Tommy to the limit on a fast grass court.
Luka’s slice serve on deuce side is excellent and so is his forehand. His backhand is his weaker side although at this level it’s not weak at all. 
Both players were looking to attack their opponent’s backhands from the first shot in the rally – serve or return and then the first groundstroke. Tommy kept a cooler head and didn’t commit unforced errors on big points and Luka just went for too much at those crucial moments and missed by a little bit.
Luka Gregorc - Photo by Delo.si
Luka Gregorc can gain a lot from this match and see that from his current ranking of #195 on ATP to #15 that Robredo holds are just a few things to work on.
His strokes are good, perhaps he could work on better movement, better balance on tough shots and better scrambling ability as Luka often attempted a very low percentage shot from difficult situations.
Katarina Srebotnik, the best ranked Slovenian player at WTA #44 couldn’t play because of the repeating injury of her shoulder and hasn’t played a match in 2009. Hopefully Katarina recovers soon and joins the best Slovenian players in the quest to attain even higher rankings in WTA and ATP.
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June 23rd, 2009 at 9:47 am
We will actually have quite a lot of Slovenians on major events coz of that big achievement by the three players,they have actually build a lot of interest amongboth at home and around the globe.