Tennis: Erakovic on a high at last

Marina Erakovic. Photo / Getty Images

It should never have taken this long but Marina Erakovic looks set to finally be regarded as a high-performance athlete by High Performance Sport New Zealand.

The debacle of last summer, when she seemed to be a sporting outcast in her own country, is unlikely to be repeated.

Negotiations have still to be completed but it seems likely Erakovic will be classed as a carded athlete and granted full access to all of the services and benefits HPSNZ provide when she returns home this summer.

"The details need to be worked out and I will know more when I get home but it looks like I will be able to use the facilities and get some advice and assistance," Erakovic said. "Some people have been pushing my case and it looks like it has been resolved."

Category-one carded athletes have full access to strength and conditioning trainers, as well as massage, physiotherapy and mental skills coaches. Often MRI scans and x-rays are covered and there's full access to all athlete facilities at the Millennium Institute.

Last summer, Erakovic returned home as world No 47, her highest year-end ranking since she turned professional in 2006. It was enough to guarantee main draw participation in the four grand slams but she was denied access to any high performance training facilities or staff here because tennis was not one of HPSNZ's targeted sports.

At the time, HPSNZ had 434 carded athletes, including 74 rowers, 52 cyclists, 49 hockey players and 43 track and field athletes but no room for one tennis player.

Erakovic had planned an extended build up in New Zealand ahead of the Australasian season but had to spend $12,000 to bring a trainer from the US, after HPSNZ turned down her request for help (they would later offer a strength and conditioning trainer, but on a user-pays basis).

In a scenario that might inspire a Monty Python skit, she was then denied access to the Millennium Institute gym and training centre because she was using an outside trainer.

"I was pretty disappointed," Erakovic said. "I was made to feel like I was putting out my hand and asking for something out of the ordinary. Home is home and I like to enjoy myself but it felt tough. I was unsure where I stood and felt awkward when I shouldn't have. It felt like there was no place for me here in a sporting sense."

Many countries would kill for a top 50 tennis player but HPSNZ's strict top-16 criteria, which states athletes need to be capable of finishing in the world's top 16, got in the way.

"Hopefully things can be looked at a bit more logically with global sports like tennis and eyes can be opened," Erakovic said. "It's not one-size-fits-all and, hopefully, other people can benefit in the future."

It's been a difficult year for the 26-year-old. There were positives - passing the first round in Melbourne and Paris, beating Svetlana Kuznetsova at the US Open and a run to the semifinals in Washington - but more lowlights.

She failed to win a single match on grass and a succession of early exits has seen her slip down the rankings to 103. Scheduling changes also meant she was unable to defend points won at Quebec (finalist) and Memphis (champion) last year.

"I'm playing better tennis than where my ranking is at," Erakovic said. "Of course you have to respect the rankings but my game has been going OK. I'm on the right track."

Now outside the main draw of many WTA tournaments, she's back on the qualifying bandwagon. It's a mixed blessing - "it can be good to get a few matches on the courts" - but leads to a frenetic schedule.

After losing her second-round match in Tokyo this week, Erakovic leapt on a flight to China and stayed overnight in Shanghai. She arrived in Wuhan just a few hours before she was scheduled to play her first match but her opponent didn't make it and she received a walkover.

She plans to play three more tournaments - Beijing, Linz and either Luxembourg or Moscow - to finish the year.