Tennis: Far from a towelling for young Kiwi hope

By TERRY MADDAFORD in Melbourne

You know you're someone, maybe, when at 16, a boy about the same age comes up and asks if he can have your towel.

A somewhat embarrassed Eden Marama, whose run in the Australian Open junior singles had just ended when beaten 5-7, 3-6 in the quarter-finals by pint-sized Ukrainian Viktoria Kutuzova, happily handed over the sponsor's towel.

Playing on a back court at Melbourne Park in front of a handful of spectators, Marama ran out of steam against Kutuzova who, at 14, is the youngest player in the junior draw.

Obviously keen to be the next Anna Kournikova, ninth-seed Kutuzova wore the same, if smaller, blue and white outfit the Russian wore in Auckland last summer.

Toss in a Monica Seles-like grunt, some crisp groundstrokes and the occasional tizzy or two, and it quickly became apparent why two International Management Group agents were courtside.

Marama, the 14th seed and one of the busier players in the Junior Open with long runs in the singles and doubles, matched her opponent throughout the tense first set before her usually reliable service let her down.

Broken in the first game of the second set, Marama, soon trailed 1-3.

After serving an ace, she held for 2-3, but then blew three break points in the sixth game and eventually lost in the ninth when broken for the third time.

"Sure, I was a little disappointed, but she played well," French-based Marama said.

"She kept me on the baseline, which is not my game. I knew about her game and the grunting - I was prepared.

"Fronting up to players like that will help me to find a better game. I was a bit tired - playing doubles might have something to do with that."

In her first Grand Slam, Marama was not disgraced.

"I just need the experience. I was not as nervous as I thought I might be," said Marama, who can expect her ranking to rise from just outside the top 30 to the top 20 on the strength of this showing.

She returns next week to Wellington for the ITF junior tournament, where her battle with Auckland's Marina Erakovic promises to be the highlight, before heading back to her base just outside Paris where she will continue to build towards the French Open.

In the meantime, when she is not playing, the wide-eyed former Wellingtonian will continue to look and learn from players such as the Williams sisters and Andre Agassi.

"Watching them is great motivation," she said. "I'm happy to be part of this, and with what I have achieved here."

In three tournaments in as many weeks in and around Melbourne, Marama has reached one final and two quarter-finals.

She has been living just outside of Paris at Montreuil at the Bob Brett Academy for the past three years.

At the academy there are eight indoor hard courts, four clay courts outdoors and four hard courts outdoors, along with 40-50 players who provide plenty of competition and practice partners.

Her potential will bring a smile to New Zealand Tennis administrators. But what will really please them is that she has decided she wants to stick with the country of her birth.

Any thought of Marama playing for France is quickly discounted.

"It's New Zealand for me. I don't want to play for France. I'm a New Zealander," she said, even though she now speaks fluent French and is hoping to continue her scholarship for at least one more year at the academy.

Standing at 1.75m, Marama has plenty of power, particularly her serving, which she considers the best part of her game.

"I take a lot of risks in my game and like to just go for it. I like to really hit it," said Marama, who is coached by Frenchman Nicolas Copin.

Along with Erakovic, 14, Marama is New Zealand's best hope in women's tennis, a pressure she does not feel.

"I just want to play. If people think me to be the next big thing it's okay, I'll just play tennis," she said.

Her older sister Paula, 18, will also play in Wellington and said little sister had plenty of potential as a professional.

Also in Paris are Eden's mother, Puna, and little sister Edwina.

Father Edward spends more time in New Zealand because of business commitments.

With the recent retirements of Pavlina Nola and Tracey O'Connor, the New Zealand Fed Cup women's team could do with some quality players, something not lost on Marama.

* In the doubles semifinals in Melbourne, Marama and partner Madalina Gojnea, of Romania, lost 6-7, 5-7 to the Australian pairing of Casey Dellacqua and Adriana Szili.