Tennis: Injury sidelines Erakovic

Every week Marina Erakovic watches her world ranking slide and there's nothing she can do about it.

It sits at 83, from last July's high of 49, but could slump beyond 100 before she even has time to fire down a serve in anger.

Ten days ago that nagging pain in her hip turned out to be a stress reaction, forcing the 21-year-old onto crutches so she moves more slowly and awkwardly than a club veteran.

"I first noticed it at Indian Wells [last month]," she says. "With these sorts of things, you think it's muscle pain. You wake up in the morning with some pain anyway so it seems normal. But it hung around and eventually showed up on a scan."

It might help explain her dismal 6-0, 6-2 loss a fortnight ago to the 114th-ranked Croatian Karolina Sprem at Miami, a WTA tier 1 tournament where she progressed through to the third round last year before being beaten by Venus Williams.

It was certainly the last thing she needed as she battled to hang onto her ranking that had climbed so quickly during her run of good form in the first half of last year.

Those points are dropping off and there's little to keep her in an elevated position, given she ended last year with eight consecutive first-round exits.

"Points come and go," she says philosophically. "That's a part of tennis. It will be tough now but it's not something I will dwell on. The best thing I can do is to make sure I recover as well as I can and be in the best possible shape when I return."

When that will be is unknown. It's doubtful Erakovic will make next month's French Open. Wimbledon is more realistic but her preparation is in disarray and there are no guarantees her ranking will be high enough then for direct entry into the tournament.

At least it will be on a surface, grass, which has brought her success - she won her first WTA tournament at Surbiton last year and also made the semifinal at Birmingham - and which suits her game.

As much as she brushes it off, world rankings are significant. They determine what tournaments players can enter and, ultimately, how much money they make.

This year, Erakovic has already won US$53,548 even though she has won only four matches (she's had seven losses). There's a big difference between playing WTA events and ITF events.

If there is a silver lining, it is that the injury has hit during the clay-court season. It's Erakovic's least favoured surface and last year she won only one match on the red mud, a first-round victory over Italian Tathiana Garbin at Roland Garros.

"I'm not sure when I will be back on court," she says. "At the moment it will be at least six weeks.

"Any time is a bad time [for injuries to hit]. But I had felt like I was starting to make progress.

"I have always had a belief I am a good player and I can make it, reach my goals which are high. Even if I was ranked 200 right now and looking at a long road, I would still be grinding it out. That doesn't really matter to me."