Svetlana Kuznetsova Reflects On 2009
04 November 2009
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The Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha brought the curtain down on the 2009 tennis season for the sport's top women.
And Svetlana Kuznetsova has even more reason to smile and celebrate during the off season after an impressive 2009 from the Russian.
It was all change in the rankings this week and Kuznetsova finishes the year as the world number three as well as having the French Open title to her name, which she won back in June.
And while the twenty four year old is happy with this season's performance she believes that there is more to come from her.
"Well I think it was a great achievement to win my second Grand Slam title and then I have won three more title over the season.
"I think that it was a pretty good season but definitely I can do better."
And she may only be three days into her end of year break but she is already looking ahead to the start of the 2010 season with the determination to win more tournaments and continue her climb up the rankings.
2009 was going well for Kuznetsova with a quarter final at the Australian Open, losing to the eventual champion Serena Williams, before reaching the semi-finals in Miami.
But it was on the clay where she really made an impact this year winning the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart and reaching the final of the Premier 5 Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome.
With such a great run of form behind her she was one of the contenders for the French Open title when she reached Roland Garros in the second Grand Slam event of the year.
After beating Serena Williams in the quarter final and Samantha Stosur in the semis she reached her fourth Grand Slam final, where she faced world number one Dinara Safina.
"It was just great because so many times I have felt that I was close, I had always dreamed of winning that tournament, and then it happened and it was just really satisfying, she said of winning her second Grand Slam title.
"I never could have imagined that I could win two Grand Slam titles (laughs) because when I was young they were always telling me that I would never be no one and would never play good tennis.
"So I just appreciate my parents for all the help they gave me and always believing in destiny."
It's been a five year wait for the world number three to get her hands on her second Grand Slam title, she lifted the U.S. Open back in 2004, but she never felt like it had been a long wait.
"I never thought of it as waiting I was just doing my job the best that I could, sometimes it wasn't happening and sometimes I had rough times but I made it and I'm just so glad about it."
With the season coming to an end in Doha Svetlana has time to relax after what has been a long season, starting way back in January: "It's very hard but the key is to take the right break in the season and not play all the tournament that you can because you have to be fresh."
And while there is still training on the agenda for the Russian for the next few weeks she will be focusing on sorting out her apartment.
"Well I just need to see the furniture for my new apartment, I moved to Moscow last year so I just need to stabilise myself there."
But she does admit that it would be nice to stay in one place for more than five minutes: "(laughs) Well it's hard, it's different, but I hope that I have the rest of my life to enjoy after that in one place. Missing your friends and family is hard and this is the part of the tour that I don't like."
"It's very hard because when you live at home you don't want to leave it you want to stay. It's hard but it's your job and you do it because you love it."
But Svetlana knows that there is little time to sit back and enjoy the success she has achieved in 2009 with the beginning of the 2010 season only nine weeks away.
And as the world number three she will be one of the favourites to fight it out for the Australian Open title in the New Year as she continues to progress up the rankings.
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