Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009

By GUS FIELDING

Kyodo News

Ai Sugiyama on Monday warned not to expect a Kimiko Date Krumm-style comeback and says she is loving life outside the WTA Tour after recently drawing to a close her 17-year career.

Thanks for the memories: Ai Sugiyama brought down the curtain on her 17-year career at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in October. AP PHOTO

"She (Date Krumm) quit too early, when she was 26, and I was really surprised and really shocked," said Sugiyama. "But after 12 years she came back and now she is playing really great tennis so I am happy that she came back.

"But I think I did everything that I could do in my career and I never think of being back on the tour. I appreciate the countless things I got from playing tennis but now I am trying to do a lot of different things I haven't done yet.

"Tennis was my life and now I have a totally different life and I am enjoying every second of it," said the 34-year-old former doubles world No. 1, who is doing some TV work and generally enjoying a well-earned rest before she focuses on coaching youngsters at her tennis academy.

Date Krumm, who surprised the tennis world by announcing her return to the game in April last year after a 12-year hiatus, completed her remarkable comeback by winning the Korea Open in September.

Responding to a variety of questions at a professional luncheon at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, Sugiyama recalled the highs and lows of her career and even offered her opinion on Andre Agassi's recent confession of hating tennis and the sex scandal currently dogging Tiger Woods.

Sugiyama, who retired after the Toray Pan Pacific Open in October amid a frustrating slide down the world rankings, made a record 62 consecutive Grand Slam appearances, the last of which was in September at the U.S. Open, where she made a first-round exit for the first time since debuting at the event in 1994.

After turning professional at 17, Sugiyama won the first of her six singles titles at the 1997 Japan Open. She won 38 doubles titles including Grand Slam victories at the U.S. Open (2000), the French Open and Wimbledon (both 2003), and claimed the U.S. Open mixed doubles crown in 1999.

The former world No. 8 said the highlight of her career was at Scottsdale in 2003, the year she made her top-10 breakthrough.

Having secured a victory over Lindsay Davenport in the second round, Sugiyama went on to defeat Eleni Danilidou to progress to the semifinals. Scheduling problems forced both the semifinals and finals matches — for both singles and doubles — to be played on the Sunday of the tournament.

Thus in a single day, Sugiyama managed to save a match point in the semifinals against Alexandra Stevenson, rally from a set down to defeat doubles partner Kim Clijsters in the final, and then secure victories in both doubles matches to raise both trophies at the tournament.

"The day I played four matches in one day in Scottsdale in 2003 was most special for me because it was the first time in five years for me to win a title on the WTA Tour," said Sugiyama.

"I beat Kim Clijsters in the final and we won the doubles together. I spent six hours and 18 minutes on center court and this day I will never forget. Also the day I beat Justine Henin at the (2003) Tour Championships. That was the match that lifted me into the top 10.

"But I hit the wall when I was 25 and that was the time I actually became the world No. 1 in doubles, but my singles play was really terrible and my rankings went down and I couldn't see myself beating anyone. That was the toughest time and that was the time when I told my mother I wanted to quit. Until 25 I had been getting by on the momentum of youth."

Sugiyama said tennis had pretty much always made her happy and she was saddened by Agassi describing in his autobiography his loathing of the tennis world and his admission of using the recreational drug crystal meth when he was an active player.

"He had such a great career and had a lot of ups and downs. He was ranked 200 at one stage and came back to be No. 1. He is a true champion so I don't understand why he has to write about these things. Everyone has a bad patch and people want to know how you get over problems, nobody wants to know about you taking drugs."

Sugiyama was also shocked at the tangled web of Tiger Woods' private life following reports of golf's world No. 1 indulging in a string of extramarital affairs.

"I was very, very shocked when I heard about this. I really liked his playing of course and as an athlete he was perfect and trying hard to be the most enjoyable player to watch."

"I love golf so I watched him playing. Whether this is gossip or a true story I don't know but I was shocked. He is married and has kids and they must be so sad. He is a celebrity and has to have responsibility for what he is doing."

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