Karina Habudová was a Slovakian tennis-player, and in my opinion, one of the most flairsomely talented players in the game. Karina may not have had the Major-winning ability of some of my other players, but I find almost everything about her to be terrific - as a player, as a person, and as a woman - and every win in the time she was playing with me as a fan brought me great joy.
First of all, I appreciate Karina's game at the technical level - I love the way she hit the ball. She had lovely flairsome strokes, and could hit her groundstrokes with power and accuracy. She had one of the best two-handed backhands in the game. She could hit clean winners all over the court. She is a joy to watch.
An expert once described Karina as having "a slightly unorthodox technique", which I took to mean that she used a Western grip on her forehand, and had a rather unusual take-back too (that's just my personal interpretation - if you think it's something different, please enlighten me!). This is in itself a recommendation, as unorthodoxy always appeals to me! :-) Karina may not be that unorthodox compared to - say - Monica Seles's two-handed forehand, Alberto Berasategui's upside-down forehand, or Mansour Bahrami's trick-shots, but anyway, unorthodox or not, she is fantastic.
I also appreciate Karina's game at the tactical level because she's one of the best examples in the game of 'spreading', i.e. using the whole court to out-manoeuvre her opponent and then hitting a winner into the open space. When hitting the ball cleanly, she could execute this strategy extremely well, changing the direction of the ball beautifully. She also had a couple of shots that very few players can execute: the off-backhand (which requires great footwork), and dropshot-winners from behind the baseline. But not only did she hit the ball flairsomely, she engineered points beautifully: every shot seemed like a continuation of her initiative, even if it was a winner.
I also like Karina's movement: she scurried about the court extremely well, and some of her 'gets' were amazing: not only was she very fleet of foot, but the racket-work on some of those gets was incredible - you'd think there was no way she'd be able to control that impossible-looking ball, and yet she would get it back, even for a winner on some occasions! Her movement seemed to have a 'gymnastic' quality about it (I say that because she was a rhythmic gymnast until turning to tennis at the age of ten). Her nickname is Zajo, which is Slovak for "rabbit".
Karina was an enigmatic, streaky player who could play surprisingly badly against 'lesser' players, and then surprisingly well against top players - she seemed to be a big-match player. She was also streaky within matches: many of her matches against top players followed the pattern that she won the first set very impressively, lost the second set easily, and then lost a close third set (I can empathise because I had matches like this, too - I seemed to have a walkabout in the second set). If she could have found a way to win those sorts of matches, on top of improving her match-to-match consistency, she could well have been a top-eight player.
Karina's greatest achievements include rising to a career-high ranking of #10 in February 1997, after an impressive 1996, winning the Hopman Cup for Slovakia in 1998, and winning the WTA singles-title at Pörtschach in 1999.
Karina seems to be a very nice person, very kind and modest with an endearing shyness about her, from the little I know of this side of her - and this in itself generates an intriguing air of mystique about her. She used to post the occasional message on her official website (now sadly closed) - one that particularly touched me was when she helped to support children struggling with cancer at the CHEC Grand Slam For Kids Event at Anaheim in August 2000.
With all due respect to her marriage (to Milan Cílek in October 2003), I'm not going to pretend I don't also find Karina attractive! ;-) She is extremely pretty and cute, with intriguing Slovakian facial features, and had a sexy stance for receiving serve (not to mention the way she retrieved balls from under her skirt! ;->). Her on-court demeanour was beyond reproach, and she had such a magnetic on-court presence that I couldn't take my eyes off her. And she sounds as good as she looks, with a lovely voice (both when talking, and that cute 'squeak' she had when stretching for balls).
Although I've heard of Karina since 1993, it was a long time before I became a fan. Prior to Berlin 1996, she meant nothing more to me than a name on a results-list, even though I had seen her play against Mary Joe Fernández at Wimbledon 1994 (I can't even remember what she played like in that match, and only vaguely what she looked like). I also saw Karina play at Wimbledon 1997 and Wimbledon 1999, but the real turning-point of esteem was when she played Monica Seles at Wimbledon 2000, because that was when she finally revealed her true talent to me, and it remains quite possibly my favourite tennis-match that I've ever seen.
Karina was born in Bojnice on 2nd August 1973 to Sona Habudová and Bohumil Habuda. She started her sporting life as a rhythmic gymnast, before taking up tennis at the age of ten.
The earliest Karina-result I've seen is when Czechoslovakia lost 1:2 to West Germany in the final of the 1989 World Youth Cup (16 and under) final: Karina lost 6-0 6-3 to Anke Huber in the second singles rubber, but she and Petra Kucová beat K. Duell and Maja Zivec-Skulj 6-3 6-0. Karina also helped Czechoslovakia to win the Helvetie Cup (16 and under), beating Elena Makarova 7-6 6-0 to give Czechoslovakia a 2:0 lead over the USSR in the final, which Czechoslovakia went on to win 3:2.
Karina played her first ITF satellites (the lowest class of tournaments that carry WTA ranking-points) as a sixteen-year-old in October. She made an impressive start, reaching the quarter-finals of the Sibenik satellite by beating Diana Valenti 6-0 6-2 and eighth seed Virginia Humphreys-Davies 6-4 6-3, and losing to third seed Jitka Dubcová 6-2 6-4. She also reached the quarter-finals of the Supetar satellite, beating third seed Nathalie van Dierendonck 6-2 6-4 and Karin Baleková 6-3 6-4, before losing to Nora Koeves 6-2 7-6.
Karina won her third satellite, at Budapest! She beat Cora Linneman 6-3 6-3, Claudia Piccini 6-0 6-3, Kaye Hand 6-1 7-6, Radka Bobková 4-6 6-4 6-1, and avenged her Supetar defeat by beating Nora Koeves 6-4 6-1 in the final.
Karina concentrated mainly on the ITF junior-circuit in 1990. She won the tournament at Victoria, Australia in January, beating Kaoru Shibata 7-5 6-2 in the final. She won the JAL Cup in Japan in September, beating Ai Sugiyama 4-6 6-4 6-2. She also reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open girls' singles, and the semi-finals of the Venezuelan Championships in March, which had the same status as the junior Majors.
Karina won the girls' doubles at Wimbledon with Czechoslovakian compatriot Andrea Strnadová. They beat Nicole Pratt and Kirrily Sharpe 6-3 6-2 in the final. She also won girls' doubles-titles at the European Closed, Venezuela and the JAL Cup. "This was an impressive collection of titles and the fact that they were achieved with a variety of partners demonstrates her great adaptability" [World of Tennis 1991 book].
Karina also played seven events on the ITF women's circuit in 1990. She was runner-up to Pascale Paradis in the Limoges challenger (having won eight matches - four to qualify and four in the main draw), runner-up to Radka Bobková in the Sutton satellite, quarter-finalist to Diedre Herman in the Lee-on-Solent satellite, and runner-up to Bobková (again) in the Swansea satellite.
Karina won the Katowice challenger in May, beating Katharzyna Teodorowicz 6-4 7-6, Zuzana Witzova 6-1 7-5, Misumi Miyauchi 6-2 6-2, Heleen van den Berg 6-2 6-3, and Anna-Maria Foldenyi 6-3 6-2 in the final. She returned to the ITF circuit as a seventeen-year-old in August, and Foldenyi took revenge with a 6-2 6-1 thrashing in the semi-finals of the Budapest challenger. Finally, Karina was runner-up to Andrea Strnadová in the Karlovy Vary challenger.
Karina made her WTA Tour début at Moscow, an indoor carpet tournament in October. She made a great start to her WTA career, beating Petra Thoren 6-2 6-4 and seventh seed Robin White 7-5 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals, where she was beaten 4-6 6-3 6-1 by top seed Leila Meskhi.
Karina finished the year as junior world number one in both singles and doubles (a feat only achieved once before - by Natalia Zvereva in 1987), and #122 in the WTA singles rankings.
Karina reached the fourth round of the Australian Open - her first Major tournament - beating Cristina Tessi 6-2 7-6, Anne Smith 7-6 6-2 and Liz Smylie 6-0 3-6 8-6. She lost 6-0 6-1 to top seed Steffi Graf in the fourth round. This run elevated her from #127 to #91 in the rankings. She also won the girls' doubles with Barbara Rittner, beating Joanne Limmer and Angie Woolcock 6-2 6-0 in the final.
Karina then suffered a string of four first-round defeats: to Sandra Wasserman in Auckland, Belinda Cordwell at Wellington, Laura Gildemeister at the Virginia Slims of Florida, and Larisa Savchenko Neiland at the Lipton International Players' Championships.
Karina reached the quarter-finals of the Limoges challenger, losing to Alexandra Fusai. She beat Natalia Baudone 6-4 4-6 7-5 in the first round of Geneva, and lost 6-1 2-6 6-1 to second seed Manuela Maleeva-Fragničre in the second round. She lost to Julie Halard 6-4 7-5 in the first round of the French Open.
Karina celebrated her first Wimbledon with a 6-3 6-2 win over Cecilia Dahlman in the first round, but lost to Catarina Lindqvist by that score in the second round.
Karina's next tournament was the US Open, where she beat Maya Kidowaki 6-1 6-4 in the first round, and lost to Patty Fendick 6-2 6-3 in the second round. But Karina won the girls' singles-title, beating Anne Mall 6-1 6-3 in the final. I find it ironic that Karina was already eighteen, while women's singles champion Monica Seles - who is precisely four months younger - was still only seventeen! :-)
Karina won the doubles at two ITF challengers (where she didn't play singles): Karlovy Vary with Radka Bobková (beating Katerina Siskova and Marketa Stuskova 6-1 6-3 in the final) and Schwarzach with Katarína Studeníková (beating Agnes Blumberga and Heidi Sprung 6-3 6-1 in the final).
At Bayonne, Karina beat Alexandra Fusai 4-6 6-4 6-2, and lost to third seed Nathalie Tauziat 6-4 6-3 in the second round. She beat Helen Kelesi 2-6 6-4 6-4 in the first round of Milan, but lost 6-4 6-1 to fourth seed Conchita Martínez in the second round. She then suffered first-round defeats to fourth seed Manuela Maleeva-Fragničre at Zurich, and to second seed Mary Joe Fernández at Filderstadt - after winning three matches to qualify.
Karina had a great finish to 1991, reaching the semi-finals of her last two tournaments. At Phoenix she beat Jessica Emmons 6-1 7-5, fourth seed Amy Frazier 6-3 7-6, Kimberly Po 4-6 6-1 6-3, and lost to Chanda Rubin 6-2 6-4 in the semi-finals.
At Brentwood (the one in America, not the one in England), Karina beat Caroline Vis 7-5 6-1, Nicole Provis (Bradtke) 6-2 4-6 6-1, eighth seed Yayuk Basuki 6-4 6-2, and lost 6-3 6-4 in the semi-finals to fourth seed and eventual champion Sabine Appelmans. Karina finished the year ranked #54.
Karina started the year with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Gigi Fernández in the first round of the Australian Open, and a 6-3 6-3 loss to ninth seed Manuela Maleeva-Fragničre in the second round.
After a first-round loss to Lori McNeil at the Tokyo Pan Pacific Open, Karina made a semi-final appearance at Osaka by beating eighth seed Magdalena Maleeva 2-6 7-6 7-5, Mana Endo 6-4 6-2, Kumiko Okamoto 6-0 6-1, and losing to third seed Laura Gildemeister (Arraya) 6-3 6-7 6-1.
At the Lipton, Karina defeated wild card Kathy Rinaldi 3-6 6-1 6-2 in the second round (after a bye), then lost 6-3 6-1 to fifth seed Jennifer Capriati. She reached the quarter-finals of San Antonio with a 6-4 6-3 defeat of lucky loser Beverly Bowes, and lost 6-4 6-2 to sixth seed Amy Frazier.
Karina lost to Tami Whitlinger in the first round of Lucerne, but she reached the third round of the French Open beating Claudia Porwik 3-6 6-3 6-1, Noëlle van Lottum 7-5 6-1, and losing to fifth-seeded Jennifer Capriati (again) 4-6 6-4 6-3.
Karina had the first of her seven first-round losses at Wimbledon, but they have all been to dangerous grasscourt players or Major champions! She lost to Patty Fendick, who vindicated her by going on to beat fellow Czechoslovakian Jana Novotná, and to take a set off Graf. Wimbledon 1992 was the tournament with which I started following professional tennis, so I guess it must have been when I read the draw that I first heard of Karina Habudová! :-)
Karina avenged her Osaka semi-final defeat by beating Laura Gildemeister 6-1 6-4 in the first round of the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles. This set up a mouthwatering second-round match with Monica Seles, who was of course world number one and reigning champion of the US, Australian and French Opens at the time! :-) Monica won 6-2 6-2, and Karina rose to #37 in the rankings.
Sadly, this started a losing streak of eight matches in a row for Karina (up to the Australian Open 1993). She lost to tenth seed Amanda Coetzer 6-1 6-2 at the Canadian Open, Li Fang 7-5 6-0 at the US Open, Steffi Graf 7-5 6-1 at Zurich, and Czechoslovakian compatriot Helena Suková 6-1 6-3 at Filderstadt.
Finally, Karina lost 6-2 6-7 6-1 to fifteen-year-old wild card Iva Majoli in the first round of Oakland. Iva went on to a mouthwatering quarter-final with Monica - what a tournament! :-) I was already a Monica fan by that time, but little did I realise I would become an Iva fan in 1993 and a Karina fan in 2000! Karina finished the year ranked #67.
Karina's nationality changed to Slovakian when Czechoslovakia split into the Czech and Slovak Republics on 1st January 1993. She started the year with first-round losses to Natalia Baudone at Brisbane, and to Alexandra Fusai at Melbourne, extending her losing streak to eight matches. She stopped the rot by beating wild card Louise Field 6-2 6-2 in the first round of the Australian Open, only to lose to Barbara Rittner 6-2 7-6 in the second round.
Karina's misfortune continued with first-round defeats to fifth seed Nathalie Tauziat at Paris (after which she dropped from #90 to #147 in the rankings), to Ann Henricksson at the Tokyo Japan Open, and to eighth seed Yayuk Basuki in Pattaya City.
Karina played in Taranto the week that Monica Seles was stabbed, beating Emanuela Zardo 6-3 6-2, and losing to Alexandra Fusai 5-7 6-1 7-6 in the second round. She lost to Francesca Bentivoglio in the first round of qualifying for the Italian Open, and to Laura Garrone in the first round of qualifying for the French Open. Her ranking dipped from #148 to #176.
Karina played only doubles at Wimbledon (reaching the last sixteen with Nicole Muns-Jagerman), and her next singles event was the Erlangen challenger in July, where she lost to Anna Maria Foldenyi in the first round. She beat Elena Wagner (née Pampoulova) 7-5 6-3 in the first round of Prague, and lost in the second round to second seed Linda Ferrando by a typically streaky 6-3 0-6 6-1 scoreline. She successfully qualified for San Marino, but lost to third seed Florencia Labat in the first round of the main draw. Her ranking dropped to #210.
The US Open was Karina's best tournament of this dismal year (in which she suffered from pneumonia), as she won five matches to reach the third round of the main draw. She beat Nicole London 6-4 7-6, Jessica Emmons 6-3 6-4, and Rennae Stubbs 4-6 6-3 7-5 to qualify, and in the main draw she beat compatriot Radka Zrubaková 2-6 6-3 6-2, Dominique Monami (van Roost) 6-3 6-4, and lost to 12th seed and eventual runner-up Helena Suková 3-6 6-2 6-4 in the third round. Her ranking went back up to #148.
Karina won the doubles at the Karlovy Vary challenger (where she didn't play singles) in September with Larisa Neiland: they beat Radka Bobková and Petra Langrová 6-3 6-4 in the final.
Karina also qualified for Filderstadt with a notable 6-2 6-2 drubbing of second seed Elena Bryukhovets. She trounced fellow qualifier Katrina Adams 6-2 6-0 in the first round of the main draw, and lost 6-2 4-6 6-2 to sixth seed Natalia Zvereva in the second round. This boosted her ranking to #119.
Karina's last tournament of 1993 was Budapest, where she got direct acceptance into the main draw, beating Catherine Tanvier 6-0 6-2 in the first round, and losing 3-6 6-1 6-4 to eighth seed Sabine Appelmans (Karina's Belgian counterpart!) in the second round. She finished the year ranked #111.
Karina made up for her poor 1993 with a very good 1994, reaching three WTA Tour semi-finals and rising 80 places in the rankings. Not that you'd know it at the Australian Open, where she lost in the first round 6-1 6-3 to the ultimate runner-up (double meaning) Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, the second seed. This has been the only first-round loss at the Australian Open in her 'kareer'.
After the Australian Open, Karina was out for three months with injuries to her left ankle and Achilles tendon - not for the last time in her career (I think this is the downside of her great movement). She returned at the end of April in Taranto, where she thrashed Dominique Monami (van Roost) 6-2 6-0, edged past Sandra Wasserman 2-6 6-2 7-5, and lost to second seed Brenda Schultz-McCarthy 7-6 7-5.
Karina had a fantastic Italian Open, winning six matches to reach the semi-finals! She beat Katrina Adams 6-4 6-4 and Petra Thoren 6-2 6-3 to qualify, then in the main draw she beat Katerína Kroupová 5-7 6-1 6-0, Federica Fortuni 6-4 6-3, fifth seed Mary Pierce 6-2 6-3, Adriana Serra-Zanetti of the Seles Groundstrokes 6-3 6-2. She lost 6-1 6-2 to top seed Conchita Martínez in the semi-finals. Her ranking rose from #108 to #57.
Karina lost to Natalia Medvedeva (Andrei Medvedev's sister) in the first round at Prague, to Mary Joe Fernández 6-4 3-6 6-1 in the first round of the French Open, and to Fernández again 6-4 6-2 in the first round of Wimbledon (and if that wasn't enough, she also lost to Fernández in the first round of Wimbledon 1995!). I actually saw Karina's match at Wimbledon, as it was shown on BBC television! I'm sorry to say that I hardly remember it at all. :-o All I remember about Karina from that match is that the commentator said she had been a successful junior player. I only have a vague, shadowy memory of what she looked like, and no memory at all of what she played like. ;-(
After Wimbledon, Karina reached the quarter-finals of Styria, beating compatriot Janette Husárová 6-2 6-4 (I thought all Slovakian girls' names ended in "a"! ;-)), Silke Frankl 6-4 6-2, and losing 6-1 7-5 to second seed Judith Wiesner. She also lost to Wiesner 6-3 6-1 in the first round of Schenectady.
Karina avoided losing in the first round of all four Majors by beating Dominique Monami (van Roost) 6-3 6-2 at the US Open, and lost 6-2 6-3 to seventh seed Jana Novotná in the second round. She lost in the first round of Zurich to fourth seed Zina Garrison Jackson 7-6 2-6 6-2. However, Karina finished the year in spectacular fashion, with two WTA semi-finals and an ITF title!
At Filderstadt, Karina repeated her Italian Open feat of winning six matches to reach the semi-finals. In qualifying she beat Silke Meier 7-5 6-1, Debbie Graham 6-4 6-4, and Els Callens 6-4 6-4. In the main draw she beat Patricia Hy-Boulais 6-3 6-1, avenged her Taranto loss to Brenda Schultz-McCarthy with a 6-0 6-2 thrashing, succeeded where she had failed in Rome by beating top-seeded Wimbledon champion Conchita Martínez 6-4 6-1, but failed where she had succeeded in Rome by losing 6-4 6-1 to third seed Mary Pierce. This boosted her ranking from #61 to #42.
At Essen, Karina avenged her two losses to Judith Wiesner in 1994 with a 6-4 6-4 victory, beat qualifier Ĺsa Carlsson 6-2 6-4 and fourteen-year-old wild card Martina Hingis 6-3 2-6 6-2 (her first of four consecutive wins over Hingis). She lost 6-1 7-5 to second seed Jana Novotná in the semi-finals (and Novotná beat my Iva Majoli in the final).
Karina won the Prerov challenger, beating Blanka Kumbarová 6-2 6-0, Olga Ivanova 6-3 6-2, Karolina Petriková 7-5 6-2, Eva Melicharová 6-4 6-1, and Henrieta Nagyová 6-1 6-4 in the final - 'ová and out! ;-) She finished the year ranked #31.
It was an unKARIcteristic year for Karina: consistent but unspectacular. She won at least one match in most of the tournaments she entered, but only made two quarter-finals - and won a challenger over Martina Hingis! She didn't beat any seeds in the main WTA Tour events, though - and it was seeds who beat her in most of the tournaments.
Karina had a great start to the year, reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open with wins over Natalia Baudone 6-4 6-2, Natalia Medvedeva 6-3 6-1, and Meike Babel 2-6 6-1 6-3. Karina was beaten in the fourth round 7-5 6-0 by top seed Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (who went on to reach the final, and became world number one a couple of weeks after the Australian Open). Most of Sánchez Vicario's opponents at that time were winning fewer than five games, so Karina put up an above-average performance against her! :-) Karina went up to #25 in the rankings.
Karina reached her first quarter-final of the year at Paris, beating qualifiers Stephanie Rottier 6-1 6-1 and Petra Langrová 6-3 6-2. She lost 6-3 3-6 6-4 to Jana Novotná in the quarter-final. Karina beat Langrová again at Linz, this time 6-3 6-3, before Meike Babel avenged her Australian Open defeat 6-4 6-2 in the second round.
Arguably the highlight of Karina's year was when she won the Prostejov challenger, beating Virginie Massart 6-0 6-3, Adriana Gersi 6-3 6-4, Virag Csurgo 6-3 6-2, Alena Vasková 6-3 7-5, and a fourteen-year-old Martina Hingis 7-5 6-4 in the final - the second of Karina's four wins in a row ová Hingis! :-)
At the Lipton, Karina beat Debbie Graham 7-6 6-1, then lost to sixth seed Natasha Zvereva 7-5 6-2 in the second round. At the Italian Open she beat Sandrine Testud 6-4 6-4, Natalia Baudone 1-6 6-2 6-1, then lost to third seed Conchita Martínez 6-3 6-3 in the third round. In Berlin she beat Nanne Dahlman 6-0 6-3, then lost 6-2 6-4 to second seed Mary Pierce.
So a pattern of beating unseeded players but losing to seeds was being established. The French Open was no exception, as Karina beat Maria Strandlund 6-2 6-2, and lost to 14th seed Amy Frazier 6-2 6-4 in the second round. Usually, Karina is the antithesis of what she was in 1995: she is a big-match player, who often produces her best against the top players and even beats them from time to time, but can lose to just about anybody on a bad day. She is inconsistent and unpredictable, but that makes her more exciting than if she always beat lower-ranked players but never higher-ranked ones! :-)
It was a weird case of déjŕ vu for Karina at Wimbledon as she lost in the first round to Mary Joe Fernández - the same player who had beaten her in the first rounds of the French Open 1994 and Wimbledon 1994! This time, Karina lost 5-7 6-3 6-3 - a respectable scoreline against the 13th seed.
It was at Palermo, where she was the top seed, that Karina reached the second of her two WTA quarter-finals of the year. She beat Sandra Dopfer 6-2 6-3 and Jana Kandarr 6-3 7-6, but lost to seventh seed Natalia Medvedeva - disappointing as Karina had beaten Medvedeva easily at the Australian Open, and should have beaten her here too.
It was at Toronto that Monica Seles made her comeback to the WTA Tour after an absence of 27 months following the Stabbing, and she won the tournament! Sadly Karina - the 18th seed - did not share in the celebrations, as she crashed out 7-5 6-2 to Ĺsa Carlsson in the first round. Neither did Karina share in the celebrations of the first Major of Monica's comeback - the US Open 1995, where Karina lost in the first round to American wild card Anne Miller 4-6 6-3 6-3.
I think Karina must have been injured in the autumn (perhaps the injury-problems that she referred to at the German Open 1996?), as she only played one tournament after the US Open, namely Brighton. She lost 6-2 6-7 6-0 to British wild card Clare Wood in the first round (her fourth loss in a row), which embarrasses me because I know just how bad the state of British women's tennis has been since I've been following tennis! ;-) Karina finished the year ranked #57 (having gone into the US Open ranked #27).
Karina had the best year of her career, going deep into the top twenty with two WTA Tour finals and a Major quarter-final! It was also a much busier year: 22 tournaments as opposed to the 14 of 1995 and previous years. Perhaps she was anticipating the change of the ranking-system from average-based to aggregate-based at the end of the year.
The year started modestly for Karina, with a second-round loss at the Australian Open (she beat Isabelle Demongeot 6-3 6-3, then lost 6-4 6-3 to sixth seed Gabriela Sabatini), a first-round qualifying loss in Paris (to Flora Perfetti), and first-round losses in Essen (to Barbara Schett) and Linz (to Judith Wiesner). She opened her defence of the Prostejov challenger with the first double bagel of her career as she beat Cristina Torrens Valero 6-0 6-0, but lost 6-3 1-6 7-5 to Barbara Schwartz in the second round.
Then Karina had a wonderful run at the Lipton, winning five matches to reach the semi-finals! She beat Silke Meier 6-4 4-6 6-1, second seed Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 2-6 6-3 7-6, Sandrine Testud 6-4 6-2, 12th seed Julie Halard-Decugis 1-6 6-4 6-4, and seventh seed Irina Spirlea 6-4 7-5. She lost to sixth seed Chanda Rubin 4-6 6-4 6-2 in the semi-finals. This boosted her ranking from #98 to #53.
Karina's next tournament was the Italian Open, where she reached the third round beating Federica Fortuni 6-1 6-1, 14th seed Joannette Kruger 6-2 6-3, and losing 6-4 6-2 to seventh seed Irina Spirlea. She was about to enjoy arguably the two best tournaments of her career...
The German Open at Berlin was the tournament that transformed my view of Karina Habudová from a mere name on results-lists to a player who can beat the best in the world. Karina scored an amazing series of wins to reach her first WTA Tour final: In the first round she beat Barbara Schett 7-6 4-6 6-4 (revenge for Essen). She upset ninth seed Martina Hingis 6-3 7-5, fifth seed Mary Pierce 6-7 6-2 7-6, fourth seed Anke Huber 6-4 6-1, and beat unseeded Elena Likhovtseva 6-1 7-6 in the semi-finals. Karina said she had been slowed by injuries in the past three years, but added: "Now I've learned I can beat these players. I just have to believe in myself."
Sadly, Karina lost 4-6 6-2 7-5 to Steffi Graf in the final. Karina took the first set with pinpoint drives, then had a second-set walkabout, followed by a close but unlucky third set (a pattern that would become all too familiar over the next few years). Karina saved one match-point at 4-5 with a winner! Even Graf admitted that Karina had "played some unbelievable shots." I actually saw a few points of that final on the TV-programme Trans World Sport, and I liked what I saw of Karina because she reminded me of Iva Majoli. :-) Karina rose from #54 to #26 in the rankings.
Karina was just as impressive at the French Open, where she reached her first (and only) Major quarter-final - the first Slovakian ever to do so. She beat Kristin Godridge 6-7 6-0 7-5, Nathalie Tauziat 6-2 4-6 8-6, and 15th seed Martina Hingis 4-6 7-5 6-4 (the girl who would be world number one in ten months' time - not too many players ever beat Hingis four times in a row!). She beat sixth seed Anke Huber 7-5 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.
Karina lost 6-2 6-7 (4/7) 10-8 to fourth seed Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, but it was a match that made the tennis-world sit up and take notice of Karina. Unfortunately I didn't get to see it (the BBC only televised the finals), but I know that she won many fans with her performance (perhaps it would have made me a Karina fan then, so I could have followed the next four years of her career as they happened rather than studying them as a historian!). Karina twice served for a place in the semi-finals but didn't make it. Sánchez Vicario had to resort to moonballing tactics to prevent Karina from beating her, which turned the crowd against her - she was booed off court after winning. It was one of those rare tennis-matches where the loser was actually the moral victor.
Karina was #20 going into Wimbledon, where she was promoted to 17th seed due to the withdrawal of Chanda Rubin, but it proved to be a poisoned chalice as she foundered 6-0 7-5 against the cultured skills of Judith Wiesner. Karina had more joy at the Atlanta Olympics, where she beat Yayuk Basuki 6-3 6-3 and Laurence Courtois 7-5 6-2 to reach the last sixteen, where fourth seed Iva Majoli beat her 6-4 3-6 6-4.
In the first round at Montreal, Karina dished out the second double bagel of her career as she flattened Barbara Schett 6-0 6-0 (Karina has never lost by that score herself). Unfortunately she lost 6-2 6-4 to qualifier Rennae Stubbs in the second round. Karina reached the semi-finals at Manhattan Beach, beating Selesian player Nana Miyagi 6-2 7-5, Kimberly Po 6-2 6-3, and third seed Kimiko Date 6-4 4-6 6-2. In the semi-finals, second seed Anke Huber avenged her German and French Open defeats by Karina 7-6 6-3. Karina reached #17 in the rankings.
Karina beat Pam Shriver 5-7 6-3 6-4 in the first round of San Diego, but lost her only career-meeting with compatriot Katarína Studeníková (the jezebel who knocked Monica Seles out of Wimbledon, and beat a young Venus Williams in the first round here) 7-6 6-2. Karina reached the fourth round of the US Open, beating Radka Bobková 6-4 6-1, Nathalie Dechy 6-4 6-2 and Sandra Dopfer 6-2 6-3. She lost 6-2 6-0 to seventh seed Jana Novotná.
Karina began a busy post-US-Open campaign at Karlovy Vary (now a WTA tournament), where she beat Andrea Glass 6-4 7-6 in the first round, but lost 6-3 6-0 to Silvija Talaja in the second. She won the first WTA doubles-title of her career there with Helena Suková, beating Eva Martincová and Elena Wagner 3-6 6-3 6-2 in the final. Karina won at least one doubles-title every year from 1996 to 2000.
Karina reached the semi-finals of Warsaw, beating Elena Wagner 6-2 4-6 6-2, Aleksandra Olsza 6-4 6-3, and Silvia Farina 6-1 6-2. She lost 6-1 6-4 to second seed Barbara Paulus in the semi-finals. Karina thrashed Elena Likhovtseva 6-1 6-1 in the first round of Leipzig, but lost 7-5 6-7 6-2 to Helena Suková in the second. She upset seventh seed Mary Joe Fernández 6-3 7-6 in the first round of Filderstadt, but lost 1-6 6-4 6-2 to her Wimbledon nemesis Judith Wiesner in the second. She was also beaten in the second round of Zurich - 7-5 7-6 by huge-serving sixth seed Brenda Schultz-McCarthy.
Karina reached the final of Luxembourg, beating Rosabel Moyen 6-2 6-2, thrashing compatriot Henrieta Nagyová 6-0 6-1, and avenging her Warsaw semi-final defeat by Barbara Paulus (the third seed) 5-7 7-5 6-3. But Karina, in turn, was the victim of a revenge in the final, as she was beaten 6-3 6-0 by top seed Anke Huber (two defeats by Karina, two revenges! ;-)). Karina touched #14 in the rankings.
Sadly, Karina's most glorious season ended with three consecutive first-round defeats: 6-4 6-2 by Irina Spirlea at Oakland, 7-6 6-4 by Amy Frazier at Philadelphia, and 6-1 6-4 by Steffi Graf at the Chase Championships - the only time Karina has qualified for the season-ending championships, and the first Slovakian to do so.
One set of player-profiles for the Chase Championships described Karina as "one of the youngsters who could soon be dominating women's tennis"! Well, at the age of 23 she was hardly what I would call a "youngster", but even though she's been around since 1989, a lot of people considered her a "newcomer" because she hadn't really had high-profile results prior to 1996.
Karina played Monica Seles in the semi-finals of the Komercní Banka Open exhibition-tournament at Brno in December 1996, but sadly Monica had to retire due to a shoulder injury after Karina won the first set on a tiebreak. Karina lost to Martina Hingis in the final.
Karina finished the year ranked #16, but when at the beginning of 1997 they replaced the old average-based ranking-system with a new system that added up each player's best 18 results, she was #11. It has to be admitted that this was largely due to playing a lot of tournaments, but I think the reason Karina plays lots of tournaments is that she loves tennis, rather than craving money and ranking-points - I really like her attitude in this interview from the Komercní Banka Open.
It was another good year for Karina, with two Major fourth-round berths and another ITF title to briefly reach the top ten! On the other hand, she did suffer a lot of early exits when she was seeded to go further, and couldn't sustain the pressure that goes with being a top-ten player. She was guilty of overplaying (25 tournaments in 1997), which she would come to regret as she looked back on her career in 2002, as it took its toll on her mentally as well as increasing the risk of injury. "I lost my timing after an exhausting season", I remember her saying after losing a match in the summer after Wimbledon 1997.
Karina began the year with a loss to qualifier Rene Simpson at Sydney, then reached the fourth round of the Australian Open, where she was the ninth seed: she beat Silvija Talaja 6-1 6-2, Nicole Bradtke 6-3 6-3, and Wang Shi-Ting 6-3 7-6. She lost to eighth sed Irina Spirlea 6-4 6-4 in the fourth round.
Karina regained the title she first won in 1995 at the Prostejov challenger, beating Katarzyna Nowak and Aleksandra Olsza both 6-1 6-3, Melanie Schnell 6-3 6-1, Adriana Gersi 6-1 7-6, and Barbara Paulus 6-7 6-1 6-3 in the final.
Karina was then runner-up at Linz, beating Andrea Glass 6-7 6-4 6-3, Ĺsa Carlsson 6-2 6-2, and Judith Wiesner 6-3 4-6 6-3. She was upset 6-4 6-2 by seventh seed Chanda Rubin in the final, but these two weeks - on top of a superb 1996 - were enough to elevate Karina to world number ten for the next few weeks! She was the first Slovakian ever to reach the top ten.
Karina couldn't sustain the pressure of being a top-ten player, losing to Nathalie Tauziat in the second round of Paris (after beating Nathalie Dechy in the first round), and to Magdalena Maleeva in the second round (after a bye) at Hanover. Her brief sojourn at #10 was over.
Karina lost her opening matches at the Lipton (to Natasha Zvereva) and Hilton Head (to Alexandra Fusai). At Budapest she beat Sandra Kleinová 6-2 6-4, Petra Begerow 1-6 6-2 6-2 and Alexandra Fusai 6-4 6-3 to reach the semi-finals, where she lost 6-2 6-4 to Sabine Appelmans - a good tournament, but still short of what's expected of a #1 seed.
Karina lost to Joannette Kruger in the third round of the Italian Open, and retired at 4-6 2-4 down against Gloria Pizzichini in the second round of Berlin. She reached the third round of the French Open, beating Olga Barabanschikova 6-3 6-3 and Elena Likhovtseva 6-2 6-2, but failed to live up to her 15th seeding as she was beaten 6-3 6-2 by Ruxandra Dragomir in the third round. She dropped to #18 in the rankings.
Karina then reached the quarter-finals of the grasscourt tournament at Rosmalen, beating Jana Kandarr 6-3 6-4 and Patricia Hy-Boulais 2-6 7-5 6-4, before falling to former Eastbourne finalist Miriam Oremans 6-2 7-5. Karina can play well on grass, but she has had so many unlucky draws over the years at Wimbledon, where she has only reached the second round three times.
In the June 1997 issue of the British magazine Tennis World, they did a feature on Karina - that was the one that said, "She hits the ball well enough to win a few rounds at Wimbledon, though her slightly unorthodox technique may be her undoing if she comes up against a natural grasscourter who can keep the ball low against her." The July 1997 issue mentioned Karina in the Wimbledon preview: "...and Slovakia's unorthodox Karina Habsudova, who, at 23, whilst only having won one match at Wimbledon in five years of trying, has - like some unlikely Prime Minister - recently stepped into No 10, the fiercely guarded door that all players aspire to."
These two references to unexplained unorthodoxy really built up an intriguing air of mystique about Karina, so when the BBC showed her playing in the first round of Wimbledon against 1994 champion Conchita Martínez, I was really looking to be impressed. Unfortunately Karina had "one of those days", lost the match 6-1 6-2, and failed to impress me (I was looking to be impressed). I recorded the match in anticipation, watched it again to try to spot the unorthodoxy, and I'm afraid I wiped it after that - little did I realise I'd be a fan of hers in three years! For me, Karina has been an acquired taste - I didn't like her that much at first, but she has really grown on me. I like her more and more, and now I love her. And nowadays, I have a policy of recording and keeping any match that looks remotely interesting, in case I acquire tastes for other players in the future! :-)
When you first see a new player, you don't want to miss the boat. You have to be very careful. You might be staring Van Gogh's ear.
[adapted from Rene Richard's "Van Gogh's Boat"]
After Wimbledon, Karina reached the quarter-finals of Prague, beating Gala León-García 6-4 6-3 and Mariana Diaz-Oliva 4-6 6-2 4-0 retired, but she lost to Marion Maruska 7-5 1-6 6-4. She won the doubles-title at Prague with Ruxandra Dragomir, beating Eva Martincová and Helena Vildová 6-1 5-7 6-2 in the final.
Karina then suffered consecutive first-round losses to Joannette Kruger - at Warsaw and Maria Lankowitz - both in three sets. She also lost in the first round of Toronto (6-3 6-3 to Magdalena Maleeva) and Atlanta (6-3 6-1 to Sandrine Testud).
Karina had another wonderful US Open, beating Nathalie Tauziat 7-5 7-6 in the first round and Magdalena Maleeva 0-6 7-5 6-1 in the third round - both of whom she had lost to earlier in the year. In the second round she beat Ai Sugiyama 5-7 6-3 7-5 - someone who saw that match said that Karina had let a 5-0 lead slip away in the third set, and looked very happy and relieved to win after that wobble! But in the fourth round she lost to Sandrine Testud again, 6-3 4-6 7-6 - so close to a second Major quarter-final that continued to elude her.
Karina won her only career singles-meeting with Jennifer Capriati 6-2 6-1 in the first round of Filderstadt, but lost to Irina Spirlea (again) 6-2 6-0 in the second round. She then suffered consecutive opening-match losses to Anne-Gaëlle Sidot at Zurich and Luxembourg.
Karina beat Magdalena Maleeva 6-1 6-3 in the first round of Moscow, but then lost to Sandrine Testud for the third time (that woman has a lot to answer for after all the defeats she inflicted on Monica, Iva and Karina in 1997! ;-||) - again on a third-set tiebreak. She then closed her season with a first-round loss to Kveta Hrdlicková in the Bad Gogging challenger. She finished the year ranked #29.
Although 1998 wasn't one of Karina's best years, she certainly had her moments! :-) Her next significant turning-point in my esteem came in January, when she won the Hopman Cup for Slovakia with Karol Kucera; but what really impressed me was her heroic defeat against Lindsay Davenport in the second round of the Australian Open.
Slovakia qualified to play in the Hopman Cup proper with a 2:1 victory over Romania (Karina beat Irina Spirlea 3-6 6-4 6-2 in her singles rubber). In the round robin section, they lost to Spain 1:2 (Karina lost to Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario 6-2 6-3; Karina and Karol lost to Sánchez-Vicario and Carlos Moyá 7-6 6-1), beat Sweden 3:0 (Karina beat Ĺsa Carlsson 6-3 6-3; Karina and Karol beat Carlsson and Thomas Enqvist 7-5 6-3), and beat Australia 2:1 (Karina beat Annabel Ellwood 6-3 6-3; Karina and Karol beat Ellwood and Pat Rafter 7-5 6-2). In the final, Slovakia beat France 2:1 (Karina lost 6-4 7-5 to Mary Pierce; Karina and Karol beat Pierce and Cedric Pioline 6-3 6-4).
Karina lost in the first round of Sydney 7-5 6-4 to Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario. At the Australian Open she beat qualifier Samantha Reeves 6-3 6-4, then put up an amazing performance against second seed Lindsay Davenport: Karina lost 2-6 6-0 9-7 after saving six match-points and failing to convert one of her own. The BBC showed Karina saving some of the match-points in their highlights programme, and she did so with brilliant, flairsome, wrong-footing backhand winners. Karina was always a high favourite of mine after that - if you had asked me to draw up a list of my favourite players in 1998, Monica Seles and Iva Majoli were far and away my two favourites, but Karina would probably have been more or less in the top five, depending on how I felt on the day (whereas before the Australian Open, it would have to have been quite a long and unconstrained list to include Karina ;-)).
Now down to #42, Karina beat Julie Halard-Decugis at Paris, and took a 6-1 set off Mary Pierce in the second round. She beat Barbara Rittner in the first round of Hanover, but lost to Nathalie Tauziat in the second round. She retired against Adriana Gersi at Linz, beat Wiltrud Probst in the first round of the Lipton, lost to Tamarine Tanasugarn in the second round, then suffered three first-round losses in a row: to Anne-Gaëlle Sidot 6-3 6-3 at Hamburg, to Dominique van Roost 6-4 6-2 at the Italian Open, and to Ai Sugiyama 6-0 6-2 at Berlin.
Karina reached the third round of the French Open, beating Denisa Chladková 6-4 6-0 and Nicole Pratt 7-6 6-2. She lost to top seed Martina Hingis 6-3 6-2. The BBC showed the final point of that match - Hingis hit an ace, but it was worth seeing for the arm-wrestling handshake! ;-) Karina lost 6-1 6-2 to Kristie Boogert in the first round of 's-Hertogenbosch, and 6-2 6-3 to Iva Majoli in the first round of Wimbledon - totally ignored by the BBC! :-|| Karina dropped to #64 in the rankings.
Karina lost to Sarah Pitkowski in the first round of Prague, but won the doubles there with Silvia Farina, beating Kveta Hrdlicková and Michaela Pastiková 2-6 6-1 6-1 in the final. Warsaw was the most successful tournament of Karina's year, as she reached her only WTA quarter-final - beating eighth seed Virginia Ruano-Pascual 0-6 6-3 6-2, Silvija Talaja 6-3 5-7 7-5, and losing to top seed Conchita Martínez 6-2 6-4 - and won the doubles there with Olga Lugina, beating Liezel Horn (Huber) and Karin Kschwendt 7-6 7-5 in the final.
Karina helped Slovakia to reach World Group I of the Fed Cup for 1999, beating Dominique van Roost 6-2 6-3 and Sabine Appelmans 6-2 4-6 7-5 as they beat Belgium 4:1 in the Group I play-offs in July. Back in April, Karina had given Slovakia an unassailable 3:1 lead by beating Mariana Diaz-Oliva 3-6 6-2 11-9 as they beat Argentina 4:1 in their Group II tie.
Karina beat Naoko Sawamatsu 6-4 6-3 to reach the second round of the Canadian Open, where she lost 0-6 7-5 6-2 to Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, who said: "In the first set I didn't see the ball, I just saw her winners." That's our Karina! :-) But she fell to Alexia Dechaume-Balleret in the third round of qualifying for New Haven, and lost in the first round of the US Open to Sarah Pitkowski - just as she had done at Prague. Her ranking dropped to #74.
No longer getting direct acceptance into tournaments, Karina had to play qualifying on a regular basis now - and it's much tougher than people would think! She lost to Chanda Rubin in the first qualifying round for Filderstadt, and suffered a humiliating 6-0 6-2 loss to Catalina Cristea in the second qualifying round for Zurich. She successfully qualified for Moscow, only to lose to Henrieta Nagyová in the first round of the main draw. She lost to Anne-Gaëlle Sidot in the second qualifying round for Leipzig.
Karina again ended her year at the Bad Gogging Challenger, and this time she won! She beat Sandra Nacuk 6-4 6-4, Lorna Woodroffe 6-1 6-2, Karen Cross 6-3 7-6, Maria Paola Zavagli 5-0 retired, and Marlene Weingartner 7-6 6-2 in the final, repairing her end-of-year ranking from #82 to #72.
According to the book World of Tennis 2000, Karina was coached by Branislav Stankovic in 1999, whereas when they profiled her in the mid-1990s, she was coached by someone called Sajmovic.
Karina won four matches to reach the second round of Sydney: three to qualify, then she beat Elena Likhovtseva 7-5 6-1 in the first round of the main draw, but lost to Patty Schnyder in the second round. Karina went one better than in 1998 at the Australian Open, beating Park Sung-Hee 6-0 5-7 6-1 and Selesian player Lea Ghirardi-Rubbi 6-7 6-4 6-3 to reach the third round, but her performance against Lindsay Davenport was less impressive this time as she lost 6-0 6-4. She rose to #57 in the rankings.
Karina lost to Barbara Rittner in the first round of Prostejov, and to Silvia Farina in the first round of Hanover after qualifying. She won four matches to reach the second round of Paris: three to qualify, then she beat Emilie Loit 3-6 6-4 6-1 in the first round, but was trounced 6-2 6-1 by Amélie Mauresmo in the second. She beat Adriana Gersi 6-3 7-5 in the first round of the Lipton, but lost 6-1 6-4 to top seed Martina Hingis in the second.
Slovakia beat a Hingis-less Switzerland 5:0 in the first round of the Fed Cup World Group! Karina beat Emmanuelle Gagliardi 7-6 6-0 in the opening rubber, Cacilia Charbonnier 6-4 6-4 in the dead fourth rubber, and teamed up with Henrieta Nagyová to beat Charbonnier and Laura Bao 6-2 7-6 in the doubles.
Karina suffered a miserable claycourt season (possibly injured?), losing to Gala León García 6-4 6-3 in the first round of the Italian Open, and to 16th seed Julie Halard-Decugis 1-6 6-4 6-1 in the first round of the French Open. She lost 6-3 6-3 to Sabine Appelmans in the first round of the grasscourt tournament at 's-Hertogenbosch.
I got to see Karina play again at Wimbledon. First the BBC showed the match-point of her 6-3 6-2 win over British wild card Lorna Woodroffe - Karina finished that with an ace - and they televised her whole second-round match against third seed Lindsay Davenport (except the first game). Karina looked lovely on both occasions - without and with a headband. Davenport won 6-2 6-2, but Karina did impress me this time! Davenport is a very heavyweight player, and it's very difficult to play against her - I felt quite sorry for Karina, who was on the receiving end of such a battering. Nevertheless, I could tell somehow that Karina had innate talent, and that she might actually be a brilliant player against other opponents and on different surfaces. But I didn't really have anything else to go on... until Wimbledon 2000.
Karina won the first (and latest) WTA singles-title of her career in July, the Egger Tennis Festival at Pörtschach. She beat wild card Li Fang 6-3 6-4, qualifier Lenka Nemecková 4-6 6-1 6-1 (to reach her first quarter-final of the year), fifth seed Anke Huber 6-4 6-2, third seed Henrieta Nagyová 6-2 6-4, and unseeded Silvija Talaja 2-6 6-4 6-4 in the final. This boosted her ranking from #67 to #51. Karina also won the doubles at Pörtschach with Silvia Farina: they beat Olga Lugina and Laura Montalvo 6-4 6-4 in the final.
Karina continued this rich vein of form to reach the final at Sopot, beating seventh seed Anna Smashnova (Pistolesi) and Sabine Appelmans both 6-3 6-4, Cristina Torrens Valero 4-6 7-6 6-2 and Silvija Talaja 6-3 6-1, but was thrashed 6-1 6-1 by Conchita Martínez in the final.
In the Fed Cup World Group semi-finals, Karina levelled the tie 1:1 against Russia by beating Tatiana Panova 7-6 6-1. Panova was so upset that she begged her captain to drop her from the team, so it was ironic that she sealed the tie for Russia after Karina had lost 3-6 6-4 6-2 to Elena Likhovtseva to make it 1:2 for Slovakia - Russia won 3:2 in the end. "I believe I can win, otherwise I wouldn't play," said Karina.
Karina gave future world number one Kim Clijsters a 6-4 6-0 shellacking in the first round of Knokke-Heist (just as Iroda Tulyaganova would do en route to the title in 2001), then beat Angelika Bachmann 7-6 6-0, but lost to Denisa Chladková 2-6 6-4 6-2 in the quarter-finals. She rose to #41 - her highest ranking of the year. Karina beat Sylvia Plischke 6-4 6-1 in the first round of Toronto, and lost 7-5 6-2 to Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario in the second. Karina beat Lenka Nemecková 6-3 6-1 in the first round of the US Open, but failed 7-6 6-4 where she had succeeded against Ai Sugiyama in the second round in 1997.
Then it was back to qualifying, even with a ranking of #43: Karina lost to Magüi Serna 6-3 6-4 in the second qualifying round for Filderstadt, and to Elena Dementieva 6-1 6-3 in the second qualifying round for Zurich. She reached the quarter-finals of her hometown-tournament Bratislava, beating Ludmila Cervanová 7-6 6-4, Amélie Cocheteux 7-5 6-3, and losing to Kveta Hrdlicková 6-2 6-1. She finished the year with a retirement at 1-4 down to Sandra Kleinová in the second qualifying round for Linz, and with an end-of-year ranking of #49.
Karina started her year at the Australian Open, where she crushed Jolene Watanabe 6-0 6-1, but lost to Alicia Molik 6-2 6-3 in the second round. She then suffered first-round losses 6-1 6-2 to Sandrine Testud at the Tokyo Pan Pacific Open, 6-3 6-4 to Nathalie Dechy at Paris, and 6-3 7-6 to Ruxandra Dragomir at Hanover. She dropped to #67 in the rankings.
Karina reached the fourth round of Indian Wells, beating Brie Rippner 7-6 7-5, Anne Kremer 7-6 6-4, and fourth seed Nathalie Tauziat 6-4 6-4. But she lost 6-0 6-1 to Chanda Rubin in the last sixteen. This gave her a ranking of #52. Karina beat Joannette Kruger 6-7 7-5 6-1 in the first round of the Ericsson Open, but lost 6-1 6-1 to Nathalie Dechy in the second.
Karina beat Amélie Cocheteux 6-3 6-3 in the first round of Budapest, but she retired from her second-round match after dropping the first set 6-2 to Olga Barabanschikova, due to an Achilles-tendon injury. This seemed to ruin the rest of her claycourt season, as she lost 6-2 6-0 to Meilen Tu in the first round of Berlin, 6-0 6-2 to Laurence Courtois in the second round of Antwerp (after beating Holly Parkinson 7-5 6-7 6-1 in the first), 6-3 6-7 6-4 to Gisela Riera in the first round of Madrid, and 6-1 6-4 to Ruxandra Dragomir in the first round of the French Open.
Karina really grew on me in the year between Wimbledon 1999 and Wimbledon 2000, rising towards the top of the list of players who I liked without actually being a fan of. In the spring of 2000, I began to frequent the "Habsudova hangout" Excite Club, and I have to say I quite envied the Habudová fans that I saw on the Internet (perhaps the term for me at that point would have been "closet Habudová fan" ;-) ). In April, I made a wish that she would draw Monica Seles in the first round of Wimbledon, as that would be my best chance of seeing her play again, and it would be a mouthwatering combination of two fantastic players.
My wish came true! Karina really did draw Monica in the first round of Wimbledon 2000! It was only their second tour-meeting, which was surprising for two 26-year-olds who had been around for a decade. I prayed that the BBC would televise it, and they did! What's more, it was an even better match than I'd anticipated! I didn't expect Karina to play very well at all against Monica, as grass was her worst surface and she had just suffered a series of bad losses to lesser players (6-0 6-4 to Patty Schnyder in the first round of 's-Hertogenbosch the week before Wimbledon).
Nevertheless, it was a fantastic match from both players, Monica only winning 3-6 6-2 7-5. Karina showed me that she is an even more talented player than I'd realised - in fact, she played like an idealised version of herself that I had dreamed of! She can play well on grass, despite having only won two matches in nine Wimbledon singles campaigns. In 1997-2000, she lost only to Major champions at Wimbledon: Martínez, Iva Majoli, Davenport and Monica, so at least it has brought some TV-coverage of Karina! :-)
Anyway, after that mouthwatering match with Monica, Karina has shot up even further in my affection. I didn't take vows of fanship for Karina at first (basically an irrevocable vow to follow and support her forever), because I wasn't sure that she was truly up there with Monica, Iva and Jelena Dokic, but the question of whether to become a fan of Karina was becoming an obsession.
Meanwhile, Karina's defence of her Pörtschach title failed in the second round: after beating qualifier Petra Kucová 6-0 6-4, she lost 7-5 4-6 7-6 to sixth seed Angeles Montolio, and dropped to #87 in the rankings. She lost 6-0 6-4 to third seed Barbara Schett in the first round of Sopot, to Daniela (Daja) Bedanová in the first qualifying round for Manhattan Beach, and to Nadejda (Nadia) Petrova in the second qualifying round for Montréal. Her ranking dropped to #104.
I finally became a Karina fan on Monday 21st August 2000, when I found that Karina had won three matches to qualify for New Haven (Miriam Oremans 6-4 7-6, Kveta Hrdlicková 6-1 1-6 6-0, Marissa Irvin 4-6 6-2 6-2). It absolutely made my day, and I realised then that I liked Karina too much not to be a fan of hers. So I started working on this website - in private at first, then I uploaded it on 11th September 2000 and here it is! :-)
Anyway, Karina lost to fifth seed Amanda Coetzer in the first round of the main draw at New Haven, after a hardfought 7-6 6-4 encounter. She climbed to #91 in the rankings. Sadly, she lost 6-4 6-4 to Meghann Shaughnessy in the first round of the US Open, which dropped her back to #106.
Karina had an inspiring Sydney Olympics, where she beat Katarina Srebotnik 6-3 7-6 in the first round, and upset fourth seed Conchita Martínez 1-6 6-0 6-4 in the second round. Sadly she lost 6-2 6-1 to eventual Silver Medallist Elena Dementieva in the third round (last sixteen). I spotted Karina in the Slovakian team in the opening ceremony! :-)
Karina lost to Henrieta Nagyová in the first qualifying round for Filderstadt, and to Andrea Glass in the first qualifying round for Zurich. She then successfully qualified for Linz with three tough three-setters, beat Anne-Gaëlle Sidot 7-6 6-1 in the first round of the main draw, then lost to fourth seed Nathalie Tauziat 6-2 7-5 in the second round - I find it ironic that Karina won four matches to get there, while it was Tauziat's first match of the tournament.
But Karina saved her best for last: she reached the semi-finals in her home-town of Bratislava, beating Emilie Loit 6-1 6-1, second seed Anne Kremer 3-6 7-5 6-4 and compatriot Henrieta Nagyová 6-4 0-6 6-3, before falling 2-6 6-4 6-4 to the promising 17-year-old Czech girl Daniela (Daja) Bedanová, who went on to win the title. Karina won the Bratislava doubles-title with the even more promising 17-year-old Slovakian girl Daniela Hantuchová, although sadly they won the final by default because their opponents Petra Mandula and Patricia Wartusch withdrew before the match started because Wartusch was injured.
Having gone into Bratislava ranked #104, Karina finished the year ranked #85.
Karina faced another mouthwatering match with Monica Seles on New Year's Day, as Slovakia met America in the Hopman Cup! Although America won 3:0, every rubber went to three sets, with Monica overcoming a game performance by Karina 6-3 3-6 6-1, and Monica and Jan-Michael Gambill beating Karina and Dominik Hrbatý 4-6 6-2 7-6 (7/4).
In their other round-robin ties, Slovakia beat Belgium 2:1 (Karina lost 0-6 6-4 6-1 to Kim Clijsters; Karina and Dominik beat Clijsters and Olivier Rochus 6-4 3-6 6-3), and lost 1:2 to Russia (Karina beat Elena Likhovtseva 7-6 3-6 6-3; Karina and Dominik lost to Likhovtseva and Marat Safin 6-2 4-6 7-6 (7/4)).
It was an inconsistent start that Karina made to her 2001 season, however - how could the same player who played so well in Hopman Cup lose 2-6 6-4 7-5 to Maja Matevzic in the second qualifying round for Canberra? At the Australian Open, Karina put my nerves through the grinder (I followed live scores at www.ausopen.org) before beating Anna Smashnova (Pistolesi) 6-7 6-4 6-3, then Iva Majoli took a 4-0 lead in their head-to-heads by beating Karina 6-4 6-2 in the second round - Karina was never so horrible as to break my heart as an Iva fan, although she is allowed to beat Iva now that I'm a Karina fan too! ;-)
Karina lost to Silvia Farina Elia in the first qualifying round for Paris, and won three matches to qualify for Nice before losing to eighth seed Justine Henin 6-4 6-3 in the first round of the main draw (this gave her a year-high ranking of #74). She lost 6-0 6-1 to Liezel Horn in the first qualifying round for Dubai, and slumped to #111 in the rankings.
Karina beat Mirjana Lucic 6-3 7-6 in the first round of the Ericsson Open - I followed live scores on the Web, and it gave me such a radiant joy when Karina won! She lost 4-6 6-2 6-1 to Gala León García in the second round. Karina beat Mariam Ramon in the first round of Porto, but lost to Rita Kuti Kis in the second. She suffered first-round losses at Estoril to compatriot Janette Husárová, and to Adriana Gersi at Budapest.
Karina won two matches to qualify for Berlin, beat wild card Syna Schmidle 6-2 6-3 in the first round, and lost to Venus Williams 6-3 6-3 - a very respectable score for the world #113 against the reigning Wimbledon, US Open and Olympic champion.
Karina retired at 4-6 1-2 down to Janette Husárová in the first round of qualifying for the Italian Open, then lost 6-3 7-5 to Nadejda (Nadia) Petrova in the first round of the French Open - bizarre parallels with Monica retiring at the Italian Open 2003 and then losing to Petrova in the first round of the French Open.
Karina reached the final of the Marseille challenger, winning four matches without dropping a set, but was runner-up to Klára Koukalová 6-4 4-6 7-6. This put her back in the top 100 (having been #96 for one week after Berlin) at #94.
Karina reached the second round of Wimbledon for only the third time in her career (after 1991 and 1999), beating qualifier Miriam Schnitzer 6-1 6-4, but she then suffered a humiliating 6-0 6-1 loss to 15th seed Sandrine Testud. She reached the semi-finals of the mixed doubles with David Rikl, losing a thrilling 6-2 5-7 6-3 match to eventual champions Daniela Hantuchová (Karina's partner in the women's doubles) and Leos Friedl - another Slovak-Czech pair. To my delight, the BBC televised Karina's nine-minute service-game at 3-4 in the third!
Back in April, Slovakia had beaten Hungary 4:1 in the first round of the Fed Cup World Group, Karina and Daniela losing 6-2 5-7 7-5 to Petra Mandula and Anikó Kapros in the dead doubles-rubber. Karina and Daniela were also meant to play the deciding doubles-rubber of Slovakia's second-round tie against Russia in July, but due to an ugly contractual dispute, Daniela was replaced with Henrieta Nagyová, who lost with Karina 6-3 6-2 to Elena Likhovtseva and Nadia Petrova, giving Russia a 3:2 victory. :-||
Karina lost 6-2 6-2 to Dally Randriantefy in the third qualifying round for Basel, and 3-6 7-5 6-4 to Katarina Daskovic in the quarter-finals of the Hechingen challenger. She lost to Virginie Razzano in the first qualifying round for New Haven. She beat Emmanuelle Gagliardi 5-7 6-4 7-6 (7/2) in the first round of the US Open, and lost 7-6 5-7 6-0 to 11th seed Elena Dementieva in the second round.
Things really went downhill for Karina after the US Open: she lost to qualifier Angelika Roesch in the second round of the Bordeaux challenger, to Tatiana Panova in the first qualifying round for Leipzig, to Ĺsa Carlsson in the first qualifying round for Moscow, to Panova again the first qualifying round for Filderstadt, and to Maja Matevzic in the second qualifying round for Zurich (after avenging her New Haven defeat by Virginie Razzano). Finally, she beat Maja Palaversic-Coopersmith 6-4 3-6 6-1 in the first qualifying round for Linz, lost 7-5 7-6 to Zsófia Gubacsi in the second qualifying round, and finished the year ranked #123.
Karina lost to Lucie Ahl 7-5 7-5 in the first qualifying round for Canberra; she and Lenka Nemecková lost to Amanda Augustus and Jennifer Embry 6-3 6-4 in the first round of the doubles. Karina lost to Olga Barabanschikova 6-2 6-3 in the first round of qualifying for the Australian Open; she and Rossana Neffa-de los Ríos lost to Eleni Daniilidou and Alicia Molik 6-3 3-6 6-3 in the first round of the women's doubles; she and David Rikl lost to Ana Isabel Medina Garrigues and Lucas Arnold 6-2 6-2 in the first round of the mixed doubles. Clearly, Karina was at the crossroads of her career.
Karina suffered a career-threatening injury at the Australian Open: a partial rupture of her left Achilles tendon. She did not play again in 2002, and dropped out of the rankings on 28th October, when she had no longer played three tournaments in the last 52 weeks. Her ranking immediately before she dropped off was #792 (though had she ever returned to singles competition, she would have been eligible for an injury-protected ranking of #138 - as she was immediately after the Australian Open).
Karina couldn't walk with full weight-bearing until June, when it is believed she first stepped back onto a tennis-court. At least this period of rehabilitation gave her the opportunity to stop and listen to her body - she knew to avoid overplaying in the future. It also gave her a normal life: time to meet with friends, improve her (written) English and her cooking!
Karina did some work for TV Markiza (a Slovak TV-channel) in 2002, for example at the French Open and the Slovakia v France Fed Cup tie in July (this was the year that Slovakia won the Fed Cup). This entailed reporting, and interviewing players. I really envy those with access to TV Markiza! ;-) This was when Karina missed playing the most, and it may have inspired her to attempt a comeback at a time when she was contemplating retirement.
There was a very exciting interview with Karina in the March 2003 issue of Slovenský Tenis magazine. As well as the some of the stuff mentioned above, Karina said that although her Achilles tendon still wasn't up to playing professional tennis, she didn't want to give up her career and was tempted to return! :-)
Even more exciting was an article on the TV Markiza website shortly after Karina's 30th birthday in August, which announced that she would make a comeback at the US Open! She was practising intensively on the courts of Slovan Bratislava tennis-club with coaches Tibor Tóth and Michal Kovarcík. She planned to play mixed and women's doubles at the US Open, so as not to overload her Achilles tendon on the US hardcourts.
In the event, Karina played only women's doubles at the US Open, with Amanda Augustus. They drew fifth seeds Elena Bovina and Rennae Stubbs in the first round - a tough opener, to be sure - and lost 6-1 6-2. I didn't hear how her Achilles tendon reacted to that match (just that she was very happy to be back), but she didn't play any more tournaments in 2003 (in the articles cited above, she said she wanted to play singles again, but definitely not until the end of 2003).
In late October 2003, Karina married 42-year-old Milan Cílek (the luckiest man in the world!). Her full name is now Karina Cíleková-Habudová, which would have been quite a mouthful for umpires if she had returned to compete under that name! ;-)
But sadly it was not to be, as Karina decided she was no longer physically capable of playing professional tennis, and her retirement was announced in Slovak newspaper Slovenský Sport on 27th February 2004.
On 11th October 2005, Karina gave birth to her first daughter: Laura Cíleková. In September 2007, Karina gave birth to her second daughter: Nicol Cíleková.