By Alastair Himmer
MELBOURNE, Jan 26 - Tsarina by name, tempestuous
by nature, Anastasia Myskina fought off a red mist on Monday to
reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
Annoyance with her coach and former boyfriend Jens Gerlach
etched on her furrowed brow, the Russian recovered from an
error-riddled start at Melbourne Park to beat American Chanda
Rubin 6-7 6-2 6-2.
After hurling her racket and grumbling constantly in the
direction of the long-suffering Gerlach, Myskina pulled herself
together to set up a quarter-final with Kim Clijsters, before
explaining what irritates her most on court.
"He's kind of like a wall there...he has to show me
something...show some emotions to me," grinned the
self-confessed "bad girl" who has long had a stormy
relationship with Gerlach.
"He has to give me something back. You know, yeah, I can
get really angry sometimes because at my level you cannot miss
easy shots. If I lose to girls who are not my level, I get
really angry," she said.
Gerlach has experienced Myskina's tantrums before. He left
one of her matches in disgust at a tournament in Canada last
year.
"He knows me," she smiled, explaining that she always
apologises to him afterwards. "He knows that I don't really
mean it...the whole thing that happens on the court," she said.
QUIET GIRL
"He knows me really well -- he knows that I'm really
emotional, but it is only on the court," Myskina said.
"You know, I am the way I am. If nobody likes me the way I
am, I'm sorry. But I think, you know, I'm really nice -- too
nice," she laughed.
"I was really quiet as a little girl, maybe that's why now
everything comes from me."
On Monday, harmony between player and coach was quickly
restored as Myskina recovered her composure to beat Rubin.
"I knew that I had to pressure Chanda a lot, because
otherwise if you give her a finger, she's going to take a whole
hand," said Myskina, who also reached the last eight of the
U.S. Open in 2003.
However, the 22-year-old from Moscow knows she must improve
dramatically in order to beat Clijsters, who thrashed her 6-2
6-4 in last year's Melbourne quarter-finals.
"Sometimes I lose the concentration a bit. I can get angry
sometimes," said Myskina, who was coached by Marat Safin's
mother, Rausa Islanova, as a girl.
"I know it's not the best part of me. I'm really a tough
girl on the court, really nice off the court. You know, on the
court I'm not nice," she said.
Despite her Jeckyll and Hyde personality, Myskina insisted
she would be ready to ensure history did not repeat itself
again against Clijsters.
"Kim right now is unbelievable. I have to give like 300
percent...not 100 percent," said Myskina.
"But if I'm going to play like in the second and third set
(today), I think it's going to be a tough match for Kim."
Myskina smiled that whatever happens on court, Kim may
already have won one contest.
"I think we are the same," she grinned when asked who was
the nicer, before adding: "No, Kim is really nice -- nicer than
me, for sure," she said.