Croatian teenager’s exploits wows experts

When she steps onto the court at the US Open, Lucic will be making her Grand Slam tournament debut and playing in only her fifth event as a pro, including an exhibition. She has reached the title match in three of them, with two of her three losses against Steffi Graf and Monica Seles.

The Croatian Bol Ladies Open was Lucic’s first tournament after turning pro. She came away the winner.

“I hope you enjoyed this tournament as much as I did,” the teenager from Makarska, Croatia, told the delighted crowd.

In her second tournament, she fell to Graf in the final at Strasbourg, France. “I think she’s better than (Anna) Kournikova and (Venus) Williams,” Graf said of Lucic. “She’s only 15, but already she’s far ahead of the other girls, the way Hingis was a couple of years ago.

“She reminds me of Mary Pierce the way she hits the ball so hard. Physically, she’s ready for the tour.”

At a small International Tennis Federation tournament in Marseille, France, Lucic reached the final once again before losing to Amelie Cocheteux, but she gained her objective — by playing in a third tournament, she received a computer ranking (64th on the WTA Tour computer), high enough for direct entry into the US Open, where she was junior champion a year ago.

Because she is 15, Lucic is limited by WTA Tour age-eligibilty rules to playing four upper echelon tournamets and another four lower-level events. While the four Grand Slam tournaments are part of the WTA Tour, they reserve the right to decide their own entries, wild cards and seedings.

Both the French Open and Wimbledon turned down her request for a wild card directly into the main draw. And because of the age restrictions, the US Open will be the last tournament she will play this year.

“Mirjana’s got a great future and I’m sure we’ll be seeing much more of her,” said American Corina Morariu, who lost to Lucic in the Bol final 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-5) but was the only player to take a set off her.

WTA Tour officials believe the 1.78-meter (5-foot-10) right-hander is the first player to win a tournament in her first attempt, and she’s the youngest winner of a WTA Tour event since Jennifer Capriati won in Puerto Rico in 1990 at the age of 14.

Lucic reached the title match at Bol by upsetting the tourney’s No 1 seed, South African Amanda Coetzer, seeded fifth in the US Open, which begins its two-week run on Monday. Throughout the match with Coetzer, Lucic displayed an excellent baseline game and came up with big shots when she needed them.“She has a very good serve and she takes a ball early,” Coetzer said. “She beat me in everything I was trying.”

Lucic is fast, strong and accurate, with her only weakness an occasionally wild serve.

Lucic is coached by Goran Prpic, a former ATP Tour player. Offering special support to the youngster is big-serving men’s star Goran Ivanisevic, who flew home and ferried across to the resort island of Bol for the women’s tournament. “In the newspapers, they call me `second Goran,”’ Lucic said.

Lucic’s game has drawn plenty of attention. After seeing her play, John Newcombe invited her to practice at his tennis ranch in New Braunfels, Texas. He later was a houseguest of the Lucic family when Australia played Croatia in Davis Cup. “The girl has tremendous power. She can serve, volley, hit winners off both wings and has a fine temperament. … She is improving every time I see her,” Newcombe said.