Of the four women, who will play the women’s singles semi-finals at the Australian Open on Thursday, it’s the story of the 34-year-old Mirjana Lucic-Baroni doing the rounds at the Open this time.
The Croatian, who has reached her first Australian Open semi-final, last reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam on the eve of the 21st century, in 1999, at Wimbledon. Aged 15 and then known as Mirjana Lucic, the teenager who had received ‘Special Exemption’ to participate in the tournament pushed her opponent, the second seeded Steffi Graf, to three sets before conceding defeat at Centre Court.
Though Lucic-Baroni seemed to fade away from tennis’ spotlight with her personal problems overriding her professional aptitude in the following years, her heroics at Melbourne Park this year have firmly resurrected the zeal with which she had played out her maiden Grand Slam semi-final that she eventually went on to lose 7-6, 3-6, 4-6.
Against yet another second seed in Serena Williams – Lucic-Baroni will want to do better and go further in the draw. Although delayed by 16 years, tennis really has come full circle for her. Perhaps, this time, it will turn some more in her direction giving her the chance to achieve all that she had missed out on, over a decade ago.