Tsvetana Pironkova had never played on a grass court until five years ago but now the Bulgarian giant-killer is just one match away from reaching the Wimbledon final.
Pironkova defied her lowly world ranking to make it to the last four at the All England Club with a sensational win over five-time champion Venus Williams in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.
That stunning triumph, which followed a victory over 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli in the previous round, showed that Pironkova is a fast learner as she has just beaten one of the most successful players in Wimbledon history despite growing up in a country without a single grass court.
Until she entered Wimbledon qualifying at nearby Roehampton in 2005, Pironkova had never set foot on a grass court.
The 22-year-old’s first experiences of the surface were not kind as she crashed out in qualifying.
Even though she made it to the main draw at Wimbledon for the next four years, Pironkova couldn’t get past the second round in four attempts and felt the unique demands of grass court tennis were completely beyond her.
“We have no grass-courts in Bulgaria actually. I think it was five years ago here at Wimbledon at the qualifying when I first played on grass,” Pironkova said.
“Back then, I thought, ‘Wow, it’s impossible. How can I play on this surface?’” she said. “But with every match I play on grass I feel better and better.”
Growing up in Plovdiv, Pironkova was taught tennis by her father Kiril, a former canoe champion.
She beat Venus in the first round of the 2006 Australian Open but it seemed like a once in a lifetime result for the teenager.
Her results since appeared to back that up. She has yet to win a title on the main WTA Tour and hadn’t been past the second round of a grand slam.
All that has changed in the last 10 days as she came from nowhere to make the last four.
A 6-4, 6-4 fourth round win over 11th seed Bartoli raised a few eyebrows but there was no expectation of a shock when she walked onto Court One behind the formidable figure of five-time champion Venus.
To beat a player who had appeared in eight of the last 10 Wimbledon finals and to do it at the grand slam she always wanted to succeed at, left Pironkova shaking her head in disbelief.
“I still cannot believe that I reached the semi-finals. This is truly like a dream to me,” she said.
“Wimbledon has always been a religion to me. It’s the oldest tournament and growing up, every player is looking at Wimbledon. They say, ‘One day I want to play there.’ That’s like a dream.”
With her dreams fulfilled, it would hardly be surprising if Pironkova suffered a hangover in the semi-final.
But she is determined to learn from the aftermath of her win over Venus in 2006 when she lost in the next round.
“When I beat Williams at the Australian Open, there was so much attention. I was shocked,” she said.
“In the next match, I just couldn’t focus because of all the attention. Right now I think I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll just try to focus.”
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