EPICANTHUS

NEW YORK—As recently as 18 months ago Kristie Haerim Ahn was struggling desperately with her tennis, trying somehow to find joy in it before she was faced with the ultimate decision about whether to give it up for good. Yesterday (Friday, Aug. 22), as she flung her racket in the air, screamed and fell on the court with both hands atop her head in shock, there was plenty of joy overflowing to all her friends and family who had crossed two rivers to watch her stunning victory.

Ahn, a feisty kid from Upper Saddle River, NJ, had just beaten No. 4 seed Anna Lapushchenkova, 6-4, 6-4, in the third round of the qualifying tournament to earn an unlikely spot in the U.S. Open main draw. That’s main draw, as in the one Serena Williams and Ana Ivanovic play. Not too shabby for a 16-year-old young woman ranked 758th in the world.

• UPDATE—Unseeded qualifier Kristie Ahn lost in straight sets (6-3, 6-4) to Russian Dinara Safina this morning in 1st round action at the U.S. Open in Flushing, New York. Ahn, just 16 from Upper Saddle River, NJ, nonetheless showed flashes of a solid game that made her one of the hottest players on the pro circuit prior to the Open. Ahn is arguably Asian America’s No. 1 women’s singles player.

“I feel like I’m in a dream and just waiting to wake up,” said Ahn, who won all three matches without dropping a set. “It’s really great. I am in shock. I think everyone is in shock right now. I knew I was going to do well, but never this well. I never, never in my life thought I was going to play in the U.S. Open.”

Six hours after her victory, Ahn, who was born a subway stop away in Flushing, Queens, was given a formidable next opponent when she was drawn against No. 6 Dinara Safina.

“I’m ready,” said Ahn, who predicted it would be Safina.

Perhaps she is, especially after a remarkable summer in which she has generated a huge wave of momentum that doesn’t want to crash. While playing in USTA Pro Circuit tournaments, she has gone 16-1 and won two tournaments. Yesterday she never seemed in danger of losing to the 105th ranked player in the world.

And yet it wasn’t very long ago that she felt tennis would just be a vehicle to get a college scholarship. While that remains an option, Ahn must now consider the possibility that she could earn a real living smacking a fuzzy yellow ball back and forth over a net.

By becoming one of 16 qualifiers to earn a spot in the big draw, Ahn is guaranteed at least $18,500, money that she won’t take because she wants to maintain her amateur status in case she does decide to play in college.

At least there seems to be a real choice. Back in the winter of 2007, tennis had became such a drag for Ahn that all she wanted to do was use it to get through college, after which she might never hit a ball again. “I was going through tough times last year,” she said. “I wasn’t happy with my game. I lost my interest in tennis and was kind of giving up on the court. I felt pretty depressed about it.

“All my friends would ask me what I was going to do with tennis and I told them, ‘You know what, I’m just going to play college and after that I’m never going to touch my racket again. If I could go to college with a scholarship that would be fine. Then I would just give it up for good.” But at that point Kristie met her new coach, Lee Hurst, who has been working with other young players in New Jersey for the past six years. Hurst, originally from Southampton, England, was charged with easing Kristie’s mental and emotional state and trying to bring some joy back into her game.

He seems to have done that, as much with soccer as with the tennis itself. Ahn, who bears a nasty four-inch scar on her left calf from making a sliding tackle in a soccer game at Ramapo High’s artificial turf field last week, has learned to enjoy her tennis more by enjoying other sports as well.

“When I met Lee, it ignited a spark in me,” she said. “I was just so much more into it than I had been. Part of it was that most of the time we weren’t even talking about tennis. We were talking about soccer. Now, it’s just a lot more fun.”

—NJ.com