When Nadia looked completely down and out, she goes and has a knockout year in 2012, getting back to #12 in the world as 30 years old.
YER
2012 12
2011 29
This is her draw in Sydney:
(1)A.Radwanska v BYE
Dellacqua v Q
Paszek v Jankovic
Vinci v (8)Petrova
An interesting draw. She has a tough first round against Roberta, who Nadia is 3:2 against h2h. Their last meeting was in Bulgaria last fall, where Nadia beat her, but just barely--64 in the third.
If she gets by Roberta, she should get to the QF, where she'll have the opportunity to upset Aga, as she did in Tokyo.
ETA: Apparently she's no longer with Ricardo Sanchez, who helped coach her to a great 2012 season. This info definitely thickens the plot...
I speak Spanish guys. Well, he insisted both of them decided to end their partnership, but he never said why. They had plan to bring back Nadia to Top 5 in 2013 and even wining a Slam. He claims Nadia will play good in first three months of 2013, but then she will start with new coach and he hopes they'll be good partners like they were. Sanchez said he managed to relive self confidence in Nadia so he hopes she will be good player in the future, since she is very talented and has big potential to be Top 10. He desribes Nadia as great person who is a bit shy but when you get to now her, you realize she is a great friend.
Well, the breakup between Nadia and Ricardo Sanchez is weird. Nice words from him though. He sounds optimistic for start of 2013. Let`s hope he is right. You could see in last matches of 2012 that Nadia played better. Very good job from him that he brought her self-confidence back. A bit sad that she lost her belief in herself. Hope now the doubts are finally gone. Of course Nadia is very talented and has big potential. But she must show this on court, in her matches. Good luck in Sydney. Vinci has nothing to hurt Nadia. Everything depends on Nadia. If she plays well she will win.
I understand she hasn't won a AO warmup match since 2006, so maybe we can't look too much into this loss Good luck to her at the AO! If she does poorly, maybe she can then hook back up with Ricardo!
Nadia Petrova (RUS) [12] vs. Kimiko Date-Krumm (JPN)
Shahar Peer (ISR) vs. Alexandra Panova (RUS)
Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor (ESP) vs. Bojana Jovanovski (SRB)
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO) vs. Lucie Safarova (CZE) [17]
Nadia is tied 1-all with Kimiko and on h/c.
What's going heavily in Nadia's favor, however, is that Kimiko's only advanced out of a Slam 1st round twice since her comeback in 2009.
Nadia Petrova (RUS) [12] vs. Kimiko Date-Krumm (JPN)
Shahar Peer (ISR) vs. Alexandra Panova (RUS)
Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor (ESP) vs. Bojana Jovanovski (SRB)
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO) vs. Lucie Safarova (CZE) [17]
12. Nadia Petrova: She's still dangerous (as usual) and, at 30, has some accrued wisdom. Petrova is not a threat to win but a good bet to reach the middle weekend.
Pathetic loss. Never in doubt. I said it would happen. Losing 2-6 0-6 to Date is very embarrassing. Nadia defeated herself. Date just had to keep the ball in court and let headcase Nadia self-destruct. Absolutely disastrous performance from Nadia. No serve. Extremely poor footwork/movement. 9 Winners, 38 UEs = -29. A new low. One of her worst matches ever. Anything positive ? No. I lost every belief I had in Nadia. She will never change. One of the most frustrating players ever.