[UDiTY]

It's already affected Myskina and Dementieva. And I have a feeling it'll get to Svetlana and Maria next, although they seem to handle pressure better than the other Russians.

Last year they were the up and comers who took the slams by storm and surprise. I think things will be a lot different this year with them having to defend their titles.

[jonny84]

We'll see - the russians were slow starting last year remember. The first Russian to win one last year was Vera in Memphis - late February. After that the Russians then won the majority of the titles. Just give them time.

[Maria Croft]

the year has only just begun !!

[smarties]

I think that both losses are more a question of not being 100% healthy for both these players and doesn't have much to do with pressure to achieve the same performances as last year.

[Gowza]

4th round at a slam is not a terrible result tho, myskina's best here is QF and she was only one round short of that. elena's best was 4th round i think but the last 3 years she has lost 1st round and this year she got to the 4th round and lead in that match. i dont think either of them are particularly fond of playing in australia compared to the rest of the season so i wouldnt say the pressure has got to them already.

petrova got her best result here this year which is 4th round, previously only got to the 3rd. sveta and maria have done their best results here. douchevina, linetskaya have done their best here (4th round both of them). zvonareva is the only one to really disappoint but she was in bad form coming into the open and got beaten by douchevina who reached the 4th round anyway.

so considering that most russians either improved or equaled their best result at the australian open i would say they've actually done pretty well the expectations on them.

[741852]

I think it's just a matter of Elena and Myskina being more up-setable b/c of Elena's serve and Myskina's whole game (built around court-awareness)

[Shonami Slam]

i think that they are just so good in the grass, clay and hardcourt circuits, that it seems as though they are playing badly right now...
just you wait.
but i do think that we are going to see som early round exits from the GS title holders.
ahm ahm sharapova ahm.

[vogus]

i don't think they will struggle with expectation that much. There's so many of them than they can't all win all the time, so it's not a big deal unless they all start crashing out in the first round.

[Gowza]

something i forgot in my earlier post, sharapova and kuznetsova also have both gone further than they ever have at the AO.

[Prizeidiot]

It hasn't really got to them yet... most of them have had best ever performances. And yeah, Myskina and Dementieva are probably the most inconsistent players in the top 10. So losing to lower ranked opponents in their fourth round matches isn't a huge deal.

[10nisfanofruz]

I don't think that the russians care much about the expectation.
Last year was a very good year for the russians. It might tempt other russians to do well this year. Having 7 russians of the last 16 in AO proved that. Even though Myskina and Dementieva lost, it had nothing to do with the expectation at all. They lost becase they didn't play well and their opppents just played better. We all expect them to do well this year again and we might be disappointed when they lose. That's the way it is.

[Lemonskin.]

Somehow I think that Maria and Sveta are gonna be high top-ten for a long time... they're the future of Russian tennis.

[selking]

one thingis for sure. None of them will win a slam. USA is back and kicking, and just wait til the belgians come back.

[JohnBoy]

You are right the Russians will struggle this year.. They had a fab year in ' 04 but were slightly over hyped in my opinion apart from Kuznetsova & Sharapova.. Those two will shine whil the rest will drop off.. I think Myskina has had her moment in the sun with winning the French. She will remain top ten, but i don't expect another grand slam.