Tennis

Rezai loses but smiles again at French Open

Published May. 23, 2011 2:40 p.m. ET

foxsports

Aravane Rezai lost in the first round of the French Open to an obscure Romanian player, but the little darling of French tennis is sure she will soon be back on track after going through personal problems that nearly ended her career.

The 24-year-old Rezai, who lost to Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 6-3 Monday, came to prominence two years ago at the French Open, reaching the fourth round and conquering the crowd with her devastating smile and spectacular game.

Last year, she won the Madrid Open for her biggest victory, defeating three former top-ranked players en route to the title, and climbed to No. 15 in the WTA rankings.

But her rise to the top of the game was abruptly ended by serious family problems.

''In January, I was thinking (about retiring) but I finally decided not to stop because I love tennis,'' Rezai said. ''Now, I know that I will come back stronger.''

At the Australian Open in January, the Frenchwoman had a wild argument with her father and longtime coach Arsalan Rezai. The incident was so serious that the WTA opened an investigation and decided to provisionally suspend Arsalan from attending her tournaments.

''Every single day, it's a fight against myself,'' Rezai said. ''It means that I need to find a form of peace within myself, to be positive, to be at ease and not to think about my problems. Serenity is what I'm looking for every single day.''

The Australian Open scandal was not the first mistake for Arsalan. In 2006, he was found guilty of using violence against the father of a rival player, after he used insulting language on the eve of the 2004 French championship for players aged 17-18. The French Tennis Federation subsequently banned Aravane from the national training center.

Severing the ties with her father was all the more difficult for Rezai because Arsalan was the man who put her on the path to success. When she started playing at 8, it was he who pushed her to the limits, sometimes making her train at night under the headlights of a car.

''Everybody knows that there are problems at the moment,'' Rezai said. ''But I don't want to think about them. What I want is to be stronger every day and to find my own landmarks.

Rezai has won four WTA titles but has yet to win back-to-back matches this season. To help her in her preparations for Roland Garros, the French federation provided her with coach Alexia Dechaume, but it's still unclear whether they will keep working together

''Alexia was proud of me today,'' Rezai said. ''My goal is now to have a good staff surrounding me and to be all stronger. Now that the French Open is over, all of us will be discussing the matter and we will take the best decision for my future.''

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