Break point put in the past

PARIS -- Once billed as the "American Anna" for her stunning good looks and rising game, Ashley Harkleroad cracked under the weight of attention and expectations.

"I guess I just snapped one day," says Harkleroad, who left the sport for nine months between 2004-05.

On Monday, the 21-year-old American emerged as one of the American faces to book a place in the second round of the French Open.

Ranked No.77, Harkleroad held off No.54 Jelena Kostanic of Croatia 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 to reach the second round at Roland Garros for the third time. Next up is No.24 Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia.

"I think I'm a better tennis player than I was three years ago," says Harkleroad, who upset No.9 seed Daniela Hantuchova on her way to the third round here in 2003 -- her best performance at a Grand Slam tournament.

The road since has been less meteoric.

A highly touted junior, Harkleroad ended 2000 as the top-ranked American and reached the 2002 French Open junior girls final. The 5-5 grinder with the Southern accent made the third round a year later in Paris, stoking expectations. She reached a career-high No.39 in the rankings shortly thereafter.

Back in the USA, Harkleroad appeared on TV programs such as The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn and The Best Damn Sports Show Period. Her clothing company wanted her to wear tight-fitting outfits that showed off her body but that didn't fit very well. Comparisons to Anna Kournikova, a glamorous tennis star who never won a WTA tournament, became commonplace.

An only child, Harkleroad also says she felt pressured to win for her family, especially by her father, Danny, who often traveled with her.

"I couldn't deal with the pressure," she says.

A torn ligament to her right (hitting) elbow and her mother's battle with skin cancer also affected her performance in 2004.

The wins, meantime, didn't get any easier -- she dropped to No.124 in 2004 after finishing No.51 the year before -- and she admits the main problem was a case of classic burnout.

"I'm basically like, 'I'm over it,'" Harkleroad, then 19, recalls telling her traveling companion at a tournament in Bogota, Colombia, in February 2004. "Tennis was like life or death. Winning and losing was like life or death."

"I think she just didn't think tennis was fun anymore," says 17-year-old Vania King, an American who lost in the first round Monday.

The self-proclaimed homebody did what few players have the guts to do: She told everyone to back off and quit tennis to just "be a girl for a while."

Harkleroad took yoga classes, hung out with her girlfriends and married fellow pro Alex Bogomolov Jr. She bought a house with her husband in Chickamauga, Ga., and she spent time decorating it.

"When I took a break, it was possibly the best thing I've ever done," Harkleroad says. "I'm a bubbly person, and I was being very quiet. Everything was being kept inside me."

She says the break helped her get a new "perspective on life," and her competitive fires eventually returned.

She returned to the tour in April 2005 and played mostly smaller events but quickly climbed back into the top 100.

She says she now has more variety in her game, more pop in her groundstrokes and, best of all, a rediscovered joy in the sport. She says her father has mellowed, and she says she loves working with new coach Ola Malmqvist, with whom she teamed up in January.

"I'm not going to blow you off the court, but I'll fight with you," says Harkleroad, who has notched wins against top-60 players Samantha Stosur and Shuai Peng this year and upped her record to an even 12-12 with the victory Monday. "If I can stay like this for a few years, I think I'll get better as I get older."

She adds: "I've always been late maturing."

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