Cranbourne tennis star Chloe West is looking forward to developing her game and improving her world ranking in 2008. Picture: Meagan Rogers.By Marc McGowan
AFTER battling her way through illness and injury to get back on the court, Cranbourne teenager Chloe West faces the toughest 12 months of her career so far.
West’s game has matured to the stage that she is competitive against world-ranked opposition, while dominating her local rivals.
But the weekend provided a perfect example of the conundrum in which the talented 19-year-old finds herself.
Competing at the Mansfield Open, West stampeded through the draw before receiving a walkover in the semi-finals in what would have been her first challenge against up-and-coming Tasmanian Anna Wishink.
Facing her in the final was former world number 363 Lisa D’Amelio, who lived in Cranbourne for most of her life before recently moving to Keysborough.
With little competition in the lead-up, West struggled to lift her standard against D’Amelio and was steamrolled in the opening set.
West finally adjusted before going down in a tight second set to lose the decider.
“The first couple of games I played, the girls were not in the same league as (D’Amelio),” West said.
“The first set was me trying to get used to playing her and then in the second set I came good, but I just didn’t quite get the set.
“If I’d won the second set I could have gotten the match, but I lost in a tie-break.”
West will have the chance to exact revenge on D’Amelio in next week’s Victorian Grasscourt Championships in Geelong, but believes the surface will play into the hands of her older combatant.
“That will probably be harder because this one was synthetic grass, but with the next one being real grass she’ll be tough to beat,” West said.
“She’s really good at volleying, so she’ll probably be good on that surface.”
West’s biggest problem is finding the right tournaments to play that will test her and help her development.
“I need to play more players like (D’Amelio) because it is not doing me any good playing weaker players, but I do not have much choice at the moment,” she said.
“I’m just playing the small ones … (and) by not having many matches against better players, my game starts to drop off.”
West reached a world ranking of 1240 this year, but an extended layoff due to injuries meant she was unable to improve on that effort.
In a recent six-event stretch that took in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, West was unable to advance from qualifying against some of Australia’s and the world’s best players.
Her defeats came against the United States’ Robin Stephenson (ranked 449), Great Britain’s Jade Curtis (498), Wishink (unranked), Australian Jessica Schaer (879), South African Kelly Anderson (unranked) and German Laura Haberkorn (429).
West matched her opponents on most occasions – losing three-set tussles to Haberkorn and Curtis – but lacked one vital ingredient to get her over the line.
“I could have done better because I had some opportunities,” West said.
“I think it was my lack of confidence. In one particular match I let nerves and pressure get to me rather than just thinking about what I’ve got to do.
“The last couple I’ve played, I’ve been more confident on the court and I’ve definitely changed my attitude in that way.”
With that learning experience behind her, West is practising every day – whether at Clyde under the tutelage of club coach Les Waugh, or hitting at Melbourne Park and Doveton – for a full-on assault on the professional tour in 2008.
“I would like to get my ranking up below 800, but I just need to get started with that,” she said.
