Polish athlete is on the move at Wimbledon! After beating Angelique Kerber in Semifinals today, Agnieszka Radwańska will faceSerena Williams, who defeated Victoria Azarenka, at Finals on Saturday, July 7th, at 8:00 AM Central.
The New York Times summarizes her success and advancement in today's article by Ben Shpigel:
The reaction offered by Radwanska after her tidy 70-minute, 6-3, 6-4, dismissal of Angelique Kerber — a few hops, none high enough to slide a legal pad underfoot — smacked of subtlety, much like her game, and belied the magnitude of her achievement: she is the first Polish woman to reach a Grand Slam final in 73 years, since Jadwiga Jedrzejowska at the 1939 French Championships.
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| Photo by jaz1111 on SXC |
For Poland, any successful sporting event is a proud moment, but repeating success from before II World War has a special flavor. Being ruled by an iron fist of the Soviet Union after the war, Radwańska's achievement is a proof that Poland is finally getting off its knees brushing off years of post-Communist baggage and neglect to at last show off talented athletes.
Agnieszka, known as Isia, and and her year younger sister, Urszula Radwańska, together make the most famous Polish tennis team - Radwanska Team. In Poland, they are also known as Polish Williams sisters. Thanks to their father, Robert Radwański, both sisters were given a chance to excel in tennis since the early age:
Although the Krakow sisters haven’t achieved a tenth of what the California sisters have, there are similarities in their backgrounds. The most important perhaps is that their coach is also their father. Robert Radwanski has developed his daughters’ talent the way that Richard Williams did for Venus and Serena. He earned his living for several years as a tennis coach in Germany, where the 2007 junior Wimbledon winner was born. The sisters don’t complain about their training being too hard but their father admits that on the court there’s little room for negotiation. They do what he says, the same way the Williams sisters do with their father.
You can follow Agnieszka on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/#!/radwanskatennis/isia
Hopefully, Polish sporting officials finally woke up to the fact that local talent, if recognized early, can turn into a worldwide gold medalists. Some of the known names in sport today, are Polish or of Polish-decent, playing for other countries. Some examples:
Miroslav Klose - born in Poland, Polish wife, plays for German football team
Lukas Podolski - born in Poland, plays for German football team
Angelique Kerber - born in Germany, Polish parents, eligible for Polish citizenship, tennis player, trains in Poland
Caroline Wozniacki - born in Denmark, Polish parents, can receive Polish citizenship, plays tennis for Denmark
There are plenty of talented young people in Poland. Shape up Poland! Better recognize!
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