By Chris Oddo

Photo Credit: Paul Gilham/ Getty

(July 2, 2012)—This Wimbledon has been full of surprises--think Lukas Rosol’s God imitation and Yaroslava Shvedova’s “golden set”-- but the greatest surprise may still be yet to come.

That is, if Sabine Lisicki has her way.

Last year’s wildcard Wimbledon semifinalist has already engineered an improbable run to the quarterfinals, and she’d like nothing better than to shock the world by winning Wimbledon this weekend.

It may sound crazy, but it may come true.

Lisicki’s grass-court prowess is no secret, but given her injury-plagued, scratchy form in the last two months before Wimbledon, nobody expected her to win a match, let alone reach the quarterfinals at SW 19.

But some serious grinding at her training base in Bradenton, Florida appears to have done the trick for the 15th-seed.

“I didn’t play well in the last tournaments, but then I went back to Florida--back home--and trained for a week, and I felt much better there,” said Lisicki, in Tennis Channel interview today.

When pressed about her failings this spring, a very happy Lisicki laughed and asked, “Do we have to talk about this?”

We don’t have to any more.

“I knew I needed to hit a lot of balls,” said Lisicki. “After I lost in Birminghan I just stepped on the flight and flew back to Florida where I feel most comfortable, and practiced four hours a day plus fitness at 30 degrees Celsius,” said Lisicki.

The hard work has clearly paid off. After struggling to get by Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia, 3-6, 6-2, 8-6 in the first round, the pep in Lisicki’s step has gradually returned.

A player who most thought was limping into Wimbledon on the heels of four successive first-round losses (Rome, Strasbourg, Roland Garros, Birmingham), now appears to be hitting her stride, breaking into a full sprint toward the finish line after her buzz-creating victory over top-seeded Maria Sharapova today.

In defeating the French Open Champion at Wimbledon for the third time today (Lisicki defeated Kuznetsova en route to the quarters in ‘09 and Na Li en route to the semis last year), Lisicki has announced that her bad form is clearly behind her now.

Even her peers are aware.
 
“If she plays at this level, of course she belongs at the top,” said Maria Sharapova after falling 6-4, 6-3 to Lisicki on Monday. “She stays really low. She’s a strong girl. She hits the ball really hard.”

It is that take-charge kind of play that characterizes Lisicki on the grass. She has the serve and the groundies to play successful first-strike tennis. And as her confidence grows, so do the odds that she’ll execute those strikes to perfection.

Today against Sharapova, she returned menacingly, forcing Sharapova to react quickly and causing her to play reactive tennis rather than the dictating brand that she enjoys.

It turned out to be just right for the occasion.

Everything about Lisicki at Wimbledon, in fact, turns out to be just right for the occasion these days.

“I just love the tradition of the tournament,” Lisicki said today. “The crowd is supporting me so greatly here and I love playing on grass so altogether it just makes it my favorite tournament.”

For the last two years there has been a consistently recurring vision at The Championships: a euphoric Sabine Lisicki, fists clenched, knees bent, dropping to the grass after an emotional triumph.

It’s starting to feel like deja vu all over again.

Lisicki’s on fire, and her confidence is growing. She’ll need that confidence tomorrow when she faces a player in Angelique Kerber that she has lost to all four times they’ve played.

Not to worry, Lisicki already has it.

“You don’t have a great record against her,” Mary Carillo asked her at the end of their interview today.

“I didn’t against Sharapova either,” she said, laughing.

“You’re 0 and 4 against her. Do you like going in like this?”

“Of course,” she replied, unfazed. “I love playing at Wimbledon. I want to stay here for much longer.”