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Olympics at 50? Unlikely says Kimiko
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Japan’s ‘iron lady’ Kimiko Date-Krumm won her opening match at the Pan Pacific Open yesterday, then all but ruled out playing in Tokyo at the 2020 Olympics when she will be almost 50.
“Eh? I’ll be 50. Fifty!” Date-Krumm said with a broad smile when asked about returning to the same waterside venue to compete at the Tokyo Games.
“I’m not (Martina) Navratilova,” added the former world No. 4, who reached the quarterfinals in Seoul last week.
“You’re asking if there’s a one percent chance? Well probably it’s 99.9999 percent I won’t, but I suppose you never say never 100 percent. It’s almost impossible, though I’d like to be involved in some capacity and support the next generation of players coming through.”
Date-Krumm’s 6-2 4-1 victory over qualifier Anastasia Rodionova in the first round of the US$2.3 million event — hastened after the Australian stopped with an abdominal strain — gives the world No. 63 a crack at another Aussie in the shape of 12th seed Samantha Stosur.
“I don’t think about my age anymore,” said Date-Krumm, who turns 43 this week and achieved her career-high ranking back in 1995. “Stosur is big and powerful. I’m not crazy about that but I’ll see what I can get out of my punctured body.”
Seventh seed Petra Kvitova, Wimbledon champion in 2011, became the first player to reach the third round with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Swiss Belinda Bencic.
Meanwhile, German fifth seed Angelique Kerber pulverized Spanish qualifier Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor 6-0, 6-1 to book her place in the last 16.
Former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, runner-up in Tokyo in 2007, flattened Germany’s Annika Beck 6-1, 6-1 in her opener.
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