Confident Baltacha rallies again after fresh bout of bad luck

ELENA Baltacha could be forgiven for thinking that the fates are conspiring against her. Throughout her professional career in tennis, illness and injury have never been far away, and as a result she has yet to fulfil her immense potential.

No sooner, it seems, was a congenital liver condition brought under control after years of turmoil than she began to suffer persistent back problems, which were still plaguing her last summer. At last fully fit at the start of this year, she quickly rose to her highest ever world ranking of 107. But then, just as she was set to break into the top 100, she was ruled out of action again – and by a bizarre mishap.

The ankle strain which forced her to pull out of a tournament in Sweden was no big deal: these things can happen to anyone. The heavy cold which followed was equally as routine. But then, as she prepared to fly out of Britain for the Mexican Open in Acapulco, a freak injury intervened.

"I was practising and I did something to my index finger," she explained. "I thought I'd maybe damaged a tendon, and I got an MRI scan.

"It ended up being just a bruised bone or something like that, but I still had to take four or five days off. Apparently when you're old your white blood cell count goes down and you become more susceptible to injury.

"With me it was just a couple of minor blood vessels popping. If it had been any other finger I would have been fine, but it had to be the index finger of my right hand."

In other words, even given that something had to go wrong with one of her fingers, there was a nine in ten chance that it would have happened to an inessential digit, one which would not have prevented her from serving. As it was, she had to give Acapulco a miss, and instead of having the chance to carry on up the rankings, she fell five places, to 112.

Having got over that misadventure, however, Baltacha flew out to Mexico, where she was seeded fifth for the qualifying tournament last weekend for this week's Monterrey Open. Once more, however, misfortune intervened, and she had to withdraw because of an inflammation of her right elbow.

As a result, she may drop a little further down the rankings in the short term, but she is still well placed to resume the climb. "I have a few points to defend next month, then nothing in the run-up to Wimbledon," she explained. "So even if I drop down to around 130 over the next few weeks, hopefully I'll start picking up points and climbing back up after that."

The 25-year-old is now hovering just below the point where you go into the main draw of the big events automatically. If she is able to start climbing back towards the top 100, she will no longer have to qualify for tournaments or rely on wildcards for Wimbledon.

She knows she can do it. Her successor as British No1, Anne Keothavong, is now up to 48th in the world. She sees no reason why, health permitting, she cannot follow.

"Anne does deserve to be where she is. She's worked really hard to get there, and I respect her. But I look at her, and I think I'm just as good a player. She's lucky because compared to me she hasn't been injured that much."

There are some who believe that Baltacha is, at least potentially, a better player than Keothavong. She is physically more formidable than her compatriot – and, indeed, than a lot of the women who are currently in the top 30. That much was clear from her earliest years as a professional.

It was in 2001, on her first appearance at Wimbledon, that Baltacha recorded the third fastest serve in the women's singles, at 118 miles per hour. The only people who outgunned her were Venus and Serena Williams, who have both shown themselves to be not too bad.

"They're quite good, aren't they?" she replied when reminded, not for the first time, of that statistic. "Yes, I've got some big guns, and one of them is my serve. Then there's my forehand. And I think my character as well." She has certainly shown a lot of character simply to keep going this long after all the problems she has faced – particularly the debilitating liver condition. "I'm still on medication. I've got the condition for the rest of my life, and I've been told there's a 50-50 chance that I'll get jaundice later on.

"I just have to go for a check-up every so often, and I have to be very careful with alcohol as well and make sure I don't drink too much, which is something I've never done anyway."

If she did not have her own career to take care of, Baltacha would ideally like to be back in Scotland watching tennis this weekend. Although born in Kiev, she spent much of her childhood here, and has represented Scotland in UK competitions. As a result, she is often described as Scottish, but, having lived south of the Border for a long stretch of time too, she believes that British would be a better condition.

"I wouldn't say I'm English, but I couldn't say I'm Scottish either, even though I've represented Scotland in competition. I play under the UK flag," she said.

"I lived in Scotland for quite a while when I was younger, and I do miss it. It always feels great to be back when I get there, which is not as often as I'd like."

Baltacha has not had a personal sponsor since her agreement with French Connection ran out last summer, but like other British players she is benefiting from the five-year deal between Aegon and the Lawn Tennis Association, under which the insurance company is funding every level of the sport. Aegon are also the sponsors of the Great Britain Davis Cup team who are taking on Ukraine at Braehead this weekend, and if she did not have to compete herself, Baltacha would be back in Scotland to watch the tie between her adoptive country and the land of her birth.

Asked who she wants to win the match, she took umbrage at the very suggestion she might have divided loyalties. "Of course I'd support Great Britain," she insisted.

"That's an insult. Even though I'm very proud of my background there's no doubt about who I'd support."

If all goes well, Baltacha will be back in action soon. Tournaments in the United States and continental Europe are coming up, and she hopes for a steady run of results to help that ranking rise.

"The problem is getting to play week after week after week. I'd be all right for a month, then something would come up.

"I'm hoping I can get on a good roll. I'm playing good tennis.

"At the moment I'm thinking about the next month, which will determine whether I can qualify for the French Open or not. Then if I don't I'll start building towards Wimbledon.

"But to be honest, whatever happens I feel really confident. I feel really good at the moment and I'm happy with the way I'm playing."