Wimbledon Day 9 Analysis: Sabine Lisicki is Kicking Grass and Dropping Names

By Nick Georgandis

What’s the best way to tell that Sabine Lisicki is just enjoying the ride that has her sitting in the final four of the Wimbledon field? Take a quick look at her Twitter account, which on Wednesday afternoon read “I met Lewis Hamilton today :) that was pretty cool :)”.

Yes, the thrill of defeating Marion Bartoli to become the first German woman since Steffi Graf to reach the Wimbledon semifinals was replaced in a matter of hours by the glow of meeting one of the UK’s best-known radio and TV personalities, who has appeared in more than 12,000 radio shows for the BBC and more than 1,00 television shows.

But that’s the way things go when you move up from No.100 to No. 62 one week thanks to your victory at Birmingham , which also guarantees you a spot in the main draw of Wimbledon as a wild card. And while Lisicki might be ranked 62nd, she’s playing more like 6th or 2nd the last 10 days, turning heads in the second round when she upset French open champion Li Na, then taking out a second top 10 seed in Bartoli on Tuesday to earn a showdown with Russian legend Maria Sharapova in Thursday morning’s semifinals.

Being an up-and-coming German female player draws the inevitable comparison to Graf, who did not play at the All England Club a year ago after making the quarterfinals in 2009. That 2009 season seemed like a distant memory to Lisicki entering 2011. She finished the 2009 campaign ranked 23rd in the world after compiling a 31-18 record, only to flop to a 6-13 2010, missing five months with an ankle injury.

She returned in time for the US Open, but was clearly off her game and failed to qualify for the tournament at Luxembourg , dropping her out of the Top 100 entirely, and eventually out of the Top 200.

Eighteen months later, she’s only the second wild-card entry in Wimbledon history among females to reach the semifinals. Her big serve that saw her 2009 rise to prominence is back, hitting 124 miles per hour against Li, the fastest by a woman on tour this year.

And even Sharapova has to admire Lisicki’s record on grass: the German is a perfect 11-0 heading into Thursday on the natural stuff.

Lisicki lost to Dinara Safina in the 2009 quarterfinals and said the difference between then and now is remarkable. "I'm more experienced and calmer. ... Two years ago, it was different. I was more nervous. I couldn't sleep so good," Lisicki said. "But now it's different. Also, after the injury, it's so nice to be back. I know how fast it can be gone."

If she should lose to Sharapova, Lisicki will still pick up 900 points to her 2011 total, sending her zooming up the charts into the Top 30. If she upsets the heavily-favored Russian, things can get really crazy, as in a spot in the Top 20 with a finals appearance, or a place as high as 16th with her first Grand Slam crown.