SO how will Elena Dementieva now be remembered as part of the Russian tennis story that has played such a major part of the past decade? The smiling woman on top of the Olympic medal podium with gold hung around her neck or the tortured individual who vented her agony midway through a French Open final to scream: “I hate my serve”?

Going into a US Open that is more unpredictable on the female side than ever because of injuries, absences and retirements, Dementieva seems to have banished one demon and is taking steps to do away with another.

Though the 26-year-old has maintained a place in the top 10, she seemed destined never to collect one of the truly big prizes. The reason was simple; the mental handicap of believing her serve was never durable enough to function properly throughout a big match.

The more tense the match, the more anxious she became and the reaction was always the same; an appallingly inconsistent ball toss that manifested itself in a spate of double faults. Tears regularly ensued, defeat invariably followed. It happened in the 2004 French Open final against Anastasia Myskina, it was the same in the US Open final three months later against Svetlana Kuznetsova.

This spring Dementieva enlisted the help of experienced women’s coach Harold Solomon and his Florida academy partner Andy Brandi. “We’ve spent a lot of time on the mental side and consequently the double faults are diminishing and the aces are increasing,” Solomon said.

“The service toss isn’t all over the place any longer. There has definitely been an improvement. Now, hopefully, the Olympics will give her that much more confidence.”

Dementieva will return to Florida for concerted work with Soloman and Brandi at the end of the year. “We honestly think she has an opportunity to make a run for the top spot on the women’s tour,” said Solomon. “Elena has the ability to impose herself on her opponents and that’s how she has to play until the final point. Just as she did at the Olympics.”