Svetlana Kuznetsova's former manager was always on to The Net Post to give his client some publicity. "Come on, she's a smashing girl, can't you do something with her?" he pleaded. For some reason, Kuzzy did not quite press the right buttons for those inside the offices and lounges who saw a stocky, powerful Russian tennis player with few adornments. "If she wins Wimbledon, she'll get all the publicity she deserves," we responded.

With her French Open victory, Kuznetsova has to be mentioned in the breath of potential champions on grass, if she would just believe in herself on the surface. Why not? Five years after she collected the US Open to little or no fanfare, the 23-year-old's victory over Dinara Safina in the women's final has awoken us to the virtuous strengths of her game.

There was a serenity and a certainty about Kuznetsova's display against Safina which was marked. Her game is structurally simple, the motion of her serve a pleasure, she is a wonderful athlete, she strikes the ball cleanly off both wings, she has a great touch around the net - a result of playing so much high quality doubles - and the result of clinching a second grand slam title is bound to do wonders for her self belief.

She came into her press conference yesterday dressed in a white T-shirt with the words "Twin Lovers" across her chest. It was certainly not the gesture of someone with a shy and retiring nature. She had a conversation earlier this year with Roger Federer about where her career was heading - she wanted to break from her reliability on the famed Casal-Sanchez Academy in Barcelona (where Andy Murray spent so much beneficial time) - and move back to Moscow to be among her own people.

"Roger was listening, and I said 'look, I want to move from Spain, I want to go to Russia. Everybody telling me this. I don't know what to do'. He said to me: 'you can only depend on yourself. You can control it. If you can concentrate and live in Moscow, do it'. This is it. I really believe in it. I came back to Moscow and I work hard, and I had my time to do everything. I had my passion, I have my friends, I am in my home country. I'm very patriotic. I love being there."

For a while, Kuznetsova was coached by Olga Morozova, the 1974 Wimbledon finalist, who still spends a good deal of time working with young British players. The relationship worked for a while before Kuznetsova felt that the age difference was too big a gap. She turned to Shamil Tarpischev, Russia's Fed Cup and Davis Cup captain, and asked for help. Tarpischev put together a small coaching and physical training team led by Larissa Savchenko, the former leading player, and it worked spectacularly well.

Only a year ago, she was wracked with self doubt. "I said it to Marat [Safin] a few times. I said, 'Marat, I don't know, maybe I should not play'. He said 'you are crazy or what? You have unbelievable opportunities. You just have to play'. This probably was the worst time. Everything was on top of me and I had to take this decision finally to leave Spain. For me, it's very important to listen to myself and be ready to do the things I'm doing."

Kuznetsova said she couldn't begin to compare her victory in New York with this one. "I suppose it's like parents having a second baby. One baby you are happy and the second baby you are even happier. It's just unbelievable." But why would she not believe in the prospect of a third successful delivery, on the grass?

"I'm going to try and enjoy Wimbledon. I don't want to put any pressure on myself. I play great on clay, I can play good on grass but haven't done that. For me, adjusting is the most difficult thing. That's why I have to force myself and go and play at Eastbourne (the AEGON International, which starts on Monday week - the week before Wimbledon)."

May the force be with her.

Paes takes inspiration from Navratilova

Leander Paes has had many striking partners in his life - he fell into the embrace of one, Martina Navratilova, after his victory in the French Open men's doubles - and several who had wanted to play alongside him and did not get the chance. Britain's Jamie Murray, for one, remains bitter about Paes's promise to play together which fell through, and from which he has struggled manfully to forge a successful partnership.