Japan's Ai Sugiyama saw her 16th successive Wimbledon singles appearance end in a third round 6-4, 6-4 defeat on Saturday at the hands of Russia's Alisa Kleybanova and hinted she would not be back next year.
"Each Grand Slam is a bonus for me, and I'm sure I'm going to play the US Open. But about next year, I don't know yet," said the 32-year-old. "Each year I'm not looking too much ahead, so I'll just try to stay positive and play every tournament well and see how it goes."
Sugiyama, playing in a record 57th successive Grand Slam, had been hoping to go on to equal her best singles performance here, a run to the 2004 quarter-finals. But her 18-year-old opponent, playing in her first Wimbledon, had too much power and goes on to face defending champion Venus Williams for a place in the quarter-finals.
"I'm a little bit disappointed after losing, but I think she played really great. She served so good, and her groundstrokes were very powerful. There wasn't nothing much I could do. "I was a little tense about my serve. I'm down a bit. But it's going to be okay." Sugiyama said she intends to review her busy schedule which often sees her playing singles, doubles and mixed doubles at the same Gramd Slam.
"That's really enjoyable, especially here. One year I made the quarters in singles, then the final in doubles and semis in mixed. So that was my best result. Sometimes I feel like when my adrenaline goes on, I don't feel tired or anything.
"But I have to see what I can do. The matches are very close, and here it's very important. So I have to focus on every single point, and that means probably I'll just focus on singles and doubles, not mixed."
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