A chance meeting with Roger Federer at last year's Beijing Olympics helped Svetlana Kuznetsova straighten out her mind and sent her on her way to a second Grand Slam triumph at the French Open.

The 23-year-old had been struggling for months over what to do about her tennis career and whether or not to return to Russia, which she had left as a 13-year-old to hone her skills at a coaching academy in Spain.

She had even considered packing it all in all together.

A loss in the first round of the Beijing tournament did not help things and it was only when friends playing for the Russian womens' basketball team asked her to approach Federer to get their picture taken with him did she speak to the Swiss star.

"So I did go to him and said - Can you do the picture?" Kuznetsova said.

"He did the picture with the girls. I had a talk with him like for 10 minutes, and I had never spoken to him before. I was talking to him about the problems I had.

"He was listening and I said I want to move from Spain. I want to go to Russia. I don't know what to do.

"He said - 'Look you can only depend on yourself. You can control it. If you can concentrate and live in Moscow, do this.'

"I came back to Moscow and I worked hard. I had my passion, I have my friends, I am in my home country. I'm very patriotic. I love being there.

"This was a big turning point."

Kuznetsova's 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Dinara Safina brought her a second Grand Slam title, five years after she stunned the tennis world by lifting the US Open as a 19-year-old newcomer.

Since then she has lost two other Grand Slam titles, both times to Justine Henin at the 2006 French Open and 2007 US Open.

Despite the failure to add to her trophy haul, Kuznetsova has been a regular in the top 10 for the last four years as well as a key player in the all-conquering Russian Fed Cup team.

Her win will lift her up to fifth in the world rankings.

AFP

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