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An injury which has long since healed is threatening to undermine Elena Dementieva's bid to reach her first Wimbledon final.
Dementieva has won gold and silver in singles at the Olympics, reached two grand slam finals and collected 13 tour titles yet has one of the most inconsistent serves in the sport. It is a sad indictment on the women's game that despite this patently obvious and recurring flaw, the Russian can still be ranked No4 in the world and be a regular contender for the biggest titles.
The 27-year-old goes into today's semi-final against Serena Williams on Centre Court tied at the top of the double-fault table on 33 with Sabine Lisicki, who was knocked out in the quarter-finals.
It is now only world No1 Dinara Safina, who takes on Venus Williams today, who can stop Dementieva ending the tournament as the worst woman server at Wimbledon.
A consistent serve is the most basic of requirements for any player and the problem can be traced back eight years to a shoulder injury Dementieva suffered in Australia.
To keep playing, she altered her serve, adding slice and changing her motion. After her shoulder healed, her service action stayed the same and she has double faulted as many as 19 times in a match and hit 50mph first and second serves. At the 2006 Pacific Life Open, despite double faulting 79 times in six matches, she still reached the final only to suffer from fatigue and lose 6-1, 6-2 to Maria Sharapova.
Dementieva, who hasn't dropped a set at SW19 this year, can still be competitive at the top level with this fundamental flaw because her ground strokes and overall game are excellent.
When she does get at least one serve into play then her thumping forehand and deft touch around the net are truly world-class and Serena will be only too aware of the potential problem facing her on the other side of the net tomorrow. However, with Serena possessing a fearsome service return, the pressure is on Dementieva to make her first attempt count or else it could be a very short semi-final.
She admitted: "It's going to be tough against Serena and if I don't put my first ball into play then she is going to take advantage of the short second one and will be aggressive on every point. For the key will be to play deep enough and try to put that first serve in."
Dementieva lost to Serena's sister, Venus, at the same stage of last year's tournament but feels in good shape going into her contest today.
She said: "It's been great to win my matches in just two sets and it saves energy for the big moment - the semi-final. I know it's going to be a difficult match and a fight for every single point and in some ways, I wish I had been given more of a fight in those early matches. We will see if I am ready for this one.
"Winning the Olympic gold in Beijing was a really big moment for me and gave me a lot of confidence."
Besides a shared interest in double faults, Dementieva and Safina are connected in another way.
Dementieva is a product of the Moscow Sparta club's production line of talented tennis stars, where she was coached as a youngster by Safina's mother Rauza Islanova.
