Tennis News

SINGAPORE – Dominika Cibulkova was riding high off the biggest title of her career on Monday, going through the media rounds to discuss her stunning run to the title at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. Less than 24 hours after the win, the new World No.5 was still on Cloud 9 after beating No.1 Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-4 to win the WTA Finals and finish off an incredible comeback season.

WTA Insider caught up with Cibulkova to reflect on her Singapore win and her evolution as a gritty on-court battler:

WTA Insider: What are you most proud of that you accomplished here?
Cibulkova: That after the two losses I had, I didn’t get down on myself. They talk about me as a fighter and I proved that I am really a big fighter, because it wasn’t easy to go out there after two losses and to play against Halep in the situation it was. So this is [what] I’m really proud about. And, of course, the way I played in the final – it was really high-level tennis.

WTA Insider: Was the final your best match all week?
Cibulkova: I think I also played really well against Halep, but I think against Angie was the best match I played the whole week.

WTA Insider: You told reporters after your match that you believe in yourself now. Why? Why didn’t you believe in yourself before?
Cibulkova: Because I was never that kind of player that came on tour and was winning tournaments. I always needed, you know, proof. I needed to beat a Top 20 player, a Top 10 player – I was taking small steps to get where I am now. And I always thought that winning a Grand Slam was something unreal, it’s impossible. But by winning this, I want to achieve another dream, and that’s winning a Grand Slam.

WTA Insider: Did it mean more to win yesterday than to reach the Australian Open final a couple of years ago?
Cibulkova: Oh yes. To play finals is an amazing feeling. But to win the whole thing, you cannot compare these two things.

WTA Insider: You’ve had good results everywhere. Which major do you think you have the best chance of making a charge?
Cibulkova: We’ll see. I dunno, we’ll see. As you said, I can play on all the surfaces. [I’m most comfortable at] Roland Garros, or maybe Australian Open, too. But hard court and clay court for me is the top. The grass it’s like for one tournament I made the quarterfinals, and that’s amazing. This year is the breaking year in my career, if you know what I mean. Before every tournament you feel your form, how you feel the court and everything has to come together to win such a big event.

WTA Insider: Typically, a player of your size would rely on speed and defense to win matches. Obviously you’re an offensive-minded player. Has anyone ever tried to convince you to play with more feel, rather than your power game?
Cibulkova: No, it was actually it was the other way around. When I was little, or younger, it was always I was just a defensive player; I was just running to the fence and putting the balls back. I think I had a lot of coaches in my career and every single coach taught me something different that now I use now. I remember it was maybe five or six years ago, I had a coach who pushed me to play really aggressive. And since then I’ve known this is the way I’m going to play. This coach I’m with right now, we’ve been together more than three years and I’d say he’s the best coach I ever had in my career.

WTA Insider: How hard was it to buy into this aggressive strategy?
Cibulkova: It was a really hard, but it was a long process. You know, it was maybe 10 years or longer, and inside of me I’m was never a killer on the court, I was never the one that was winning. Now I’m the one that’s going to kill you on the court. This is something I had to learn and this is something that put me in the Top 5. I learned this killer instinct and I just went for it, because in the important moments before I was always afraid to go for my shots, or I wanted the opponent to make a mistake. And this is not how champions play.

WTA Insider: Do you believe that the big titles nowadays go to the big-hitters?
Cibulkova: Yes, of course I believe that. I mean Aga Radwanska she’s a defensive player and she also won WTA Finals, but I see it this way: if a big-hitting girl is playing her best tennis, no one can do anything. You see me playing great yesterday and I didn’t let Angie into the match.

WTA Insider: What prompted you to hire a mental coach?
Cibulkova: My coach. He convince me. He said, ‘You know, Dominika, it’s not only about how many hours you spend on the court but for you the most important thing is how many hours you spend thinking about tennis off the court,’ Because I always thought that I was working more than 100% on the court, and then it’s over for me. But he told me that I needed my head to be there and to be strong. It wasn’t easy convincing me, because sometimes I can be stubborn, but after a while I really started to believe in it and now it’s a part of me and I can’t imagine to play tennis without this thing.

WTA Insider: Do you talk to you mental coach just about what’s going through your mind during those tight moments?
Cibulkova: Yes, exactly, and for me the most important thing is to hold my emotions together, because I’m really emotional on the court. So when I get angry or miss something, I cannot live in the past. This is the biggest change. I handle these situations now. Even this week, you could see against Halep, I survived so many tight moments. I think in the past I couldn’t handle a match like this, even yesterday after the two match points I missed…

WTA Insider: You smiled after you missed those first three match points…
Cibulkova: This is something we also tried to work on. I was so frustrated; this was like my worst moment on the court, I couldn’t describe how bad I felt on the court in that moment when I missed the forehand. This isn’t happening! I didn’t miss a forehand like that in the whole match. But I knew I had to hold it together, I had to forget, leave it in the past and think about what I had to do next.

WTA Insider: I assume the thing you want to do next is to relax. You’re going on vacation next. So you’re going to just chill out?
Cibulkova: You can ask my husband. I’m the laziest person in the world. Really, I just can do nothing. I have my book and I’m just lying there in the shade saying, ‘This is good, this is good!’ I think because I spend so much time working that when I’m off, it’s nothing.

With all tennis apparel companies getting ready for their big product launches at the French Open in mid-May, April was somewhat of a slow month in terms of women’s tennis fashion, but that doesn’t mean that WTA players didn’t look stylish these past four weeks and the less busy period allowed smaller brands to grab the much-deserved attention to themselves, most notably Tonic by Martina Hingis. Marija Zivlak of Women’s Tennis Blog will show us the clothes that dominated the courts of April’s tournaments.

Laura Siegemund came all the way from qualifying at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, dismantled three Top 10 payers without losing a set and made the title match, all the while looking fashionable in a variety of Tonic ensembles.

The 28-year-old Siegemund earned her Top 50 debut in all-white, all-black and colored outfits standing out with their thin tank straps and sheer elements, while practical and trendy plaited hairstyle spiced up the look.

The above Tonic Spring Lucid Tank features built-in bra with removable cups, neck and side contrast detailing, while the highlight are definitely criss-cross spaghetti straps. The top exists in six colors, while my favorite is the white one with pixel contrast, as seen below on Danka Kovinic and Viktorija Golubic.

Montenegro’s Kovinic climbed from No. 60 to No. 47 in the WTA rankings this week, following her final at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup, while Switzerland’s Golubic, who has recently recorded as much as two victories for her country in the Fed Cup World Group semifinals, beating Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova and Barbora Strycova, showcased her stylish Tonic ensemble at the Katowice Open in early April.

Sorana Cirstea had to cover her beautiful aviator navy New Balance Spring Tournament Dress with several layers of clothing in the cold Prague this week, but earlier in April we saw the dress in full light at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup, where the Romanian lost in the second round to eventual champion Cagla Buyukakcay.

The 131st-ranked Cirstea started her brand ambassador role this year at the Miami Open, while her Istanbul appearance marked the first time a New Balance representative wore a dress. Striped, flaired skirt and thin strappy racerback of the dress provide both style and great support for maximum range of motion on the court. Plus, you can beautifully round out the look with the New Balance 996v2 Shoe.

Sloane Stephens’ fashion has never been better than in recent months and this dark Under Armour dress has been her lucky charm, as the American won two WTA titles in it, including her biggest career title at Charleston this month, as well as a power-blue Volvo V60 Polestar car.

Everything about the dress is stylish, especially when Sloane wears it. My favorite features are the subtle print at athletic racerback and back cutout, as well as color-coordinated wristbands and braided headband. Being a big fan of Sloane’s fashion, I am really looking forward to seeing her new kit in action, a white crop top and light pink skirt.

ZHUHAI, China – The fairytale continues for Zhang Shuai in Zhuhai.

The wildcard won a second straight match at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai, guaranteeing her a place in the semifinals and a first career finish inside the Top 25.

“It’s amazing because I never thought I could play this tournament, and now I’m in the semifinals,” she told WTA Insider on Thursday. “I prepared a lot for this week, so I’m really happy.”

Her storybook season began in Australia by way of Tokyo. Zhang was ranked just inside the Top 200 when she won an inaugural ITF 100K Challenger there last fall – foreshadowing what was to come Down Under. The Chinese No.1 plans to return to the Tokyo tournament next week, where she will be top seed.

“I have a lot of good memories there and want to go back. I also have a lot of friends in Japan and Tokyo; they’re waiting for me already, so it’s very exciting!

“The tournament has good food, good hotel, and good courts. I always look forward to going to Tokyo.”

Zhang’s season won’t end there. Her final stop of 2016 brings her to Hawaii, fulfilling a lifelong dream.

“I’ve never had the chance to go. I’m already ranked in the Top 50, so I couldn’t enter a WTA 125K event, so I have to thank the tournament for giving me a wildcard.”

She found out about the wildcard into Zhuhai three weeks ago in Beijing; she had just defeated Simona Halep for the second time in nine months, the first coming in that fateful first round in Melbourne.

“She’s a really great player. My coach always says I have to learn from her, because she plays really beautiful tennis. I like her as a person too; she’s a very nice girl.

“It was amazing, even after the Australian Open, I didn’t think I could beat her again. But I’ve since been able to not only beat her, but also other Top 20 players like Timea Bacsinszky and Samantha Stosur.

“Now I believe I can do anything.”

That limitless mentality has helped her achieve a career-best season after a year in the tennis wilderness. It was just two years ago that Zhang was ranked in the Top 30 and seeded at Grand Slams, but until beating Halep, she had never won a major main draw match in 14 previous attempts.

“Now I’m more focused on the court, focused on myself. I don’t think…anything, really! I’m not thinking about ranking or points; I just try my best, trying to play my tennis and my style. I don’t really care about whom I’m playing, or how they play. I just go!”

Zhang plans to roll into the off-season with similar gusto, hoping to maintain the momentum gained from her Asian Swing surge and bring it back to Australia for an encore performance.

“I don’t think I’ll change much about my pre-season. I’ll just try to train hard, give 100% of my heart and focus on tennis. We’re always trying to make improvements, so we’ll try to do that, too.

“But this year, I played really well, so I think I’m doing things the right way. I just want to keep going.”

Forward motion is a recurring motif from Zhang, which certainly makes sense; if you were living her dream, would you want to wake up?

“This whole year has been filled with so many amazing memories. I can’t pick just one, but of course, I can’t forget the Australian Open. I’ll remember that week forever. I also made the quarterfinal at the China Open, now the semifinals here in Zhuhai.

“This year has been a dream come true.”

All photos courtesy of WTA Elite Trophy.

ZHUHAI, China – After visiting one of the city’s most impressive landmarks, tennis legend and WTA Elite Trophy ambassador Steffi Graf continued her whirlwind tour of Zhuhai at the Huafa Tennis Center for a charity clinic.

Click here for a photo gallery of all of Steffi’s activities in Zhuhai!

Graf was joined by over thirty talented youngsters from primary and junior high schools in the area, including 19 from Macao as well as from Huajin Securities, tournament ball kids, selected staff and one lucky iQYI SuperFan.

Yang Yanling, who was selected from the iQIYI iSuperFan campaign, got an extra treat; he enjoyed a special one-on-one conversation up close with the former World No.1. Yang was thrilled by Graf’s encouragement to continue playing tennis, and more importantly, to enjoy what tennis will bring to his life and future.

Check out all the best photos from the event right here, courtesy of the WTA Elite Trophy!