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Insider Podcast: Strycova Sounds Off

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

WTA Insider Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen checks in from the Foro Italico in Rome where the Internazionali BNL d’Italia is already underway. She recaps the the weekend in Madrid, where Simona Halep capped off a big week for Romanian tennis by winning her first title of the season. Hear from Halep as she discusses her surprising week and how it all came together in the Champion’s Corner.

You’ll also hear from 30-year-old Czech veteran Barbora Strycova. The World No.38 joins the podcast to discuss her career, which was nearly ended by a failed drug test in 2012. After serving a six-moth ban for negligently ingesting a banned substance, Strycova came one match away from ending her career. It’s a good thing she didn’t.

Strycova candidly opens up about her ban — the lowest moment of her career — as well as her redemptive run to the 2014 Wimbledon quarterfinals. Self-aware, honest, and funny, it’s a conversation you won’t want to miss.

Halep on being reluctant to handicap her chances at the start of the week: It’s amazing that I could win this tournament. I feel that I had everything in my hands, every match. I felt that I played my best tennis in every match and kind of deserving the title because I won it. I didn’t receive presents during the matches. Day by day I believed more that I had a chance to win it.

At the beginning of the tournament it’s normal to feel that you hesitate a little bit because it’s just the start and you don’t know actually what’s going to happen in the first round because the first round is always the toughest in the tournament. And after my months before coming here, it was tough to believe I could win it.

Halep on the rise of her fellow Romanians: I didn’t read anything since a long time ago and I’m not going to start to read again. I heard a tough story about my joke about “the Easter present” about the second set [bagel against Irina-Camelia Begu]. They make everything negative so I’m not going to read.

But in my opinion it’s a big thing that many Romanians are playing in the last matches here in this tournament – also men’s doubles – so it’s a good point point for our country and maybe it will help our juniors.

Strycova on picking tennis over figure skating: At age 12, I had to decide if I wanted to stick with figure skating, because I was pretty good at it, or tennis. I chose tennis because it was my choice, and nobody was pushing it. I was last on the ice a year ago; I can do some small jumps but you have to be careful because you can fall down and break a leg! I love that sport, and I still like to listen to my favorite music and be on the ice, doing what I used to do when I was young. It’s really relaxing.

Strycova on whether her on-court intensity dates back to her childhood: Oh my god, so much! You would see such a crazy Bara, you would not believel I am so emotional. I’m intense. I love to win and hate to lose. Back then, I was crabby. On one side, I was very positive, but also very negative. I’d throw racquets, screaming, crying. My whole career, I’ve been fighting to be positive and calmer. But I need that sometimes, I just need to know how to deal with it, and make sure it’s not hurting you.

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on any podcast app of your choice and reviews are always helpful, so if you like what you’ve heard so far, leave us one. Get new episode alerts by following us on Twitter @WTA_Insider.

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

DOHA, Qatar – Zhang Shuai recorded one of the biggest wins of her career, overcoming No.5 seed Garbiñe Muguruza, 7-6, 3-6, 7-5 to reach the last eight – her fourth on the Premier level – at the Qatar Total Open.

Muguruza, who was playing her second match of the day – overcoming Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay 6-3, 6-2 after their rain delayed match – quickly found herself in trouble against the Chinese No.1 – herself having to beat Timea Babos earlier in the afternoon – in the first meeting between the pair.

“I woke up thinking that I was going to have a very tough day,” Muguruza said after. “This morning I warm up at 9:00 in the morning. I played pretty good the first match. The second one, Zhang played very well. The conditions were difficult. There was a lot of wind. She was finding her shots. At the end I think was two points difference and they went to her.”

Thunderous hitting from the baseline saw Zhang secure back-to-back breaks of the former French Open champion’s serve for a surprise early 4-1 lead. Muguruza’s fighting spirit helped her break back to love and restore parity as a tight opening set went to a tie-break.

It was the impressive Zhang from there, nailing an impressive 83% of first serves to take the opener as Muguruza double faulted on set point.

The second set followed a similarly tight pattern but this time it was Muguruza with the crucial break at 4-2 as Zhang hit a forehand long, the single break proving sufficient for the Spaniard to serve out and take the match to a deciding set.

The former Australian Open quarterfinalist staved off three break points before breaking herself with a forehand onto the line.

With Muguruza struggling on her second serve, Zhang broke yet again and consolidated for a 5-2 lead but the Spaniard is not a grand slam champion for nothing and roared back to level at 5-5.

Zhang, making only her third appearance at Doha, was not to be denied and a further break at 6-5 sealed the win and her best showing to date. The win marked her fifth career Top 10 win and first of the season after previously earning wins over Dinara Safina, Petra Kvitova, and two over Simona Halep in 2016.

Up next for the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai semifinalist is either No.2 seed Karolina Pliskova or Caroline Garcia. Meanwhile Muguruza said she is looking forward to moving on to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

“I think I’m going to go as soon as possible,” she said. “I want to go in Dubai, try to have a few days of training, recovery take it very seriously. I think Dubai is a big tournament this year for us. I want to do well there.”

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Begu Sends Azarenka Crashing Out

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Irina-Camelia Begu produced her best performance of the year to upset No.4 seed Victoria Azarenka in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

DOHA, Qatar: Former World No.1 Angelique Kerber admitted that she did not play well in her defeat to Daria Kasatkina in the Qatar Total Open – but was quick to pay tribute to her young opponent.

The top seed for the tournament was ousted 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 by the Russian teenager, who also knocked her out of the Apia International in Sydney in January.

“I was not feeling the best today – I’m trying to find my rhythm,” the 29-year-old said in her post-match press conference.

“But she [Kasatkina] plays good. I make too many mistakes in the important moments. I think it was, for sure, not my day.”

Kerber was let down by a proliferation of unforced errors in her 4-6, 6-0, 4-6 loss, but refused to blame it on the Doha rain delays affecting her concentration.

“Of course, the weather, it can happen like this,” she said. “I think this is not a big deal. Of course, we have to wait a lot, but yeah, this is not a big deal, I think, for us players.”

The German now turns her attention to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, which begins on February 19.

“First of all, I have to get ready again and feeling good because, yeah, I was not feeling very good in the last few days,” she admitted. “I think this is the most important thing for me right now. Then, of course, looking forward to the next week [in Dubai].”

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

DOHA, Qatar – No.2 seed Karolina Pliskova survived double duty on Friday, winning her first match against No.3 seed Dominika Cibulkova, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, to reach the final of the Qatar Total Open.

Pliskova had already made it through a quarterfinal encounter with Zhang Shuai between multiple rain delays, but an even bigger test loomed in the reigning BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champion, whom she’d never beaten in three previous encounters.

“I’m really excited, especially after what a long, tough day it’s been,” she said during her on-court interview. “Having two wins today is amazing, and I just beat Domi for the first time in my life. It was tough conditions, and so I don’t think it was the best tennis out there. But it’s a win, so it counts.”

The forecast favored the Slovak for most of the week, as she was the only of the four semifinalists to make it through on Thursday. That advantage appeared evident from the outset, but Pliskova soon found her rhythm, recovering from an early break to win the final four games of the opening set.

Undeterred, Cibulkova raced out to a 4-0 lead in the second and held on to level the match and take the momentum into the decider.

A tense finale followed as the pair traded confident service games until 3-3, when the World No.5 held two break points. With the help of a career-best serving day (21 in the match), Pliskova saved both in quick succession and, with the wind at her back, swept the conclusion after nearly two hours on court.

In all, Pliskova maintained impressive numbers from the back of the court, hitting 40 winners to just 16 unforced errors, and just one double fault in the face of those 21 aces.

“That definitely gave me more confidence,” she said of the crucial seventh game, adding, “and then getting on this side of the court, I got to play with the wind, so that helped, as well. I knew I had a chance to break her, and I did; I always believe I can break her, so I’m really excited to win the third set.”

Standing between Pliskova and a second title of 2017 is the winner of the second semifinal between former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and Olympic Gold medalist Monica Puig.

“Right now, I’m just really happy. I’m going to rest a little bit now, enjoy that I won two matches in one day – that doesn’t happen every day! Then I’ll get ready for the final.”

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Insider RG Contenders: Bacsinszky

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Timea Bacsinszky has told her story before, but with every match she wins, and each career-high ranking she earns, it bears repeating.

The World No.9 was working in a hotel exactly three years ago when her first career, one she had pursued from early childhood, beckoned her back.

“This year I won’t take my car, driving by myself with my old racquets and the string which were probably like strung at 17 and 19 kilograms,” she said of her last-minute decision to play the 2013 Roland Garros qualification event. “It was a joke.”

But things got very serious for Bacsinszky from there; a year later, she was back in qualifying, but more importantly, back in love with the sport. She won her way into her first French Open main draw in four years, pushing Carla Suárez Navarro to three sets in the second round.

One semifinal finish – where she led World No.1 Serena Williams by a set and a break – and a Top 10 debut later, those first moments of indecision are all but forgotten.

“This was just a turning point. But there are so many others that you can just keep close to your heart, because if you look around, there are so many mean things around you and war everywhere and so many problems.

“We should try just to cherish those moments. It sounds philosophic, but I feel really like that.”

Bacsinszky has been at her best when applying an approach to tennis that is at once acerbic and optimistic, overcoming brief bouts with anemia last summer and injury this past spring to become the tour’s most consistent performers.

A thoughtful character on and off the court, her game boasts a breathtaking backhand, but while she espouses a philosophy of “limitlessness,” she’s not aiming for style points.

“I don’t want produce a huge show or something. I want to be playing, not great tennis, but efficient tennis.”

That efficiency allowed her to pull off incredible physical feats, including a 24-hour turnover from capturing her first title of 2016 in Rabat to win back-to-back three-setters en route to the round of 16 at the Mutua Madrid Open. It also helps her manage the pressure and maintain perspective.

“Well, I have two legs, two arms, my hair is longer,” she quipped after her quarterfinal loss in Rome, when asked how she had changed from last year’s run to the final four at the French. “I’m a little more fit, fitter than last year.

“It’s for sure going to be a tough tournament, close to home. I will have to deal with expectations, the expectations from the press, and also, all of a sudden, now so many people are asking me for tickets to come to the French Open.

“I’m like, ‘Guys, you could also ask me for Rome and Madrid when no one was coming!’ ‘But it’s the French Open.'”

“All of a sudden I have so many media requests and I’m like, ‘Okay, well, why? Why now?’ They could have asked also two years ago or come with me in 2013 when I was maybe playing my last French Open.”

Three games from a maiden Grand Slam final 12 months ago, Bacsinszky plans to hit the ground running in Paris, unwilling to overlook any opposition from the start of the fortnight.

“I’m never underestimating my opponent, because I know how hard it is, because I have been in this position, where I was underestimated maybe a couple of times. It was good for me, because then I could catch the win.

“This is a great challenge for me. What I’m expecting from myself, just to be able to maybe win the first round and we’ll see. We’ll see.”

For Bacsinszky, the fairytale is over, but the adventure looks to have just begun.

Click here to keep up with WTA Insider’s pre-French Open coverage!

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