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Carla Suárez Navarro won the biggest title of her career on Saturday, beating 18-year-old Jelena Ostapenko 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 to win the Qatar Total Open. The title was Suárez Navarro’s second in her career and boosts her up to a career-high No.6 in the rankings – and No.2 in the Road to Singapore standings.

It was a busy but successful week for the Spaniard in Doha, who also made the doubles final with Sara Errani. The 27-year-old has once again started the season well, having made the semifinals at the Brisbane International, quarterfinals at the Australian Open, and capping off the first two months of the season with the big win in Doha. En route to the title, Suárez Navarro stunned No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals, 6-2, 6-0, avenging a straight set loss in Melbourne, and then rallied from a set down to stop Ostapenko’s precocious charge towards her first title.

WTA Insider caught up with Suárez Navarro after a long day of back-to-back finals, to talk about her her renewed sense of calm and ambition in 2016.

WTA Insider: So be honest: how tired are you?
Suárez Navarro: I feel really tired. I played five days, two matches every day, long days. But I’m really really happy.

Insider: I wanted to talk first about your mentality. The first set went by very quickly. What were you telling yourself after losing the first set 6-1?
Suárez Navarro: I started a little bit nervous. She played really fast and with no pressure. But when I finished the first set I just tried to listen to my coach, what he said to me. I just believed, I fought until the end. I had a really good comeback in the end.

Insider: It was a similar match to when you beat Daria Gavrilova at the Australian Open, when you lost the first set 6-0 but went on to win. What improvements have you made mentally that has helped you get through matches like this?
Suárez Navarro: I want to learn about all these matches. I lost in some matches the first set so easy. Sometimes it’s because my opponent played good, but sometimes it’s because I don’t start with the focus, the intensity that the match needed. Then I have to come back. Sometimes it’s not easy. I have to work with my mind, with my mentality, to try and start better in these kinds of matches.

Insider: When you play against a player like Ostapenko, who was hitting so many winners, I thought you would get more defensive in the second set. But you actually got more aggressive.
Suárez Navarro: Yeah.

Insider: That was surprising.
Suárez Navarro: It was a combination of both. I was at the back of the court, but I was also playing aggressive. I had to be there running and taking the time a little bit because she was playing fast and it’s not easy when they play fast to me. I stayed a little bit more in the back of the court but when I had to play aggressive I hit some really good points.

Insider: You said in January that your big goal for this year was to be more aggressive. Was today an example of that?
Suárez Navarro: Not at the first set, but I think in the final set I played really aggressive. With my backhand I played more aggressive than with my forehand. I felt more confident today at the end of the match with my backhand. That helped me win the match.

Insider: Last year you were incredibly consistent in the first half of the year. This year you said you wanted to focus more on the big tournaments. How successful have you been with that?
Suárez Navarro: I started really good in Melbourne. I had good matches there. I lost to Aga. I want to take the experience of last year to play better in the Grand Slams. The Grand Slams are really important tournaments and when you are in the Top 20, you want to win good tournaments, big tournaments. You have to be there. I think the key is working and practicing really hard.

Insider: What does winning Doha, the biggest title of your career, mean to you?
Suárez Navarro: It’s special. I lost three finals the last year and it’s my second title. It’s a good feeling. I feel good, I feel happy.

Insider: At the start of the year you said your goal was to get into the Top 5. You’re up to No.6 now. Do you feel like a Top 5 player right now?
Suárez Navarro: I feel really, really close. I know all the top players, I know if you want to be in the Top 5 you have to have good tournaments like this or like Melbourne to take points. Also, at the tournaments where there are all the top players, I know I’m close. But I know the year is very long. I want to take the experience of last year where I start really good but I lost confidence a little bit and I couldn’t end the year inside the Top 10. But I know the key and I know the things I have to do to be there. But I’m really excited about No.6 and I’m really close to No.5.

Insider: Do you think that experience paid off today against Ostapenko?
Suárez Navarro: Yeah, for sure. She’s young. I was young in my years and I know how you feel when you have to finish the match, no? It’s not easy in the final. For sure the experience was one of the keys of the night.

Insider: Are you going to give your sports psychologist a bonus for some of the work you guys have done together? It seems mentally you’re playing much stronger this year.
Suárez Navarro: Yeah (laughs). You have to take the experience and be stronger every day and every tournament. This is the way, this is the key. To feel good, feel healthy and stronger.

Insider: What are you going to do to celebrate?
Suárez Navarro: I don’t know (laughs}. Here, it’s too late. I will go to the hotel and try and have dinner there. Tomorrow I fly back home but I leave in the morning and I arrive in the night. It’s not an easy flight. I will celebrate tonight, but I want to sleep. My celebration will be on my bed.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

NEW YORK, NY, USA – The skies were blue, humidity nearly non-existent, and there was even a rainbow on Sunday afternoon as newly-crowned US Open champion and soon-to-be World No.1 Angelique Kerber returned to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for the traditional Champion’s Photo Shoot.

Kerber was exhausted but beaming, walking the grounds with the air of a woman who believes in her bones that she is not only playing the best tennis of her career, but that there’s an even better version of herself and her game past the horizon.

WTA Insider caught up with Kerber to discuss what lies ahead.

WTA Insider: It’s been less than 24 hours since you got your hands on the US Open trophy. You must be tired.
Kerber: I am a little bit tired but also exhausted, excited, everything. After last night, it’s just the best feeling right now. To go home with my Grand Slam title again, my second one in one year, and of course with No.1, it means a lot to me. I’ll just try right now to enjoy every moment and everything that I did in the last few weeks.

WTA Insider: Three Grand Slam finals, two Slam titles, and World No.1. Which one of those accomplishments amazes you the most?
Kerber: Actually I think the Grand Slam titles first, because that’s always something I was always working so hard for, to win the major titles. To win two right now and to be in one final at Wimbledon, that means to me everything.

To then be No.1, what I was always dreaming when I was a kid, that shows me I played a really consistent year. To be No.1 you have to play great, not one day or one week, you have to play very well a few months, and this is also incredible to me, actually.

WTA Insider: I remember speaking with you on a couch when you qualified for your first WTA Finals back in Istanbul. At the time you didn’t seem convinced that you were one of the eight best players in the world. Take me back to that time, that breakthrough, and what it felt like then when you were trying to be comfortable with being a good player.
Kerber: When I reached my first Top 10 and also my first WTA Finals, being with the best players of the world at the end of the year, of course I was a little bit not sure what happened. I didn’t have the experience. It was everything new for me. I had to get used to everything.

Right now, years after, I learned a lot. I think I was growing as well. I was growing every year. I improved my tennis, I improved my personality and everything. This gives me so much confidence as well because I can look back and I can say I was learning. I was learning every year and this is what makes me proud. I took the chance to be now where I am. Finally I am still the same person because I am still Angie like I am a few years ago. This is what also for me really important, to stay how I am.

WTA Insider: When I see you now, you seem very calm and comfortable in your own skin.
Kerber: I’m feeling much for confident now in my skin and how I am. I think it’s because of my experience I know what’s happened, I know how to deal with pressure, how to deal with the things I have to do off court. That’s what gives me the confidence to, you know, dressing up, speaking, working, being how I am. Of course it takes a little while to get where I am, and it was really tough but really good.

WTA Insider: You mentioned the word pressure. What’s the most high-pressure match you feel you’ve played?
Kerber: To be honest, this match this year in Australia, the first round, that was a match where I was feeling a lot of pressure because last year I lost in the first round. I put so much pressure on myself. I didn’t want to lose in the first round.

This is maybe from this year one of the matches where I remember my pressure was really high. After the win when I was also match point down, I was feeling like ok, the pressure was gone. I won the first round and now I can go for it. So for this year I can say this was the match.

WTA Insider: When we talk about your career, there are three matches that always come up. That Australian Open match is one. The match against Victoria Azarenka here, that you lost. The match against Lucie Safarova in Singapore, that you lost. Talk about how important it is to learn from your losses.
Kerber: This is really important to learn from your losses but also as well, learning from your wins. After every match you have to sit down and think what I did good and what I did wrong. I learned a lot from really tough and close matches that I had in the past, especially the last years when I played so many great matches against great opponents.

This year, I had confidence because I knew that I could play good matches because they’re always tough but I have to go the last step and just go for it. That gives me a lot of confidence and maybe a little bit less pressure.

WTA Insider: You’re the World No.1 now. We’ve seen in the past that players who get to No.1 get comfortable with their game and don’t want to make changes. It’s too risky. How does your game get better from here and can you motivate to take those risks?
Kerber: No, I think my motivation is really high, especially right now after this title in New York. I will still try and improve my game because I know that I can still improve my serve and improving a few things on my game. It’s what I will try and do over the next few weeks and in my pre-season for next year. There are still a few things that I know I can do better. That gives me a little bit of confidence to know that I can still play better, maybe a little bit more aggressive, moving better, because there is still a little bit percent where I can go for it.

WTA Insider: So we haven’t seen Peak Angelique Kerber yet?
Kerber: We will see. Of course I’m playing the best tennis in my career, but I’m trying to be better and better. I’m trying to motivate myself to be better in my matches and in practice. I will try to still play my best tennis in the next months.

Kerber will next play at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open and China Open during the upcoming Asian Swing. Hear more from Kerber and coach Torben Beltz in the latest WTA Insider Podcast:

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.