Timea Bacsinszky hasn’t always loved the grass. Before she returned to the tour after a three-year break, she was 3-5 in her career on the turf. “I was kind of afraid of grass for many years, but since I came back in 2013 [it’s changed].” Indeed, since her return three years ago she is 10-4 on grass with a Wimbledon quarterfinal already under her belt last year.
Bacsinszky’s first match on grass in three years came at Wimbledon qualifying in 2013. It was just the second tournament she played since deciding to return to the tour (the first being Roland Garros). “I played against Madison Brengle and I ended up winning 6-4 in the third.” Bacsinszky said during All-Access Hour at the Aegon International on Monday. “For me it was like a miracle, like coming from nowhere playing in Roehampton, which is like a potato field,” she said, much to the delight of a laughing press corp.
“All my respects to Roehampton, they are trying their best, but it’s not really the most glamorous grass court ever. With those like funny conditions, you have many courts everywhere and it’s like a bazaar. It’s like a zoo over there. I ended up winning a match. I was like, wow. And almost won my second match but I lost against Schmiedlova 7-5 in the third.”
Slowly, the always adaptable Bacsinszky, who has posted her best results on clay and hard courts, began to realize her game could flourish on grass.
“My game is quite good right now on grass because I’m able to play longer rallies if I really need to,” she said. “I know it’s not good to defend on grass, but I can be in that position to give one extra ball back for my opponent and to mix up with the spins to be able to come to the net, to be able to maybe do a chip and charge. I’m not even at 1% of Roger’s level in that, but I’m trying to improve my game and to make, yeah, everything possible what I can that can help me to play well on grass.”
Roger Federer is a seven-time Wimbledon champion. Belinda Bencic is a junior Wimbledon champion and won the Aegon International for her first title last year. Stan Wawrinka is a two-time Wimbledon quarterfinalist and Bacsinszky has also made the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Martina Hingis is a Wimbledon champion in singles and won the doubles title with Sania Mirza last year.
So what gives? Why are the Swiss so solid on grass? As is her wont, Bacsinszky had an interesting take.
“I think it’s not something about the surfaces but it’s more that being in the middle of Europe tennis-type-wise you have all those influences,” she explained. “The French are playing like they like the nice game, coming forward, making big shots, aesthetically nice, a lot of culture of tennis.
“Then you have the Spaniards fighting for every point, they don’t give a s***. And they just like go for every ball, try to give back so many balls, try to make work the [opponent]. Okay, you’re gonna say not every Spaniard, for sure. There are always the exceptions; Muguruza is not that type of player.
“The majority of Spaniards are like, ‘Okay, I’m going to fight for everything, and the spirit of clay court. Even if I have to chip everything, I’m going to win the match even if it’s ugly. Even if it’s playing with the other side of the racquet, I don’t care.’
“Italy can be also like this. It’s a mixture. And then you have Eastern Europe, which are based on the baseline hitting everything, going for the lines, trying to take the ball early, putting a lot of pressure.
“Why Switzerland, why we have so many maybe good players? We have all these influences. And I think that’s what it’s like in the Swiss mentality, you’re open for everything. We have to learn more languages, every kid has an education. Most of the people have a job, a decent job. They work hard. We like to work. It’s all the system which works.
“And maybe – it’s a small parallel to say that – maybe that’s why we can also play well on grass, because we are open minded. We say, ‘Okay, we are gonna fight for every point. We are gonna try to hit balls. We’re gonna try maybe new things and we are going to accept the situation and how it is.’ And so we go for it.”
But for Bacsinszky it’s more than just about being Swiss. A child of Hungarian immigrants, she traces part of her her autonomous drive – her Twitter hashtag motto is #limitless – to her parents.
“My mom and my dad were, when I was a kid, telling me you have to fight for what you have, you have to fight for who you want to be, it’s not only given. You have to go and work for what you really want to get. It’s probably why also I’m restless. If I commit to something, I really want to go to my maximum. I never know where my limits are, where my maximum is, but I’m trying to seek it.
“It’s probably because of the Hungarian influence, because they have been beaten so many times in war. They were such a big empire. But we are also quiet population. In Switzerland, you don’t say, ‘Oh, I’m a proud Hungarian.’ Other countries, they would all the time have the flags and stuff. But Hungarians are I believe in foreign countries they are really super quiet.
“I have this will and probably it’s coming from that. You have to fight. Like my dad fought to get away from Romania. He was Hungarian but in the Hungarian minority of Romania, and he couldn’t pass the borders and had to arrange a marriage in order to get out. I mean, political refugee.
“It was really tough. My mom had an easier situation, but I know it wasn’t easy for them. And I grew up with that. So that’s why I fought all the time for everything, what I did. It’s probably because of that.”
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All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
