Dubai: Angelique Kerber Interview
An interview with Angelique Kerber before her opening round match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
An interview with Angelique Kerber before her opening round match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Former finalist Simona Halep was forced to dig deep to defeat Naomi Osaka and keep her dreams of a maiden Roland Garros title alive.
DUBAI, UAE – Kristina Mladenovic set up a second-round showdown with Qatar Total Open champion Karolina Pliskova after defeating Katerina Siniakova 6-3, 6-3 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
“It was a very difficult match, I think she is about a similar ranking to me and I never won against her so the score may have looked easy but we played for an hour and a half,” said Mladenovic. “I am very happy about my performance and very glad to be back in Dubai, I have great memories especially winning the doubles here last year and it’s a home tournament for me. I moved here a couple of years ago and I’m loving it.”
Siniakova had won the previous two meetings between the players but it was the 2017 St Petersburg champion who started faster, breaking her younger opponent in the opening game and twice more to win opening set 6-3.
.@KiKiMladenovic in full flight! #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/Fz8tMKyVMg
— WTA (@WTA) February 20, 2017
The Czech began the season by winning her maiden WTA Tour title in Shenzhen but had no answer to Mladenovic’s effective all-court game, the Frenchwoman breaking early in the second set and hanging on to secure an intriguing second-round tie against in-form Pliskova.
“First of all she is a good friend of mine and we always had tough battles in the past, especially in the final of the Fed Cup I think we played four hours,” added Mladenovic. “Everybody knows about Kara, she’s on fire, winning last week for her second title of the season.
“For sure, it’s going to be a difficult match but I’m going to prepare the best I can. She just won in Doha, so she will feel great, obviously. And here, the conditions are also great for her. I will need to play a bit better than today.”
DUBAI, UAE – Reigning Olympic Gold medalist Monica Puig continued her solid February form, beating Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to advance at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
After a slow start to the season, which saw her go 1-3 in January, Puig opted to refocus her training on the practice courts after the Australian summer. Out of the spotlight and back at her base in Boca Raton, Florida, the 23-year-old was able to put in the work that was missing in the pre-season.
“I think post-Australian Open was a really big change for me, because I really just buckled down and I said, ‘Look, this can go one of two ways: It can go really bad or it can go really well.'” she told press after the match. “I’m just going to work as hard as I can. If I lose, at least I know that I’m doing everything in my power to come out and win. And then I go back to the drawing board and just fix it.”
The hard work paid off immediately. In her first tournament since Melbourne, she made the semifinals of the Qatar Total Open last week, her first semifinal since the Olympic tennis event in Rio de Janeiro.
“Right now that’s on my mind is just trying to become the best I can be, and I know that the only way to do that is by working. I don’t mind staying on the tennis court a little while longer.”
Puig’s motivation has never been in doubt but she has been candid about how her incredible run to the gold medal last summer led to a cloud of pressure and negativity that bled into her game.
“It was a great week for me in Rio, and it was really good, but the fact of the matter is I didn’t back it up afterward,” she said. “So right now I’m just trying to get back to feeling comfortable, playing at that level consistently. And right now I’m doing a great job, I think. I’m working really hard. I’m giving my 100% in tennis, and I’m just focused on this right now. This is consuming my whole life.
“I just really want this really bad. So I’m going to do whatever it takes. If that’s training more, if that’s fixing the little things, it doesn’t matter for me. I really love what I do and I really love playing tennis. I’m just going to work really hard to accomplish some more of my dreams.”
In order to plug into her game, Puig has had to unplug from social media. In January, Puig told WTA Insider that the constant negativity she received on social media after her sub-par finish to the season dragged her down. After a three-week break from social media platform during the off-season, Puig took a concerted effort to take a step back.
“My New Year’s resolution is to not get caught up in what other people say about me,” Puig said in January. “I can go lingering into social media and that’s not a good thing. I have gotten a lot of negative comments. I have a lot of people who don’t really like me. I look at it and it’s really bad.
“They don’t know what we’re going through, they don’t know the struggles. They don’t know what goes on behind the scenes and they don’t know how hard we work. If they were put in our position maybe they would appreciate it a little bit more. So this year I’m trying to block the noises outside the court that affect me negatively.”
“It used to make me happy,” Puig added of social media. “All of a sudden it makes me miserable. So why should I continue to do something that makes feel this way. I just don’t really want to be there anymore. I get on it when I need to post something or if I get a notification of something I have to do, then ok. But I don’t really like to get caught up in it too much.
“My main goal this year is to be happy. Even though I won Rio, there were a lot of moments at the end of 2016 when I was very unhappy when I let the results get the best of me and I let the negative voices get the best of me and that brought me down into a little bit of a depression.”
“I’m doing what I love for a living and if I’m not happy, what am I doing?”
Slowly but surely, Puig is finding the answers by focusing on the basics and simplifying her outlook. The gold medal from Rio sits in her home and she still brushes it off every now and then to remind herself that anything is possible on any given week. But for now, it’s more about working and less about dreaming.
“I do have my goals and I have them set, but right now I think the biggest thing is focusing on the process, because if I get too result-oriented, then I lose sight of what’s important,” Puig said. “And right now what’s important is to continue to grow as a tennis player and as a person.
“I feel like maturity is something that I have to work on and that I’m going to continue to work on. I’m in no rush to get anywhere. I proved that to myself that anything great can happen at any time. I just have to work really hard to get there.”
Puig next plays No.15 seed Caroline Garcia in the second round.
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
DUBAI, UAE – No.10 seed and 2011 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships winner Caroline Wozniacki kept up her Middle East momentum on Monday, moving past rising Russian Daria Kasatkina, 6-2, 7-5 to advance into the second round.
“I knew it was going to be a tough match,” Wozniacki said during her on-court interview. “She mixes up the pace a lot and she has great hands and serves well. For me, it was important to play my own game and speed things up. I was pleased with my win.
“It’s much different conditions here,” she continued in her post-match press conference. “The ball is flying. The court is faster than in Doha.
“I didn’t really know how I was going to play to start off with. Generally, I was pleased with my game. Some serves were flying a little bit. I kind of have to adjust that for tomorrow.”
From WAY BEHIND the baseline to the net @CaroWozniacki! ?? #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/VHTbHkYPDc
— WTA (@WTA) February 20, 2017
Kasatkina has been one of the players to watch over the last 12 months, and the Russian has backed up the hype with a pair of wins over Angelique Kerber at the Apia International Sydney and last week at the Qatar Total Open.
“I was watching her play last week during my rain delay and she was still playing a bit. I thought, ‘Gosh, she’s so young!’ I remember when I was 19, I thought I was all grown up, but she definitely has a great career ahead of her.”
.@DKasatkina with the jumping backhand! ? #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/Dw46MDQ3Nd
— WTA (@WTA) February 20, 2017
Coming off a run to the Qatar Total Open final, Wozniacki’s experience and consistency proved too much for the flashy Kasatkina, hitting 17 winners to just 20 unforced errors – compared to 43 from the Russian teenager.
“I feel I can generate a lot of pace on these courts. I get to a lot of balls, too, which I think is frustrating for the other players that I can kind of go from defense to offense and really hurt them with that when they play a short ball.”
The Dane saved her best tennis for the key points, converting five of seven break point opportunities en route to the 90 minute victory.
“I won her back in 2011, and I’ve made many semifinals here, so I’ve had great matches here. It’s a lot of fun for me to be back; I was sorry to miss last year because of injury, but that makes coming back even better!”
Up next for the former World No.1 is Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic, who ousted Turkish wildcard Cagla Buyukakcay in three tough sets on Sunday.
“I saw her name at a tournament somewhere last year at the end of last year,” she said of the Gstaad champion. “I think she played the finals, but that’s basically it.
“I know how she looks like, but I don’t know anything about her game. I will have to just scout some matches and go from there.”
.@CaroWozniacki happy to be back at @DDFTennis! pic.twitter.com/YhEYAbveOt
— WTA (@WTA) February 20, 2017
PARIS, France – Shelby Rogers beat the odds on Sunday, dispatching No.25 seed Irina-Camelia Begu, 6-3, 6-4 at the French Open to reach her first-ever Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Rogers proved she could play on clay earlier this year when she reached the final of the Rio Open, but the unseeded American had never been past the third round at any major tournament in her career. Meanwhile, Begu had enjoyed the most consistent clay court season of anyone in the field, reaching the quarterfinals in Charleston and Madrid, and the semifinals in Rome.
Nevertheless, Rogers has been the Cinderella story of the tournament, taking out No.17 seed Karolina Pliskova, Volvo Car Open finalist Elena Vesnina and No.10 seed Petra Kvitova just to reach the second week. Playing on Court Suzaane Lenglen, she took it to her Romanian opposition, hititng 15 winners and nine fewer unforced errors than Begu, who only hit 12 winners in two sets.
“I think any player has to be ready to do well every week,” she said in her post-match press conference. “We enter the tournaments with expectations, of course, to do well or work on things or, you know, with certain goals in mind.
“If you don’t expect to do well, then maybe you shouldn’t play, you know. I keep going back to trying to treat this as any other tournament, any other tennis match. Obviously the stakes are much higher and the players are much better.
“I’m just trying to stick with my routines and do what I have been doing all year.”
Up a set and 4-2, Rogers briefly saw her lead under threat as the No.25 seed surged back to level the second.
“I won the first set and it was working. Okay, I missed a few, but still going for the right shots kind of thing. So just keep going after it I kept telling myself. It was working in the first, it’s going to work again. So keep doing it.”
Maintaining the course, a fifth break of serve in the tenth game proved decisive for the 23-year-old American, who clinched the biggest win of her career in one hour and 21 minutes.
“I really enjoyed playing on that court. It was a great experience.
“I think that’s a very important point on backing up a big win. I guess I have done that pretty much this whole tournament, starting with the first round, because that was a huge upset for me and kind of set the tone for the last few matches I have played.”
Setting up a quarterfinal encounter with No.4 seed Garbiñe Muguruza, Rogers becomes the first American not named Venus or Serena Williams to make it this far at the French Open since 2005 (Lindsay Davenport) and, at No.108 in the world, the lowest ranked player since 2012, when qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova won her way into the last eight, ranked No.142.
“I keep reminding myself to play one point at a time and that this is just another tennis match. But that’s getting a little bit harder to do as the rounds get farther.
“But I’m very happy with the way I played, and I just hope to continue it.”
“I always dreamed it would happen but I'm not sure I thought it could.” Well @Shelby_Rogers_ , it's happening! #RG16 https://t.co/0eZ2l2LrCu
— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) May 29, 2016
DUBAI, UAE – When not playing at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Caroline Garcia has been able to take in some of the sights the city has to offer. The Green Planet offered plenty for the Frenchwoman to see, and more than a handful of rare insects to touch!
Green Planet is an indoor vertical rainforest in Dubai, home to a collection of creatures Garcia got a chance to meet, and tweet about on social media:
Great experience in the #GreenPlanet ! Really something to do while you are in Dubai ! ????????????#DDFtennis #SelfieChallenge pic.twitter.com/CprksFZsB9
— Caroline Garcia (@CaroGarcia) February 20, 2017
What did she make of some of Green Planet’s creepiest crawlers? Check out the full video right here on wtatennis.com!
“It’s always challenging to play someone for the first time and I didn’t know exactly what to expect,” said the No.4 seed. “It was a slow start from my side but I’m just happy to win my first match here in two sets. The first match is always tough. These are tough conditions and a little windy so the ball is flying everywhere but hopefully, match by match, it will be better.”
.@ARadwanska races into @DDFTennis Round of 16!
Sails past Mertens 6-3, 6-2! pic.twitter.com/wngfR5wYUA
— WTA (@WTA) February 21, 2017
Mertens, who upset Tsvetana Pironkova in the opening round, gained the immediate break in the opening game to gain confidence at the start of the first meeting between the pair. But from then on, it was all Radwanska, the Pole surging back to take the opening set 6-3 before clinching the second set 6-2.
Radwanska, who won the tournament in 2012, will next face teenager Catherine Bellis who backed up her opening round win over Yulia Putintseva with another straight sets win over Laura Siegemund.
“It’s always great to go back to a place where you’ve won before and I’m going to do everything in my power to hold this trophy again,” added Radwanska. “It’s now a meeting with someone I haven’t played before so another change for me. Another young and very talented player so I hope I can win the first game and we’ll see how it goes.”
PARIS, France – No.5 seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic rounded out the French Open doubles quarterfinals, becoming the last team to advance to the final eight with a dominating victory over German duo Anna-Lena Friedsam and Laura Siegemund, 6-3, 6-2.
Mladenovic recovered from Saturday’s heartbreaker against Serena Williams to continue to delight the French crowd alongside partner Garcia by squeezing in a doubles win before the rain halted play for the rest of the day. The Frenchwomen are the No.2 doubles team on the Road To Singapore Leaderboard and have been a regular force on the tour since the start of the year when they teamed up in hopes of an Olympic berth.
Into their first Grand Slam quarterfinal as a team, Garcia and Mladenovic will face the on-form duo of Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson in the next round. The Dutch-Swedish team is fresh off of a title last week at Nürnberg and on Sunday in the third round they dealt Serena Williams and Venus Williams a 7-6(8) 4-6 6-0 upset.
The No.3 seeded team of Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan will have to wait another day to complete their match against No.7 Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina. The Russians vaulted ahead to a commanding 6-1 lead, but the Chan sisters were just beginning to mount their comeback in the second set by opening with a break when the rain forced the match to be postponed at 1-2.
The Chans are the highest seeded team remaining in the doubles draw after the shock straight sets defeat of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza on Sunday at the hands of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova. Nicknamed “SanTina,” the pair sit at No.1 on the Road To Singapore Leaderboard and share the No.1 ranking in doubles, but they couldn’t muster up any magic against the Czechs as their bid for a “SanTina Slam” came to an end.
Turning in to twins @KikiMladenovic @CaroGarcia? ? #RG16 pic.twitter.com/sJRFgUX1wd
— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) May 31, 2016
Elina Svitolina takes on Christina McHale in the third round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.