"You've Got To Put Things In Perspective" Johanna Konta On How She Handles Pressure
Johanna Konta discusses how she handles the pressure of big moments in her Australian Open press conference.
Johanna Konta discusses how she handles the pressure of big moments in her Australian Open press conference.
Serena Williams discusses Venus Williams’ success and their longevity in tennis in a press conference at the Australian Open.
LONDON, Great Britain – Not bad for your Grand Slam debut. At 24-years-old, No.225 Julia Boserup qualified for her first major at Wimbledon and is into the third round after beating Tatjana Maria and advancing after Belinda Bencic retired in the second round. It’s been a heady week and a half for the American, who has already had to change and extend her accommodations multiple times as she prolongs her unexpected stay in London.
And she’s doing it all while trying to balance the best week of her career – and an Excel spreadsheet or two.
“I go to Penn State Online and I graduate in December,” Boserup said. “I’m studying psychology with a minor in finance. I have homework due in two days.
“I’m taking an accounting class and I have spreadsheets due on Sunday. I have a day off tomorrow. I already told my coach that I’m going to be sitting down and working on school. Me and Excel.”
The California native shares dual citizenship with Denmark – much to the delight of Danish reporters at Wimbledon who are still smarting from Caroline Wozniacki’s early exit. Her parents are Danish and she has family in Copenhagen, which operates as a convenient training base for her when she’s in Europe.
“My dad emigrated to the US when he was eight years old because his dad wanted the American dream, so he moved to the US,” Boserup said. “My mom was on vacation in California when she was 25 and she met my dad and they got married and she moved to California.
“But my older sister went to business school and met the only Danish guy there and married him and moved there. We’re all like, ‘Wrong direction!'”
Boserup started playing tennis when she was six years old and her first coach was the legendary Robert Lansdorp, who also taught the likes of Lindsay Davenport and Maria Sharapova how to hit their big, powerful shots. You see the same style of game from Boserup, who says grass is her favorite surface. At 13 years old she moved to Florida to work with the USTA and moved back to California when she turned 18. A year after winning the Orange Bowl in 2008 – she beat Christina McHale in the final – she opted to turn pro.
But injuries derailed her development. In 2012 she suffered stress fractures in both her feet and nursed a back injury on and off for two years. She has never been ranked higher than No.174. So why did it take so long for her to make the main draw of a Slam?
“It’s a good question and it’s a question I ask myself sometimes,” she said. “I think I’ve put a lot of work into it and sometimes you just have to be patient. I was injured a lot and it’s been a lot of stops and starts. In the big moments it has served me well. Going through those challenges has helped me.”
So could this be the spark that gets her on a path towards the Top 100? This is where Boserup’s maturity is most evident.
“It’s great that I’m in the third round of a Grand Slam, but for me what I’m most excited about is developing my tennis,” she said. “I’ve worked with my coach for three-four months now and everyday we try and get better at little things. That’s really made me get more excited to play. After this I’m still going to play a $50k. One week doesn’t change everything.”
Boserup plays Elena Vesnina in the third round on Saturday.
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
World No.2 Serena Williams faced surprise semifinalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni at the Australian Open.
Venus Williams perfectly summed up what makes sports so special in a powerful answer at her Australian Open press conference.
LONDON, England – Venus Williams moved one step closer to a sixth Wimbledon crown after a straight set win over Yaroslava Shvedova in Tuesday’s quarterfinals.
Playing her 12th quarterfinal at the All England Club, Williams’ experience came to the fore as she withstood some early difficulty to run out an ultimately comfortable, 7-6(5), 6-2 winner.
“What a tough day on court! The first set I had so many opportunities but she played so well,” Williams said. “When you walk to the net as the winner that’s the goal.
“To play so well when it’s your first quarterfinal is a credit to her. I love playing the game, always have. And when you’re winning matches it’s so much sweeter. Wins and losses lead to these moments. Everyone has to take the losses. Unless you’re Serena Williams!”
At 36, Williams is the oldest player to make it this far at a major since Martina Navratilova finished runner-up at Wimbledon in 1994.
“I love playing the game,” Williams said in her post-match interview with the BBC. “When you’re winning matches it makes it that much sweeter.”
Shvedova had her chances, most notably in the first set tie-break which she led 5-2, but found herself faced with an opponent who refused to wilt. Williams pinched the set when Shvedova fired long and tightened her grip of the contest thereafter, a run of four straight games plotting a path into the last four.
“What a tough day on the court,” Williams added. “The tie-breaker, it felt like she would win. I felt like my opponent was on fire. I felt like the crowd enjoyed all the great points. She got them involved in the last game. We gave them good tennis today.”
Remarkably, it is Williams’ first major semifinal since the 2010 US Open. There she will face No.4 Angelique Kerber, who saw off Simona Halep, 7-5, 7-6(2).
“The road was six years. They go by fast thankfully. But I’ve been blessed, been really blessed, to have an opportunity to be here, have had an opportunity in the past to do this. I don’t have any regrets about anything that’s taken place in between. It’s been a journey, but it’s made me stronger,” Williams said.
Williams’ evergreen showing also raises the tantalizing prospect of another showdown with sister Serena – who won her quarterfinal with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-4, 6-4, over on Centre Court – in south-west London. The siblings have met six times at Wimbledon – more than at any other tournament – although Williams has no intention of looking beyond Kerber.
“We don’t really talk about [the final] because we are focused on the next match. Even though we both won today, our opponents played really well. We actually have to get out there and play well to win. So it’s very focused.
“We get out there and we’re focused on that moment because we have to be. So the talk about what could happen is not as important as what’s happening in that round.”
My respect for @Venuseswilliams just keeps growing ! So happy to see her in the semi-finals again. ???
— Kim Clijsters (@Clijsterskim) July 5, 2016
An interview with Dominika Cibulkova before her opening round match at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Top seed Simona Halep made a decisive debut at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, dispatching Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh in straight sets.
CoCo Vandeweghe came to the Australian Open unseeded and under the radar, but all of that changed after a fortnight in Melbourne.
“I think I don’t shy away from a challenge necessarily,” she said after reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal. “I never have. Growing up, I’ve always just been wanting to prove people wrong in a lot of different regards.”
The 25-year-old American started the 2017 season with the goals of reaching a major semifinal and a quarterfinal at a major besides Wimbledon, where she reached the last eight in 2015. By the end of the tournament, she’d achieved all that and more, including a Top 20 debut after knocking out defending champion Angelique Kerber and French Open winner Garbiñe Muguruza in back-to-back straight set matches.
“I’m very happy with starting the year this way, putting validation to the hard work that I’ve put in in the off-season, the sacrifices, all the good stuff like that.
“But, you know, at the same time I’m not satisfied. Like I said, I mean, there’s a disappointment factor because I’m not satisfied. I think that’s a good thing.”
Looking to build on her major breakthrough, Vandeweghe is your Breakthrough Player of the Month!
Final Results for January’s WTA Breakthrough Performance Of The Month
1. CoCo Vandeweghe (50%)
2. Elise Mertens (28%)
3. Katerina Siniakova (16%)
4. Lauren Davis (6%)
2016 Breakthrough Performance Of The Month Winners
January: Zhang Shuai
February: Jelena Ostapenko
March: Nicole Gibbs
April: Cagla Buyukakcay
May: Kiki Bertens
June: Elena Vesnina
July: Kristina Kucova
August: Karolina Pliskova
September: Naomi Osaka
October: Peng Shuai
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
No.2 seed Dominika Cibulkova played impeccable defense to dispatch No.5 seed Elena Vesnina and reach the semifinals of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.