MELBOURNE, Australia – Alizé Cornet started her 2016 season with a flourish last week, winning the Hobart International for her first title since 2014. The No.43 lost just one set all week and ran away with the title in Saturday’s final, beating a resurgent Eugenie Bouchard 6-1, 6-2 for her fifth career title. So excited was the already excitable Frenchwoman, she went so far as to thank her dog Andy – a 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier named after Andy Roddick – in her victory speech. The emotions were plain to see. This meant a lot.
Cornet describes her 2015 season as decidedly average. She began the season at No.20, having scored three wins over Serena Williams in 2014, but struggled in the latter half of the year to finish at No.43, her lowest ranking since 2012. After some soul-searching, she decided a change was in order. She brought on a new coach in Benjamin Ebrahimzadeh, former coach to Angelique Kerber, and changed her training base to Nice. With a new team and a renewed sense of urgency, she trained hard over the off-season. But she never expected the pay-off to come so quickly.
WTA Insider sat down with Cornet at Melbourne Park, where she had just arrived after a quick flight from Hobart the night before. She describes her lowest moment of last year, her perilous relationship to confidence, and how a conversation with Patrick Mouratoglou put her career back on track.
WTA Insider: What does this title mean for you?
Cornet: It means a lot actually. It’s the reward for all the hard work I did during the last couple of months during the pre-season preparation. So I’m really really happy and proud that it’s already working out for me. It’s paying off and it feels amazing.
I had such a great week there. I was playing good tennis, good attitude on the court, great fighting spirit as always. It’s amazing when you have the trophy and you don’t lose a match in the week.
WTA Insider: You had such a great season in 2014. Is it fair to say that 2015 was average for you?
Cornet: The first part of the season was not so bad. Roland Garros I made the fourth round. The second part of the season was just a disaster. I was motivated but I was a little bit sad on the court. I was practicing really hard and I didn’t have any results. I was getting really tired of tennis.
But a career is very long and there are a lot of up and downs. You have to try to hang on and try to stick to your dreams and to your passion for the game. That’s what I did. I restructured myself in the winter. I found a new academy with new coaches and new staff with me. Now I feel like a totally new player. Now I want to forget 2015 and learn what I can from that year but now I really want to show the improvements that I made during this off-season.
WTA Insider: Sometimes the tour can get stale. Same team, same schedule, same cities. Sometimes players make a change just to keep things fresh. Is that what happened here?
Cornet: The thing is it has to be a good change. If you change to change it doesn’t work either. Last year I stopped with my coach Biljana Veselinovic right after Wimbledon. Then I finished the season alone. I was totally alone for the last five months. It was good but really tough at the same time. I really needed someone at that point but I couldn’t find a good person so I preferred to be alone.
So then talking to Patrick Mouratoglou I decided to go back to the south of France and practice in his new academy in Nice. He asked me if I wanted to work with one of his coaches there, Benjamin Ebrahimzadeh. I said of yeah why not, I trust you, I’m gonna try. It clicked right away with this coach. I also had a new physical coach.
It was just the right change at the right moment. I didn’t rush and I was waiting for the good person to take care of my tennis. I think I found it.
Now I’m traveling with a hitting partner because my coach is not traveling, he’s staying at home at the academy. I have this structure that I was dreaming about. So that’s why I feel good on the court and totally ready for new challenges this year.
WTA Insider: What was your focus during the off-season?
Cornet: Physically I have a good base. It’s one of my strengths. We just had to gain 2-5% to be more efficient on court.
I think the big work was on the tennis side. I spent a lot of time on the tennis court. Benny my coach was not changing things but trying to improve things by doing lots of repetition. In the beginning it was tough because the rhythm was crazy. I was coming back home at night and I was totally dead. I couldn’t even cook for myself I could only lie on the couch. But it was worth it because now that I see the results I’m just very happy.
WTA Insider: Did you think you lost your tennis in 2015?
Cornet: You can lose your tennis. You don’t know exactly what to do on the court, how to move, how to play the right shots in the right moments.
The scary thing is you can lose it so fast. It takes months to have confidence and it can take days to lose it. This is really tricky. That’s why you have to keep working all the time and keep working the good way with the good person. That’s very important. Because when you start losing your way it’s very tough to find it again. I guess I lost it for a while.
WTA Insider: What was your worst moment last year?
Cornet: The US Open. It’s been maybe three years since I lost in the first round of a Slam. I was supposed to win this one. I was so much ahead in the score and then I got confused once more and I ended up losing. This was really painful. From this moment I just told myself you really have to do something with your career because you’re just losing it. That’s when I talked to Patrick and really tried to restructure myself.
WTA Insider: So you worked really hard in the off-season and felt like a new player. When you landed in Hobart last week, did you believe you could win the title?
Cornet: I was playing some really good tennis in Brisbane. I felt that I was close to something really good but I didn’t think it would happen so fast.
Some players say when they arrive at the tournament that I’m going to win the tournament. I always keep it in the back of my mind but I never convinced I’m going to win it. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I have a lack of confidence but it’s like this. It’s always unexpected when I win a title because it’s amazing. We play maybe 30 weeks during the year and there’s not many weeks when you end the week without losing a match. Now I arrive for the Australian Open in the best condition, in the perfect mood, and some victories behind me, so it’s great.
WTA Insider: There’s been some talk about the dangers of playing a tournament the week before a Slam. Do you think it can be a curse?
Cornet: I arrived Saturday night. It’s a good thing I’m playing on Tuesday. Actually I hurt myself a little bit in the final. So it can be a good thing or a bad thing. For sure, physically you lose a little bit energy. But you win so much confidence. So you just have to follow your instincts. I felt like I needed some matches before the Australian Open that’s what I did and I don’t regret anything.
WTA Insider: You played so well in the final and the scoreline was quite easy. At what point did you allow yourself to think you were going to win the title?
Cornet: I try to play point after point. I try not to think about the future. This is the best way to lose yourself during a match.
I saw on the court that I was playing better than her. I was handling the wind much better. She was getting frustrated but I really needed to stay in the match because I knew she wouldn’t give it to me. She’s a great champion, she’s a very good tennis player. So I really tried to stay focused and not think about the victory that was coming closer and closer. Then you have all the relief on the match point.
WTA Insider: During the trophy ceremony you thanked your dog. What was that about?
Cornet: They are totally part of the family. When I am so far away from my family for so long I miss them so much and my dog is just part of it. I could just thank my mother, my father, my boyfriend and not mention my dog. I couldn’t do it! I was picturing my whole family in front of the TV with my dog and it just came.
