Post-match interviews with Melanie Oudin and Michelle Larcher de Brito

 

Post match Interview with Melanie Oudin

-Congrats for your win today! How does it feel to be back on grass, where you have done so well in the past?

It’s good, I mean, I love the grass. Obviously I’ve done well in past but every year it is tough…this is the first tournament of the year on it and I have never done well here actually. I had some tough rounds here in the past, plus I played Heather (Watson) last year in the first round.

I think I’m really solid so far, I’m serving really well and returning well, I mean that’s the most important thing on the grass. I’m so far so good, I mean, I’m really happy with how I played my past two matches, so hopefully I can get some momentum and be able to play the same again tomorrow.

- Obviously it is not easy for you after the bad injury during the off season. How are you feeling right now?

Good, I mean, it was a long time out so I just need to play a lot of matches. I mean, this is the best consistent I have played, these past two matches, like I just need the match to play, you know, I mean for being out for so long, I mean, everyone is playing the whole year so I’m pretty fresh and I’m definitely looking forward to playing a lot of matches in this grass season.

-What is next on your schedule now?

Birmingham and then Wimbledon in the qualies, so, you never know, I mean if you win this tournament or you do well on the grass, like I know Wimbledon has WCs to give away. So yeah, I mean, it would be awesome if I could do well enough to get one maybe, but if not playing Wimbledon qualies is fine, like I said, I just need the matches.

-What about the goals for the rest of the season?

Right now I just need to be patient with myself and, you know, getting into tournaments, like really get my focus back, because I played so up and down lately, but, yeah I mean, my goal is to get back in top100 again, you know, I want to try by the US Open to be top100 again.

 

-Are you optimistic about a WC for the home slam?

I don’t know, last year I didn’t get one, so I’m not sure, I mean, I think honestly for me right now it’s better to play qualies, like I need to earn my way again and just get those matches, you know, and might be ready for those top players in the main draw.

Post match Interview with Michelle Larcher de Brito

-Congratulations for such a big fight today, how are you feeling?

So far so good. I’ve had two tough matches and I am just glad I’ve past two rounds and, you know, it gets better every day and I start feeling more comfortable on the grass.

- You have done well on this surface in the past, do you like it a lot?

Yeah, it’s nice and fast, so it really suits my game, you know, I play very flat and it helps me, playing on the grass. It is little tricky obviously cause you are kinda nervous about falling and getting injured. I once fell and I was out for three months, so it’s a little scary to play but it’s very nice surface and I think it suits my game.

-After breaking through so young, like you did, how hard it is to confirm your status and stay on the top of the game?

I don’t know, it’s like, you come out and you are the underdog, nobody knows you and it’s kinda easy, you know, to win few matches because nobody really knows you at first, but once people get to know you, they study your game, they get to know you better so then obviously players come up more prepared knowing your weaknesses.

But you know, it’s ok, I mean, it’s part of tennis, a lot of people have ups and downs, and you know, I’m just trying to keep my best and stay happy . I’ve just got to stay positive and keep going and stay happy no matter what happens.

- The match was very tough, you’ve been up 5-2, Coco (Vandeweghe) seemed out of the match, but on every match point she came up with stunning winners. How hard is it to stay focused when such things happen?

I’ve just tried to stay as calm as possible, it was really hard at one stage. You know, even though you’re winning, you know, it’s tough to close it out, it’s always the hardest part of the match, the end, you know.

I’ve got really nervous but I’ve just tried to stay as calm as possible and keep fighting. And it was very nerve wracking but, you know, I’ve just wanted things start working, you know, tried to stay calmer. Sometimes you let out the frustration a little bit but, you know, I’m glad, I’m very glad… you know, I’m not happy that happened but sometimes I’m glad that such things happen because I’m teaching myself to remain calm, I don’t need to freak out ‘cause, you know, I’m in the winning end, so stay calm and walk through.

-What are your goals for this season on grass then?

I don’t know, you know, just win as many matches as possible, I was here trying to get as many points as possible before Wimbledon, also because I have so many points to defend there. So, you know, I’m just trying to get confident on the grass and feel better about my game and just do my best.

-What about the rest of the season?           

You never know what is gonna happen, I’m just trying to work on my game and trying to do my best,. You know, I’d love to… I’m really close to be in the top 100 so it would be nice to get back there but, you know, I’m just trying to work on everything and just, you know, do my best.

There’s nothing else you can do, you know, tennis is such a tricky game, so you have to just get, you know, remain as confident as possible and get out all you can do and that is it all.

The ITF Nottingham experience: Day 2

My second day at ITF Nottingham was absolutely great: a lot of action, some nice interviews and a bit of drama.

If by any chance you can read Italian or trust google translate for the job, you might find a more serious and longer piece on the day here.

Moore vs the rain

To summarise the day quickly, because it is well past midnight and tomorrow I have another long day to cover, the day was smashing. It started with the weather being a bit dodgy, but it definitely improved later on.

As for me it started with a nice chat-interview with Christina McHale, which will be out soon –I’ll keep you updated with that-, who told me that she had finally started hitting again and despite the pain, she is happy and confident for the upcoming weeks.

I then watched Madison Keys hitting with Lauren Davis and it was nice, though Keys was not very centred, but her forehand was absolutely stunning at times. Davis is also nice to watch as her shots seems to be always landing in the last 20cm of the court.

Cox has some great game for grass!

That was on some hardcourts, funnily enough, on the courts next to them, British Tara More was trying to dry the concrete with not much success, so that after some nice 15 minutes of work she gave up.

From actual tennis matches, I watched the first set between Daniel Evans and Daniel Cox. Though Evans won in two 7-5 sets, I was not very impressed by his game, not as much as Cox’s at least.

Cox could be the unknown underdog to make a (small) surprise if he is given a WC in one of the next grass events, including Wimbledon. Nice solid from the back, good serve and obviously very used to the surface.

Who really needs a lot more training on grass is Nick Kyrgios, who lost to Australian qualifier John-Patrick Smith in straights, looking completely unable to move nor adjust to the low bounces.

Johnson vs the net

Thumbs up for Steve Johnson instead. He won his opening match in two comfortable sets against crowd favourite James Ward.

The American has a massive serve, good forehand and his backhand slice works perfectly on grass, his movements need some work on, as he kept slipping and once even crashed into and almost over the net trying to get to a dropshot.

On the women’s tournament I will give just a few flashes for each of the match I followed.

Kristyna Pliskova is clearly finding wins again on grass because it is the only surface where she does not have to move much, nor use her backhand a lot. She generally needs to hit her first serve in and she can definitely do that.

Dunne and her Vika-vibe

Her opponent, the young Katy Dunne was a nice surprise: despite looking 15, she actually is 19. She reminds me of a young Azarenka, because of her look, her game and her on-court tantrums. 

Her biggest problem is that she is some 20cm shorter and way thinner, she has a nice game and could develop in the future.

Both Melanie Oudin and Sharon Fichman impressed me in a positive way: they both won their matches easily against good grass-courters and they both played some very inspiring tennis.

Oudin was radiant as we talked after her match. After the physical problems she is truly enthusiastic of winning matches again, playing some nice too.

“I think I’ve been really solid so far,” she said: “I’m serving really well and returning well, I mean that’s the most important thing on the grass. I’m so far so good, I mean, I’m really happy with how I played my past matches so hopefully I will be able to play like this again tomorrow.”

Fichman, who is the highest seed left, played very well as well and it looked very confident out there in dealing with the powerful shots of Vesna Dolonc.

The Canadian closed in two showing how her flat strokes can do a lot of damage on grass, despite their speed may not be as high.

Fichman vs  Dolonc

The lowest quality, but one of the greatest intensity was reached by the match between Irina Falconi and Eleni Daniilidou. The American easily got the first set for 6-0, then she suffered the return of the Greek and finally disappeared mentally especially. 0-6 6-4 6-0 the final score for the former champion.

The last match of the day for me was an epic three set battle between Coco Vandeweghe and Michelle Larcher de Brito.

I did not write that, but Kontaveit looks like young Masha!

It was epic in many senses, but ultimately for the horrible and yet entertaining attitude showed by the New Yorker in the third set, when things were going in favor of the Portuguese.

Let’s make it clear, I like Vandeweghe and I do believe that her strokes are genuinely among the most beautiful of the WTA tour in terms of smoothness and aesthetics. But in the third set, she would have got a good use of a cold shower or alike.

She played very erratic and brainless points just for the sake of implementing her negative aura, just to save several match points with sensational winners.

very nice to see Mel back!

She came back from 5-2 down despite throwing tantrums including a smashed chair, a flying visor and a out-of-the-blue second serve ace probably faster than any other serve of her match, just after she had netted the slowest of her second serves.

As said above, she came back to 5-5, but then surrendered again, this time for good, especially in the last service game, where she hit two double faults and basically refused to chase the other two returns.

Massive credits to Larcher de Brito though, she was the only one believing she could turn the match around after the first set and so she did, playing a very solid and yet aggressive game.

Larcher de Brito

After the match she said: “I’ve just tried to stay as calm as possible, it was really hard at some stages. You know, even though you’re winning, it’s tough to close it out, it’s always the hardest part of the match, the end, you know.

“I’ve got really nervous,but I’ve just tried to stay as calm as possible and keep fighting. And it was very nerve wracking but, you know, I’ve just wanted and tried to stay calmer.”

Tomorrow it will be a big day with both the quarters and the semis being played. Stay tuned!

A nice tantrum by Coco