During the first day of main draw action in Stuttgart, one of the headlines were the pre-event press conferences with the top players ahead of their kick-off of the European clay campaign. TennisRatio.com had a chance to ask questions for Jessica Pegula and Mirra Andreeva during their chats with media.
Jessica Pegula answered for my question about her goals and hopes moving into this European campaign this year, having in mind her victorious run in Charleston:
"Yeah, I mean, I know the green clay is a little bit different with the red clay. At the same time I feel like here, Charleston plays pretty fast, and here is going to play fairly fast. Madrid with the altitude always plays kind of quick. Maybe Rome not as much. I feel like having a good start to the clay season was important. Getting some confidence on a different surface right away is always nice, feeling like I didn't need a week or two to kind of adjust does a lot for my confidence. Yeah, I mean, I didn't get to play this swing last year. I'm coming in I think excited, fresh. Don't have anything to defend. I think that's always a good feeling, when there's not a lot of pressure to defend points. Yeah, I think just make the most of it, use the confidence that I've gained from the previous week in Charleston, all the things I've been working on going into the clay season, adding certain things to my game, seeing how it works out. Excited to be here. I always play well in Madrid, as well. I don't know, I feel good. I'm just hoping I can do well and win some good matches and compete really hard."
Out of other media's questions to the world's number three, the most interesting one was about how Pegula deals with the demands of the busy schedule, which makes her playing on top level almost week-in, week-out. The American happily speaks about feeling nothing but well with this sort of issue:
"This time last year I missed this swing coming into the red clay. I didn't miss Miami and Charleston. I felt like I just was a little burnt out last year. I feel like this year I feel so much more fresh, I feel so much more ready to play and to travel and stuff like that. I think that's really important. If I'm feeling really good, I like to take advantage of it. I think from last year I learned just that I was a little burnt out and I didn't need to play as much. I didn't as much last year. But this year I'm like, Oh, I feel good, I feel ready to go, so I might as well take advantage of that. Luckily it's been paying off with lots of matches. I think that's just what happens when you're doing well, you're. That's always a good problem to have."
Mirra Andreeva has also found a few minutes for the media on Monday. The youngster will not feature the most exciting match-up of first round against Marta Kostyuk, as her opponent withdrew from the tournament due to injury sustained during last weekend's BJKC qualies. The storyline of first Andreeva's match will be still interesting, as she faces her sister Erika Andreeva, who got the lucky loser place.
I have the question about the factors, which in Andreeva's perspective, played the biggest role of her rapid development since the time of breakthrough into WTA field two years ago, to the point right now, when she is one of the best players in the world.
"I think that because when I play the match, when I play the tournament, I just try to go on court and do enjoy every moment, to kind of have fun, but at the same time take it seriously. I think that lately I found that balance to not really be depressed or to worry too much on the court, but also sometimes take it easy and let it go. I think me finding that balance helped me a lot these couple of months."
