Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Lucie Hradecka continue their good form in women’s doubles and are through to R3 with a comfortable win against the pair from Slovenia Kaja Juvan and Tamara Zidansek 6-3 6-4.
Speaking after the match, Sania shares her thoughts on the match and the partnership with Lucie. Excerpts below:
Q) How has this relationship with Lucie developed and how did the partnership come about ?
I think that for any partnership to work in any field of life, you need to have some chemistry either professional or personal or both and obviously it’s both for us. We’ve known each other for a long time, played against each other in some big moments and big matches, a lot of times she beat me in one final, I beat her in one but I think more than anything, it comes out of respect for each other. The trust in each other’s game and in tight moments help each other come out of it. She’s a really nice girl. I actually didn’t know her well before we started playing even though I’ve known her for many years and we’re almost the same age. It’s really nice to get to know her and her team. The best part about her is that she takes wins and losses in the right spirit. I think that when we’re on the court, we both believe that we can win every match that we’re playing as long as we play our best. We kind of match a lot because we don’t really take wins or losses to heart.
It’s actually only our six tournaments together. The funny part is that the partnership came together. It was by accident as I was supposed to play Dubai and Doha with Shelby Rogers but she tested positive before flying to Dubai. Lucie had asked me to play but I told her that I had entered with Shelby but after that, I messaged Lucie and asked if she wanted to play and she agreed. That’s how we came together.
Q) Thoughts on today’s match ?
I think we did everything better than we did in the first match. We were hitting the middle and attacking the player at the net and we were trying to take the crosscourt out of the equation. We were doing all that better and obviously we know both of them are quality singles players so we knew we have to hit the ball well from the back. When we hit the balls big from the back of the court, it doesn’t really matter who’s on the other side. We just have to back ourselves and back our shots.
Q) Is there any pressure or urgency, given that Wimbledon will not have any points, to try and make points here ?
I don’t because I don’t really have to defend them next year. I’m not planning to unless something drastically changes (shares a laugh). I have never seen tennis from a points point of view. Every time you ask me what my goal is or my ranking goal but it’s never really a goal for me, every time I step on the court I try to win and everything else takes care of itself. We’re playing well and we’re playing solid, we just have to keep building.
Q) Thoughts on the next match against Coco Gauff/Jessica Pegula ?
They’re obviously a very good team. I’ve never played against Coco. We played against Pegula in the QFs at Charleston and she is very good. We have to play our best as there is no other alternative.
Q) What about the season ender ? Is that a target ? Did it come into the picture ?
It’ll be great if we make it considering that we have played only six tournaments together. It was too bad that we were not able to play Indian Wells and Miami together. They were two big ones with big points. It would be great to make it and if I do end up stopping at the end of the year, it would obviously be great to go there.
Photos from today’s match:
