22-yr old Shrivalli Bhamidipaty caused a huge upset at the WTA 125 L&T Mumbai Open by defeating World No. 93 Nao Hibino in Round 1 by a scoreline of 2-6 6-1 7-6 to record her maiden top-100 win.
Shrivalli spoke to the media in a press conference. Excerpts from the interview below.
In the 3rd set, you were up a break at 3-2 and she took a medical timeout. When she came, she was immediately able to break back. How did that disrupt your momentum?
I don’t think it disturbed my momentum. I just focused on doing what I was doing until then. I just kept on doing the same thing. Yes, a few errors did creep in. But I just told myself to focus harder and just keep playing what you believe in. But still, I think that’s what happened. And in the end, I pulled it off.
She’s one of the good players on the tour. She’s highly ranked. As I walked up to the court, I just told myself that I’m going to give my best on the court. And the first set was not so up to the mark. But then after the first set, I just told myself that I’m going to keep fighting harder. That’s what I’ve been doing from the past matches. So I just kept believing in myself. I just wanted to make her play longer and longer, make her work for every point. Eventually, I just started getting better and better at every point.
How much was heat a factor?
Yes, the heat is a factor where I think Indians handle it much better because we are much more used to it. I come from Hyderabad, where we have pleasant weather throughout the year. It’s summer every season.
So I think I handled it much better than her.
Did you sense in the second set where it started to shift in your favour – was it a physical factor?
I’m not quite sure about that because I was just focusing on my tennis. I just wanted to make her play better. I think the way I started the second set, it put a little pressure on her. Then a few errors made her hesitate a little more and then that’s when I could play my tennis even more freely. I could get a good hang of the match. In the end, I could close the set pretty easily.
With Sahaja pulling off that upset against Kayla Day. Did that make any difference to your confidence going on court?
Yes, absolutely. Any Indian performing is a remarkable achievement. She’s been doing amazing on tour. I think she made us all believe even more after she beat the 1st seed. I was confident that I’m going to show amazing tennis today but then after seeing that result, I was even more confident that I could do much, much better.
Sahaja is doing an amazing job and I wish her all the best.
I read somewhere that you were inspired by Maria Sharapova when you were a youngster. Now that she’s retired, who are your current favourite players to watch from the current lot?
On the men’s side, I really like Novak Djokovic. His resilience on court is really amazing. The way he fights over every point, he is such a role model to all of us.
In the women’s, every time you have a new Grand Slam champion. There are quite a few people who are really good. Iga is good and Rybakina is good. I can’t
pinpoint and say who I like.
How pleased were you with your performance in the third set, where it could have gone either way, but you sort of toughed it out?
I’m really proud of the way I handled myself because at the end all it mattered was who held their nerves better. I did a much better job than earlier and that’s why I was able to stay longer in points than earlier and not rush for points. So I’m really proud of the way I did.
Having a tournament like this in India, how does that kind of just help the local players?
Off-late we’ve been having a lot of tournaments in India, a lot of huge tournaments where really high -ranked players are playing the tournaments. It’s been a big boost to all of us because we’re competing at a higher level. Winning and losing is the part of the game but every match as we keep progressing we’re learning something out of it and I think all of us are doing a great job because we’re getting an experience on a whole new level.
Could you share some details about your team?
I’m currently training with two coaches – Mr. Vishaal Uppal and Mr. Anand Kumar. So my base is Hyderabad but I keep shuttling to Delhi also. My trainer is Mr. Shiva and Mr. Naidu.
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