“The tornado mode turned on on time” – Newspaper Kommersant No. 27 (7472) dated 02/14/2023

On Sunday, in the finals of the Upper Austria Ladies Linz – the tournament of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) category 250 with a prize fund of € 225 thousand – a Russian Anastasia Potapova won the second title in her career. In an interview with a Kommersant correspondent Evgeny Fedyakov The 31st racket of the world spoke about how difficult the Austrian tournament turned out for her, explained how she was able to beat the famous 32-year-old Croatian Petra Martic, and shared some of the nuances of working with her personal coach – the captain of the Russian women’s team Igor Andreev.

– All four victories on the way to the final you won in three games, and in the decisive match you managed two. How did it happen that the meeting with Petra Martic, who is eleven years older than you and has a lot of experience, turned out to be relatively simple?

– You can never judge by one score how difficult a match was. In fact, the ending turned out to be difficult, especially at the beginning. I really wanted to win, I was tense and nervous, but at some point I stopped, sighed and said to myself: “Nastya, don’t think about the score, about the title! Just do what you have to do right and you’ll be fine.” After that, I began to concentrate not on the score, but on myself, and this helped a lot. In the second set it might seem that I do not show emotions, I walk with my head down, but this did not indicate fatigue. I just didn’t want to spread myself, encouraging myself, and show unnecessary emotions. As a result, I caught a state in which I managed to win one point after another. The tornado mode turned on just in time. I’m glad I forced myself to find the right attitude!

– Were you surprised that in the final you had to play with Petra Martic, and not with the seventh racket of the world Greek Maria Sakkari, who, being considered the clear favorite of the tournament, lost to the Croatian in the semifinals?

– Absolutely not. Martic is a very strong tennis player. In addition, during the tournament you see how your opponents are warming up and recovering, and for certain reasons I thought that in the final, it is quite possible that I will have to play with Petra. She even said this on Saturday after winning the semi-finals (over Czech Marketa Vondrousova.— “b”) to his coach Igor Andreev.

– Remind me how much you train together?

– We have been working with Igor for almost two years and, I hope, we will continue. I think that we have a good tandem, we have an understanding of where to move on and what exactly needs to be done for this. Igor played himself (Andreev was the 19th racket of the world and won three tournaments of the Association of Tennis Professionals.— “b”). While he surpasses me both in the highest place in the ranking and in the results, he has something to say to me. It’s important for me.

– What exactly did Andreev change in your game?

“He gave me a lot. But first of all, I will note the psychological support, which helps to believe in oneself. Igor constantly makes me at least a little raise my level. He kind of plays with my mind – he demands a little more, even if I seem to be doing well. And I try to justify his expectations.

— You often train in the UAE. Why did you choose two European tournaments in the first half of February – in Lyon and Linz, and not play in Abu Dhabi?

– I don’t train constantly in the Emirates. Just before the start of this season, I spent a training camp there. And the reason for my current choice was simple – in Abu Dhabi I didn’t want to play qualification, because I didn’t get into the main draw directly. In addition, like many other Russian tennis players, I often trained under the roof as a child. I’m used to playing in the halls, and if the opportunity arises, I try to use it.

– And why did you play with protective tapes on your left knee in Linz?

– In Lyon, I received a small ankle injury. The load switched to other muscle groups, because of this, the knee began to hurt. There seems to be nothing serious, but some physiotherapists suggested that I withdraw from the tournament in Linz. But I’m not used to giving up without a fight. I decided to play to the end, even on painkillers, and it was worth it. Now, before the next tournament in Dubai, I will have a week to recover.

– For the first time you have come close to the top thirty of the world ranking. Perhaps in the plans for a place in the top twenty?

– I do not set myself any such plans regarding the rating. Now the most important thing for me is to be healthy, do without injuries and improve myself every day. This will lead me to all my goals.

– In between tournaments, you, as before, mainly train in Khimki at the Alexander Ostrovsky Academy?

— Alexander plays a huge role in my team. He’s my agent, deals with contracts. But now I don’t have the opportunity to constantly return home to Moscow between tournaments due to complicated logistics. Therefore, for now I train where it works out in this or that situation, although I hope that soon I will have a permanent base.