Aryna Sabalenka va-t-elle réussir à rayonner à Roland-Garros ? Elle jouera contre Kamilla Rakhimova au premier tour. Amanda Anisimova, Clara Tauson ou Leylah Fernandez pourraient aussi être sur le chemin de la tête de série numéro 1 vers les quarts de finale où un potentiel match face à Qinwen Zheng l’attend. Demi-finaliste en 2023 et quart de finaliste en 2024, la native de Minsk rêve de faire mieux et d'enfin soulever le trophée. Elle vise aussi un premier sacre du Grand Chelem sur une surface autre que le dur.
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00:00I'm super happy to be back. I love this tournament. It's super beautiful and I'm just super excited to start my first match here.
00:30Do you feel stronger than ever on clay?
00:48Yeah, definitely. I think throughout the years I improved a lot and today I fail physically, mentally and I think my game is pretty much ready to play on clay.
01:03So, yeah, I definitely feel stronger than ever.
01:07Hi, Irina. It's your second straight slam that you've arrived as the top seed. Can you compare the feeling in Paris, somewhere you haven't won before, to January where you were a two-time defending champion?
01:21Can you explain the difference between the two there?
01:25I mean, honestly, preparation-wise there's no difference. Mentally, like in my head, there is no difference.
01:35Honestly, it doesn't matter your ranking when you arrive on the big tournaments. As we see in the past, there is so many crazy upsets happening.
01:45So, ranking doesn't really matter anymore and I'm just trying to focus on my game and nowadays I know that I can do well on clay.
01:54So, arriving here I feel really strong and super excited and hopefully there's going to be the year when I'll be really proud of myself on the clay court.
02:04Irina, you've had some near misses here and last year, obviously, you're very unlucky with, you know, the eating stuff.
02:10Does that make you almost more determined, to put it right, or are those things in your mind when you come back here?
02:16Well, I'm definitely not going to go for the same meal I had before that quarter-finals match. The lesson is learned.
02:24And we, since then, we did a couple of adjustments on my foot and, yeah, just make sure that it's never going to happen again.
02:34And it's not a half of, like, feedback, you know, not the feedback, it's not like I have this memory from the last year.
02:43But, yeah, I'm trying to do everything as right as possible, make sure that nothing is going to happen.
02:50And, of course, I'm super motivated because I felt like last year I was really ready to be in the last stages of the tournament.
02:59But, yeah, my body didn't really feel the same.
03:03So, yeah, this year I'm motivated more than I was last year.
03:10More questions?
03:15Hi, Irina. I just wanted to ask you about being world number one.
03:19Obviously, you've been there for quite a long time now.
03:21You're quite, like, established and you seem very comfortable as world number one.
03:25Like, a lot of past players maybe have talked about it actually being harder to stay there than to get there.
03:32You have this sensation of being chased.
03:35Like, it seems like you don't feel that way.
03:38Would that be right?
03:39Would that be right?
03:40Do you have any anxiety about that or do you just enjoy it?
03:44Honestly, I just love it so much because, you know, just for me personally knowing that, like, there is someone chasing me or I'm like, like, I have a target on my back right now.
03:55So, I love it. I take it as a challenge and every time I go out there I feel like, okay, let's go. Let's see who is ready for the pressure moments.
04:04And I take it like that and it's actually helping me to stay in the moment and to fight no matter what on the court.
04:15Irina, as a hard-working athlete, I'd like to ask you a question about infusions.
04:20Obviously, Max Purcell was banned for undergoing two intravenous infusions, a forbidden method under the VADA code.
04:28The official ITIA case documents say he feigned injury to justify the infusion and Googled everything, also the VADA limit of 100 milliliters that are allowed.
04:40Back in the days, infusions were common sense when it was allowed.
04:45Since 2005, it's not allowed over 100 milliliters, but they still help for recovery and performance and are not detectable in normal doping tests.
04:54So, I wonder if they are still a problem.
04:57That's a good question.
05:00Those things are always changing and I'm really glad that I have a really good team around me so I can trust them.
05:06And I know that, I mean, whatever my team would suggest me, I know that they double-checked a thousand times with the system if we are allowed or not.
05:17So, I'm really happy to have my team around.
05:21On that case, honestly, I don't know what to say.
05:24I don't know, like, what was going on there.
05:26And I don't usually, not usually, I never comment on the doping cases because, like, you never know.
05:33Some things can happen by accident.
05:35Some things were probably, I don't know, whatever could be there.
05:40So, and, yeah, I don't like to comment it.
05:48Hello, Arena.
05:49Baptiste for AFP.
05:50As you never reached the final here in Roland-Garros, would it be a first important step for you or are you only focused on winning the whole tournament?
06:02I think at this point of my career it's, yeah, it's all about winning the titles, the big trophies.
06:13And I think you have to set up really huge goals for yourself.
06:17And, yeah, maybe sometimes really crazy goals.
06:21So, yeah, I'm more into, like, winning than just reaching the finals because, you know, losing in the final sucks.
06:29So, I hate it.
06:30So, that's not the goal for me.
06:36Hi, Arena.
06:37What surface has taken you the most work in order to get to a top level with?
06:44And why?
06:45Definitely clay court.
06:47Because on clay court power is not enough.
06:50Sometimes you have to build a point three or four times in one point.
06:55So, you have to physically be ready, mentally be ready.
06:58And you have to improve your game as much as possible.
07:04And you have to have variety in the game to be able to compete on clay court.
07:10And, of course, like physically and mentally, clay court might work really hard to be good at this surface.
07:18Second, last question, Amanda?
07:25Just on that clay adaptation, some of your matches recently.
07:28I mean, I know we've seen on other surfaces, but the drop shot, both you and your opponents, there have been a match where it's coming, like, back and forth.
07:34How much is that an extra thing you work on for the clay?
07:39I would say that it's not like I work on this shot specifically for the clay.
07:44I just work on my touch cam overall a lot and on the clay court, of course.
07:49Actually, not on each clay court surface it works well.
07:53But, like, somewhere like Rome, for example, in here, it really brings a lot of benefits to the game.
08:00And I just like to use drop shots more often on clay than, I mean, probably this year on Wimbledon as well.
08:08But, yeah, I just use drop shot more often on clay court.
08:14How much do you practice it versus just relying on instinct, I mean?
08:20I'd say that, let's say, like, not, like, drop shot specifically, but, like, the touch cam, I'd say that right now probably we're spending, like, I don't know, 20% of the time, like, working on the touch cam.
08:31Okay, last question on the front.
08:32Your main opponent on the UTA ranking, Iga Shanteng, is having kind of a tough beginning of year before Roland-Garros, but she is really good usually in this tournament.
08:50What do you expect from her that, and you could face her in semi-final here this year, so?
08:56Honestly, I don't have any expectations for myself and, of course, any expectations from, like, others, for other players.
09:08So, I mean, of course, like, I think, like, everyone, because she was doing really well in this tournament, everyone expect her to win this tournament and everyone expect really great tennis from her.
09:21So, I don't know what to say.
09:24Like, I don't have any expectations.
09:25And, as I said before, you know, Grand Slams is a tricky tournament.
09:29Everyone feels a lot of pressure, and there is so many upsets on the tournaments I've been recently, I mean, on the Grand Slams.
09:36So, whatever is going to happen, is going to happen, and I prefer to focus on myself.
