Ce jeudi 29 mai à Roland-Garros, Hailey Baptiste s'est qualifiée pour la première fois de sa carrière au troisième tour d'un Grand Chelem. Solice, l'Américaine de 23 ans, 70e joueuse mondiale, a dominé la Japonaise Nao Hibino en deux sets maîtrisés, 6-3, 6-2. Au premier tour, elle avait créé la surprise en éliminant la Brésilienne Beatriz Haddad Maia, tête de série n°23. Un début de tournoi solide pour celle qui a longtemps joué sans coach.
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00:00BNP Paribas, partenaire des plus belles histoires de Roland Garros, aux côtés des ramasseurs de balles depuis plus de 50 ans.
00:30Welcome to Hailey-Betty's press conference. Congratulations on the win for singles. How do you reflect on both matches today?
00:41Yeah, obviously the singles match I think was pretty clean. I played well and felt good out there, so I'm happy to be going into round three.
00:53So, impressive run here, and then you're going out and playing doubles. Are you exhausted after a day like this, a day like today? Not just physically, but just that's a long time to be concentrating on a yellow ball.
01:14Yeah, I mean, it's obviously long days, but I mean, we do it in a lot of different tournaments, play singles and doubles, and it's fun at the end of the day, so it doesn't feel like I'm here for 10 hours, even though I am.
01:28Hi, congrats. Sorry for asking some basic questions. Your playstyle is quite unique, not in a good way. You have a huge kick serve and drop shots, slices. So how did you develop that kind of a playstyle?
01:51I mean, I grew up playing with boys pretty much my whole youth, and my coaches kind of coached me to play a little bit more like a guy. So I think that's why, I mean, obviously it helps me. I think girls don't love the kick serve and the slice. And yeah, I just like to be creative on court.
02:16Is anybody an idol? Idol? I wouldn't say that I have, like, one person where I'm like, okay, I want to play like them. Obviously looked up to Francis a lot, somebody that I grew up with and got to watch Rise Up, so I think I have a lot of similarities to him.
02:39Congratulations. What do you think has been working for you in singles to pretty steady climb up the rankings this last while?
02:46I think I've just been believing in myself, and I've been consistent with just the way I've been approaching my matches. I've got a good team around me right now, and they're instilling a lot of confidence in me as well. So I think that's been a big, big part.
03:03Was that confidence something you felt like you didn't have enough of before?
03:06I think that I had the confidence, but I was doubting myself sometimes in big moments, and kind of just said F it with that, and just backing myself now.
03:23When did you say F it?
03:24When?
03:25When?
03:26Yes.
03:27I mean, I guess last year I kind of had a moment. I split with a coach that I trusted a lot, and I was, like, very down on myself at that time, and I had this thing in my mind that the coach was kind of making me as a player, which is obviously not true.
03:49So, and that was definitely a time where I was like, all right, I'm playing for myself. I was traveling a while by myself with no coach, and I think definitely, like, just being out there on my own and not having a coach there, like, you're really playing for yourself, and that made a big difference for me.
04:07How long were you out there on your own, and then how did you move into the next phase of your career, which is with Eric and Franklin?
04:15I mean, on and off, kind of, for, like, the last two years, I mean, before this year, like, two, two and a half years, I was a lot of the time traveling by myself, and just kind of thugging it, just battling my way through matches, and, you know, losing a match.
04:36Don't really have anybody to talk to afterwards, kind of just my friends saying, oh, tough luck, and I kind of have to do the whole debrief process by myself, and, I mean, you just learn things about yourself and about the game, and, yeah, I think it gave me confidence and a new love for the game.
04:54Very nearly had an all-JTCC third round here. Thoughts on, I guess, your next match against Buzza Samaro, though?
05:10Obviously a great player. Tough battle against Robin today. Obviously would have loved to play here in the third round, but still great that we're both out here coming from JTCC.
05:22But, yeah, Jessie's a great player. I played her once before, I think two years ago. We had a battle, I think seven, six in the third or something. I maybe had, like, four or five match points and ended up losing, so I'm definitely looking to get my revenge.
