Toujours pas le moindre set perdu en 5 matchs pour Aryna Sabalenka. Ce mardi, la numéro 1 mondiale a tout de même dû s'employer face à la championne olympique en titre, Qinwen Zheng (7-6 (3), 6-3). Breakée dans la première manche, la Biélorusse a su s'accrocher pour revenir à 4-4 avant de s'extirper dans le tie-break. La deuxième manche aura aussi été marquée par trois breaks successifs avant que la récente championne à Madrid ne scelle le sort de la rencontre. Avec ce succès, Sabalenka retrouve les demi-finales de Roland-Garros pour la deuxième fois de sa carrière.
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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.
00:30Je me suis très concentré sur le jeu et c'est juste des statistiques.
00:38Question pour Dan.
00:44C'était une sensation de disappointment que les crowds ne sont pas en les tiers de l'ombre.
00:51Vous êtes un champion de champion, le nom de l'Olympique, c'est un grand match.
00:56et pourtant, pour tout le monde, les gens sont en train de manger.
00:58Est-ce qu'il y a quelque chose de changer ?
01:00Qu'est-ce que vous pensez qu'il y a beaucoup d'empty seats dans les tiers ?
01:04Dans les tiers, il y a des crowds qui sont en train de regarder.
01:06Je ne sais pas vraiment pas en train de regarder,
01:11mais j'ai l'impression qu'il y a beaucoup de gens.
01:13Et oui, je suis sûr qu'il y a un grand match,
01:15et il y a probablement plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus.
01:23Mais à la même temps, je suis heureux d'avoir un peu de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus.
01:43Et juste comme un exemple, si vous avez pris votre chose de vous faire,
01:47et je comprends pourquoi vous voulez avoir le reste de la journée et de vous mettre votre matche au.
01:53mais vous voulez-vous voir le tournament ici donner une équipe de men en termes de la scheduling ?
02:01Le fait que les femmes n'ont pas joué une seule matche ici ?
02:05Je me suis d'accord avec ça et je dois dire que nous avons le traitement de l'équipe, comme vous l'avez dit.
02:15Et il y a eu il y a eu y a beaucoup de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus de plus.
02:31Donc oui, je crois que nous devrions être posés dans un grand stage.
02:41Il y a plus de temps, plus de gens qui sont watching.
02:46Irina, bienvenue.
02:48Je sais qu'on ne peut pas s'arrêter à cette époque, mais on pourrait être Ega next.
02:52Est-ce que vous parlez un peu sur votre relation avec elle,
02:55comment ça s'est évolué ?
02:56Est-ce qu'il y a beaucoup de rivales ?
03:01Est-ce qu'il y a un peu d'entendement entre les deux ?
03:05Oui.
03:06Avant, il n'y a pas de communication ni pratiques avec elle.
03:09Mais maintenant, nous sommes devenus mieux.
03:11Nous sommes devenus mieux.
03:13Nous pratiquons plus souvent.
03:15Nous connaissons-nous bien.
03:17Nous avons eu beaucoup de battles dans le passé.
03:20Donc, si on va être Ega, je suis super excited.
03:23Je suis super excited pour aller en faire et faire tout ce que je veux pour le win.
03:31Airena, je voulais vous demander à vous,
03:36a vous joué un joueur plus puissant que vous jouez en un match,
03:40et a fait que vous avez fait vous faire une fois une fois,
03:44à une fois un joueur, même pour un petit match ?
03:47Et est-ce que la force, en un sens, est-ce que vous voulez vous ?
03:51I mean, would you like to hit, would you like to play against a player who hits harder than you, or would you like?
03:58Well, for the first question, I don't think that I ever played someone who is, like, more powerful than me.
04:05And I honestly, I don't care about, like, if the player is going to go out there and, like, try to overhit me,
04:12or if the player will try to, you know, like, change the rhythm and make me move and run.
04:16And I think over the years, I about my game a lot, and I think I'm ready to play against powerful players.
04:23I'm ready to play against whoever is going to make me run and work for the points.
04:28So, honestly, right now in this stage of my career, I don't really care, you know?
04:34But when it comes to the power, I like it, because then it's like, okay, you want to see the power?
04:42Let me, like, show you something.
04:44So, I always take it as a challenge and, you know, as, like, okay, let's see who is better today.
04:52You were saying, talking about yourself and eager, that you've started to get on better in the last few years
04:58and started to practice together a bit more.
04:59Was there a moment, a conversation, or a time when that changed and you began to become closer?
05:07I don't know.
05:08I don't know, actually.
05:08I think everything started when I just came to her and asked to do TikTok in the finals in Riyadh.
05:15And since that, we were like, okay, maybe we can communicate.
05:19We can be, you know, good to each other.
05:21We can practice sometimes.
05:23So, I think that was, like, the first step to a better relationship.
05:28What was the TikTok?
05:30I went to TikTok in Riyadh last year in the finals.
05:33We just did, like, a little dance together.
05:36So, I think since then we are better with each other.
05:40Arina, you want to follow on that subject?
05:44Do you like the option of playing the champion?
05:47Do you like these kind of challenges?
05:49I know you love being world number one.
05:50Do you like the challenge of taking on, like, the strongest here at Roland Garros?
05:53If it is presented to you, obviously, because the game is on.
05:56I love it.
05:58You know, I love tough challenges.
06:00And I think this is the matches where you actually improve the player and where you get much stronger.
06:07So, I love those challenges.
06:08And I'm always excited to face someone, like, someone strong and someone who can challenge me.
06:18I love it because I take it as a challenge.
06:20And I go out there and I fight.
06:21And, you know, I'm ready to leave everything I have to get the win.
06:25So, I love those challenges.
06:28Arina, well played.
06:30At the moment, you seem very kind of comfortable and content in yourself mentally and also in your game.
06:35You've referred to yourself as a complete player a few times this week.
06:39I'm curious, in your mind, what came first?
06:41Was it being comfortable in yourself allowed you to work on your game?
06:45Or being comfortable in your game allowed you to feel comfortable in yourself?
06:49That's a good question.
06:50But I think everything started to come together when I kind of, like, understood myself much better, when I started to control my emotions, when I figured just myself a little bit better.
07:05And I think since that moment, I was able to, you know, open up for more things.
07:10So, I think everything started from, like, from that mental part of the game.
07:16How did you...
07:17I don't know.
07:18I mean, I was losing a lot of matches just because of my emotions.
07:22And one year, I was just like, okay, you know what?
07:25Whatever happened on the court, I'm not going to lose my emotions.
07:28I'm not going to get, like, crazy on court.
07:30I'm just going to, like, you know, play point by point.
07:33It doesn't matter if I'm, like, losing in a match, whatever.
07:35I'm just going to take it step by step, and I won Adelaide that year, and then I won Australia Open, and then I was like, oh, my God, I should have done it earlier.
07:45And everyone was just telling me, like, your emotions, like, not helping you.
07:50It's, like, destroying you.
07:51And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.
07:53And then at some point when I was, like, losing a lot of, like, tight matches, I was like, okay, that's the time to try something else.
07:59So I'm really glad I did it, and, yeah.
08:03Hi, Kongulat.
08:05Hi.
08:05I felt that you are using a forehand slice very good on, like, a defense.
08:11So maybe not only today, but maybe throughout this clay court season, which is quite efficient shot on the clay.
08:19So can you talk a little bit about is that something you add your play this entry, or, and how do you choose,
08:27or decide that if you want to hit the slice, or, you know, forehand strong?
08:33Well, that's something I've been working for the past two years, on that, like, touch game, like, slices, forehand, backhand drop shots,
08:41and all of that stuff, and I don't know how do I decide.
08:47I just trust my instincts, and sometimes, like, when I see, okay, the ball is, like, going too far away from me,
08:53and I cannot, like, reach it, I would just go for the slice.
08:57I'm pretty confident in that shot, and I know that with the girls, it's just, like, a little change of the rhythm,
09:02which also can bring more benefit rather than just, like, go and try to overheat it,
09:07and kind of, like, you're out of the position, and sometimes slice gives you more time to come back.
09:16So, I just, I don't know, I just trust my instincts, and sometimes I go for it just because I feel, like, okay, I have to.
09:24Congratulations.
09:26Did you enjoy the game today?
09:28What did you think of Queen Wynn's performance, and was she as good as you thought she would be?
09:35Yeah, she played incredible tennis.
09:36She's a great player, and, like, I expected her to play a great match, and I enjoyed this battle.
09:44I enjoyed that I had to, like, you know, come back in that first set, and the first set was, like, really tight,
09:50and, you know, like, it could go either way.
09:55So, I was really enjoying it, and I'm super happy that I got to win a straight set.
10:00Yeah, she played incredible tennis.
10:03Hi, Irina.
10:04Congratulations.
10:05What you said about power a few minutes ago, you want to see power, let me show you something.
10:11It really reminded me of what Serena Williams said after you two played in 2021.
10:16Oh, really?
10:17In Australia.
10:18I don't know if you remember that.
10:20She said, you want to play power, let's go.
10:24Nice.
10:26And you said, I don't think I've ever played someone more powerful than me.
10:29I was just curious whether that applies to Serena.
10:31I think that she wasn't really more powerful than me that much, but, yeah, like, physically she was better than me, and she was just, she put more balls back on my side than I did.
10:48And I didn't really feel that she overpowered me in that game.
10:52I was just curious.
10:52Thank you.
10:53Thank you.
10:54Thank you.
10:55Thank you.
10:56Thank you.
10:57Hi.
10:57Yeah.
10:58So, talking about power, but not only about power, you are a complete player, you're capable to do everything.
11:05If not, you wouldn't be number one in the world.
11:07But how do you explain the fact that yesterday, Bublik played 36 winning drop shots in a match against Draper, in one match?
11:21And when we see the ladies tennis, we don't see so many drop shots.
11:28Even Paolini, that you know pretty well, she's always trying to eat powerful shots, like you do a bit, and, but she doesn't, she make, make three drop shots in one match.
11:43You, I don't know what is your average drop shot in a match, but how do you explain that, because don't you think that if Bublik was able to do 36 drop shots winning, or most of them, against a player like Draper, who plays very strong and powerful, why the ladies don't do it, or they don't do it enough?
12:06That's a good question.
12:07That's a good question.
12:08I have to say that the drop shot is quite risky shot, and you really have to have good hands and good understanding of the court to be able to make it, and not every girl is that fearless like Bublik.
12:22You know, I watched that much yesterday, and sometimes it was just like, wow, it just seems like it was his day, you know, yesterday.
12:27I'm not sure if he's making that much of the drop shots every single match, and if he would play the way he played against Draper.
12:36Like, every time he's out there, I think he would be in top ten.
12:41So, um, he was just like really going for it.
12:46It was crazy much.
12:47Honestly, I was like, I wanted to see the fifth set, to be honest.
12:51In that, in that first set, I was like supporting Draper, because, because, yeah, Bublik was doing the crazy stuff on that court, you know?
12:58It just seemed like whatever he would decide to do, it would go in, you know?
13:02And he would just go for the drop shot from the serve, from like, returns, and it just like, you know, was like, it doesn't make sense, you know?
13:10So it's quite risky shot, and you know, if you feel that this is the day when things gonna work out for you, yeah, you definitely have to go for it.
13:18Because it's a good shot, especially on the clay court, where you have like an extra time, and when you're like, overall, you're a powerful player just to mix it up, and just to make the other player guess.
13:28Then it's like, yeah, we definitely should go more often for that.
13:32But it's a risky shot, and not everyone have that good hands as Bublik had yesterday.
13:38But I think nowadays, girls, like, they're trying to mix it up, mix the rhythm more often than it used to be.
13:47So we are getting better at that part of the game, so...
13:54On a similar theme, I would absolutely say that you utilize the drop shot very well today.
14:01We've just looked at the statistics, you hit 10 of them today.
14:04So you've seen that, yeah, you hit 10.
14:06And they seemed to be a very effective weapon for you.
14:09Yeah.
14:10I just wondered, is that something you have consciously been practicing in the last year or so?
14:16Because as you say, you're known as a power player, but you actually did a lot of damage with the drop shot today.
14:22Yeah, yeah.
14:24I think this is something we've been working over, like, past couple of years.
14:28And that specific shot, I mean, obviously give me a lot of benefits in the game.
14:34And, you know, like, I'm not going to go for the drop shot every single time, like Bublik did yesterday.
14:40I mean, if I feel that it's working, I'm going to go for it, but overall.
14:44But I'm going to play with my power, because this is something where I feel the most comfortable.
14:50But, you know, when you put the other player on the back foot and they go, like, through their back from the baseline,
14:57like, it's really important to mix it up a little bit just so they guess every time.
15:02So, yeah, that shot really brings a lot of benefits.
