Clara Tauson Doesn’t Have ‘High Expectations’ for Clay Swing, Says Her Dad

Clara Tauson returned to competition in the ongoing Italian Open only to hand the walkover to her opening-round opponent, Oleksandra Oliynykova. The Dane threw in the towel while being down 6-1, 3-1 because of her back problem, and also received treatment from a physiotherapist.

It was Tauson’s first singles match since her mid-match retirement in the opening round of the Miami Open, where she played against Katie Boulter. In Madrid, although she played doubles alongside Marta Kostyuk and lost the match to Janice Tjen and Aldila Sutjiadi in the opening round, she was forced to withdraw from her singles match.

Before her latest match, she said in an interview that her back problem has been troubling her since last year. Now her father, also her manager, Soren Tauson, said during his interview with SpilXperten that they don’t expect much from the clay swing.

We don’t have particularly high expectations for the clay tournaments leading up to Roland Garros. It’s slow clay, plus there’s rain in Rome. On top of that, the balls are the same well-known slow ones — and that suits other types of players better. Among them an awkward clay-court specialist like today’s opponent.

The 23-year-old is the winner of three singles titles, all of which she lifted on hard courts. Tauson also hasn’t played a final on clay.

Clara is doing well and training well, but mostly off the court with a longer-term perspective than just the next three months. After all, she’s only 23 years old.

Soren Tauson added

Tauson has yet to play a final this year. Last year, she reached two finals, winning the ASB Classic after receiving a walkover from Naomi Osaka and losing the Dubai Tennis Championships to Mirra Andreeva.

Clara Tauson’s opponent, Oleksandra Oliynykova, reveals the threat she has received from the WTA

Oleksandra Oliynykova has been making global headlines because of her statements about the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The Ukrainian ace, despite receiving threats from the WTA, is continuing to call out players who she believes are supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin.

She recently took to Instagram and revealed the names of the players who reportedly liked a video of Russian celebrity beauty influencer Victoria Bonya praising Putin. The 25-year-old was first approached by the WTA in Cluj-Napoca, where she reached the semifinals and lost to eventual runner-up Emma Raducanu.

After her second-round victory over Anna Bondar, Oliynykova refused to shake hands with the Hungarian. The reason was that Bondar participated in the 2022 North Palmyra Trophies, an exhibition event funded by Russian gas giant Gazprom. Oliynykova called her out because, for her, Bondar’s participation was nothing but “taking blood money“.

So I made this publication. And two WTA workers, they came to me, and they started to talk about my publications. They said that I shouldn’t have said her name. Even though players, they are talking about each other all the time, there is not any rule about depersonalization.

Oleksandra Oliynykova said during her interview with Bounces

Journalist Ben Rothenberg also asked her whether the WTA mentioned any specific rules that she was breaking. Oliynykova said the WTA told her that she shouldn’t say things “which are harmful to other players“. In her defense, Oliynykova said that she was only stating the facts.

But [the WTA staff] started to talk about that I’m attacking her, which is also not true, because this was just a fact: she did this, and Gazprom is a sponsor of war, and I see the war in Ukraine as something horrible. It is, you know? This is my opinion.

Oleksandra Oliynykova added

Oliynykova, after receiving the walkover from Tauson, has scheduled her third-round match against Linda Noskova. The Czech ace beat Anastasia Zakharova in the previous round.

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