“I feel my biggest competitor is myself!” Jelena Ostapenko explains her new perspective freshly off Dubai title win
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Jelena Ostapenko
Jelena Ostapenko has had a good start to the 2022 season so far. The Latvian disappointed in the Australian Open as she exited in the third round in an admittedly very tough clash against Barbora Krejcikova.
The former French Open winner then followed it up with a semi-finals appearance at the St Petersburg Open, losing to 2nd seed Anett Kontaveit. The Latvian has now gone on all the way to win the title at the Dubai Open.
Ostapenko underlines ambitions in interview post title in Dubai
Jelena Ostapenko is officially back to compete at the top level, which would be disastrous news for the others. The 2017 French Open winner has always been highly ambitious but had suffered from injuries and inconsistent form for some time now. However, after waltzing to the title in Dubai in stunning fashion, the Latvian has once again outlined her ambitions.
In the interview with WTA insider, Ostapenko revealed that she had come to Dubai without any expectations, let alone winning the whole tournament. This was because of the lack of time she had to get used to switching from St. Petersburg to Dubai.
“Honestly, when I arrived it was tough because I did semis in St. Petersburg so I didn’t really have time to get used to switching from indoor to outdoors. So I thought ok, I’m just going to play, it’s how it will be. I didn’t expect anything,” revealed Ostapenko.
Later in the interview, she went on to reveal that she was her own worst enemy according to her. The Latvian revealed that in some matches she doesn’t even battle against the opposition and instead fights against herself. She revealed that she could sometimes be too emotionally charged during matches, which works against her and thus leads her to fight against herself. She also revealed her tendency to look to perform better even while leading in matches.
“Honestly, some matches I feel like I’m not fighting with the players but against myself. Sometimes when I get too much in the emotions I’m playing against myself, which I’m working on and I should get rid of it. But I feel like the toughest opponent is myself. Not in all the matches, but in most of them. Because even when the score is close I still feel like I have a lot of potential and I have the reserves to put in when I’m playing that match,” said Ostapenko.
She then went on to underline her ambitions for the current season, revealing her goal to get back into the top 10 of the world rankings. However, she also revealed that she doesn’t think about it too much and is instead much more relaxed and looking to enjoy her tennis.
“I set the goal to be back in the Top 10 but I’m more relaxed, in a good way, not in a bad way. More like I’m not thinking too much. Just enjoying tennis. I want to play even more and more, because when you’re winning you want to play more tournaments,” said the Latvian.
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Akash Mandal
(433 Articles Published)