Brazilian World No.14 Beatriz Haddad Maia reveals how she managed to hold her nerves during the French Open pre-quarterfinals against the Spanish unseeded player Sara Sorribes Tormo. After the 6-7(3-7), 6-3, 7-5 win, Haddad revealed that her coach gives Novak Djokovic‘s interviews on how he handles nerves before the matches for her.
As the Brazilian told, “My coach send me an interview of Novak Djokovic where he told about his nerves. If Djokovic can feel the nerves, Who Am I (to not feel the nerves)? It’s normal and we need to be humble and improve when we have the pressure.“
After a straight-set victory in the first round, the Brazilian was pushed to three sets in all of her previous three-round matches. She will face the most difficult test yet in the French Open in the next round against the Tunisian World No.7 Ons Jabeur.
Beatriz Haddad Maia is reaching the first-ever Grand Slam quarter-final
The 27-year-old Brazilian is playing her best-ever Grand Slam tournament in singles here in Paris. Until now, her best-ever Grand Slam performance was second-round appearances in Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open. Her best-ever result in the French Open was also a second-round appearance last year. She lost to Estonian unseeded Kaia Kanepi in straight sets then: 4-6, 4-6.
Considering the present form, even though Maia is playing her best-ever Grand Slam tournament, Ons Jabeur will be a difficult puzzle for her to crack. The Tunisian World No.7 defeated the American World No.36 Bernarda Pera in the pre-quarterfinals 6-3, 6-1. Jabeur has lost only one set throughout the tournament so far. This was against the Serbian 22-year-old Olga Danilovic in the third round.
Maia had her career-best ranking of 12 in February this year. In fact, she is playing her best season in singles so far. It will be interesting to see how the Brazilian can cope against Ons Jabeur in the next round.
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