Tournament Diary: Mubadala World Tennis Championship 2022

Tennis talk with Emma Raducanu

…about her first match after the injury break:
“I played better than I was expecting. I honestly started hitting balls two weeks ago. Then I had to take another week off and started again last Friday. Yesterday was my first time playing points and so today I’m quite pleased with how it went.”

…about her temporary new coach Sebastian Sachs:
“We are trialling until the end of the year. It has been going really well so far. I have only done a week with him. He’s a really calm influence. He is on it, switched on and excited to see how it goes.”

…about her goals for 2023:
“My targets are to stay healthy for longer, to stay injury free and to be on court, to be competing. One of my biggest goals is to go on the court and not think about my fitness. I wanna be able to go out there with focus on the tennis. I think this year, I’m in a better position, but it still gonna take some time to recover fully. I love the bigger pages, I love the big courts, the atmospheres, but my goal in 2023 is probably to win a title.”

…about her comeback after a seven-month injury break:
“I had two months in bed at home so I had to kind of get used to be back on the road. Once you’ve spent a long period at home it’s easy to get used to this kind of bubble. It’s really nice to have some time to switch off, to do normal things, but I‘m really ready to get on the road and start competing, training hard, cause this is what I love doing.”

Tennis talk with ONS JABEUR

…about her preparations for her first match against Emma Raducanu:
“I like Emma, I have a lot of respect for her definitly. I hope she will come back stronger and win more Grand Slams for sure. I prepared for the match like I would against any other player. Something that I’m learning to do is to focus more on myself, focus more on how to handle the stress and just discover the other player more in the match. Obviously I saw the player playing before, but who knows how their game would affect me? Sometimes it’s a good thing not to know the player, sometimes it’s a bad thing, but most of all I like to focus more on myself.”

…about her learnings from life as a tennis pro:
“Definitely one of the first things that tennis did teach me is how to be responsible. Because I was away from my family, I learned how to travel alone, how to handle a lot of things alone and that definitely helped me to be a stronger person, a stronger personality and how to manage a lot of emotions – anger, distress – and you know how to work with a team. It is an individual sport, but for me the team is a big part of it.”

…about the Mubada la World Tennis Championship:
“This is my second year coming here, I really enjoy playing on this court, I’m ready to come back next year.”

Tennis talk with Carlos Alcaraz

…about his anticipation for the new season:
“I’m looking forward to playing again, competing again, traveling again. I love playing tennis. I love to travel and come back to the tournaments.”

…about the mental challenges of being the new world number one:
“I gonna start the year as number one. Probably the first time I gonna be the seat numer one of a tournament and all the players have the target on me. Every player wants to play against the number one in the world. I have to be prepared for that – the pressure of the people and the players as well. I’ll have all the eyes on me and I have to be prepared for that. Right now I’m focussing on the pre-season and trying to do as best as I can to prove a lot this month. In the new season I’ll try to do the same thing as in the last one: enjoy playing tennis, enjoy to be on court and to show my level and my game. And I think, the success gonna come with that.”

…about the best advice his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero has ever given him:
“We’ve had four years together now and probably the best advice I received from him so far is to try to play the same in a match and in the training – not to worry if I miss in the match or don’t find my best level, but to keep trying in the match and on the other hand to train like it’s a match.”

…about the biggest challenges for him as a tennis player:
“To play against your rivals when you’ve reached a certain level, to face your idol, to face players that you saw in TV. I would say that’s the most challenging thing in tennis.”

Tennis talk with CASPER RUUD

…about his key to success in the last season:
“I think, that I have been able to always improve some small things in my game. In the end I guess, I am a player, who has a good basic level, and it doesn’t drop very often down below my average. My average tennis contains of less errors than most of my opponents’, but my game is not the most flashy, it’s not the most powerful, it’s not the most beautiful to watch for sure, but in the end it’s stability, what works. The season is long and of course there are ups and downs, but if you are ready to keep your level steady throughout the whole year, good things may come your way.”

…about his role model:
“A player, that I looked up to, who is not very often talked about, is Roberto Bautista Agut. He is a player, who is always steady stable throughout the whole year. Maybe he has not gotten into the top 5 or the top 3 in the world, but in the end he has been around top 20, top 10 for so many years. So I think, he is a player, who has sort of lead the way a little bit and showed me the way, of how consistend you can be. You can not always look on Rafa or Novak and think you can have the same career as these guys, because it is unbelievable, what they have done. So I looked at other players and Roberto Bautista Agut is a player I liked watching, because he is always so steady stable and has done well so many years in a row.”

…about his outlook on 2023:
“If I’ll finish next year as number 1, I’d be the happiest man on earth probably, if I’ll finish as number 3, I’d be close to as happy as number 1. If I’ll be number 6  for example, I would also be very happy. If I’ll be number 15, 16 or 17, I probably won’t be as happy. So the goal is to keep myself in the top 10 and try to compete with the top guys in the world. Next season people gonna come up, that try to knock me away from my position and claim my number 3 ranking. I gonna need a good year in order to stay where I am. That’s gonna be tough, if you look at the potential of the players out there. There are so many players that can fight with each other for the top 10 positions.”

Tennis talk with ANDREY RUBLEV

…about the key to success as a tennis player:
“I guess you have to be really professional like sport wise working hard. I also think, if you are talented and if you are working hard, it will even help you more. You have to know, which things to sacrifice, what is better for tennis. And I think the most important thing that can help you to success is the way you are outside the court: the person you are, the education that you have, how humble you are, what a good person you are. The things you are doing outside the court, who you are helping or who you don’t help or if you are doing bad things to other people, also count – at least in my opinion –, because there will be other players, who will do the same things in terms of sport, but maybe they will be more humble or better educated and then they pull the advantage of this.”

…about his mental and physical preparation:
“In my case it depends. Somewhere, especially on the tournaments, when I feel well – game wise, mental wise – I try to do the same routine to do not loose this mood. During pre-season normally the adapting depends on the time that I have, on the weeks that I have to prepare. I do fitness anyway – it doesn’t matter, if I am playing. I do some ball session – no matter, if I have a match. Sacrificing for properly exhibition matches just to keep practicing, to keep doing fitness and to try to get extra practice physical wise. And I guess other players are doing more or less the same especially the ones who are playing exhibitions.”

…about the things that tennis has taught him for everyday life:
“I think it’s not even only about tennis. I think anything you do, any sport or any hobby, teaches you something. In my case tennis has teached me many things. One of them is: If you want something, you have to sacrifice a lot – and I mean sacrificing something that you really care for! Like you care about your family or like you want do to something and you have to really spect on yourself to don’t do this thing. And obviously this spirit helps you to fight, when you are tired or when you feel a little bit down, and it teaches you, that you need to keep going, you need to keep trying and keep fighting. And I think one of the most important things that tennis has teached me is the education. The way you are inside the court and the way you are outside the court is the same. It is connected. If you are egoistical or in love with yourself then straight away you are doing the same things on court and if you like to cheet or  lie to your friends you can feel it straight away the way you are playing tennis: You are doing the same: chip the balls, argue with the referee. Tennis has teached me that the right education and to be a humble person is very important.”

Tennis talk with STEFANOS TSITSIPAS

…about sightseeing in Abu Dhabi:
“So far I have completed my list of visiting the ten biggest malls in the world. We were going to the YAS mall in Abu Dhabi, which is second biggest in the world after Dubai Mall. I have to say, that the Emirates do really know, how to create malls. It’s a great experience to be in one of them, feeling like a kid in a candy store. I also would really like to visit the monumental mosque, which I have seen on the internet and friends of mine have already visited when in Abu Dhabi, so I’d really like to explore this.”

…about his favorite activities on a day off:
“I like hitting the spa, taking care of myself. I think as a man it is very important. I know some neglect it, but it makes me feel good. I also enjoy playing other sports on a day off. Basketball for sure is a passion of mine. I also like soccer, although I don’t play it as much as there is too much danger of getting injured, but I really enjoy watching it. What I also enjoy, is watching educational videos – about geography, geo-politics or science. This is what I’m most likely to spend some time with.”

…about the things tennis taught him for life:
“It is teaching me to develop a thicker skin in terms of the lows, which are very frequent in my sport, and it builds up character. It helps to deal with difficult situations in my personal life and helps to cope. What Tennis has taught me as well, is fast decision making and just moving on to the next thing and not looking back. Sometimes it might look like it’s a cold attitude, but life brings things and takes away things so we gotta keep on working and don’t let it affect you in any way.”

…about the key to success:
“I think, it is important to stay open minded and to be willing to accept new thoughts and new things. It is difficult to get there, as we all have a comfort zone, that we are not comfortable exceeding. Not many people like taking risks in terms of their career, but it is important to keep an open mind in that and to be able to continue suffering. Without suffering you’re not going to get good results. If you’re not willing to put those hours on the court, where you are going to sweat a lot, where you are going to have sore muscles for two days. This is the type of work you should be aiming for. There is nothing good, that comes from your comfort zone. And something, that I’ve learned the hard way, is in a way to be a masochist. I know it sounds a bit heavy, but you have to be that in order to get number one and to exceed your limits, because not many people are willing to do that. If you have that mentality installed within you, that is the key, the main condition to achieving excellence in what you do.”