I try to make myself more patient in the game / Article / LSM.lv

Latvian women’s tennis leader Alona Ostapenko has an unusual amount of free time in the conditions of the pandemic, but this does not reduce her training plans in preparation for the new season. The ambitious tennis player said in a conversation at the Latvian Television “Sports Studio” that he is trying to accustom himself to a more prudent game during training, so that the court does not lack patience for important victories.

Due to the pandemic, Alona spent almost six months at home last season, which caused the 23-year-old athlete to have strange feelings, because she had not experienced anything like this for more than 10 years. Although the tennis player still trained and ran cross country, she also had a lot more free time. This allowed Alona to work more in the kitchen with more complex cooking recipes, because she likes cooking.

In tennis training, Ostapenko works so that he makes fewer mistakes on the court and does not try to attack each ball in the game as before.

Alona doesn’t hide that it’s not easy, because she is used to playing aggressively and it happens that she still lacks patience.

“There is still work to be done, but there is already an improvement,” said the tennis player, who at the end of 2020 ranks 44th in the world.

Alona expects to receive the necessary advice from the coach at the right time. In the fall, she began working with Thomas Hegsted, who had previously worked with several tennis stars and gained a reputation for working with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour players. Hegsted has taught Alona to motivate for a short training even after winning a game, and he will probably be the right specialist who will be able to put Alona’s temperament on a more rational track.

Last season, Alona lacked games and the opportunity to put emotions on the field.

As a result, she accumulated energy that was often nowhere to be found. The tennis player had very few tournaments and only 17 games during the season, but there were no memorable events. Ostapenko considers his victory in February over Sofia Kenya in the Federation Cup against the USA to be his best game of the season. Alona also evaluated the game in the same match against Seren Williams as quite good, however, in a duel against his idol, the Latvian tennis player lost in two Taiwanese.

Alona remembers the French Open Championship, which took place at an unusual time in the autumn, because of the unusual cold, which surprised many tennis players. In the second round of the Grand Slam, Alona beat former world leader Czech Karolina Pliskov with an outstanding performance, but in the next match, the 2007 champion gave way to Spanish tennis player Paul Badosa, from whom Ostapenko had not expected such an evenly stable performance.

Evaluating her performance in the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, Alona admitted that she was very focused on Plīškovs, while she lacked patience with Bados. Now Ostapenko will listen to the coach’s advice and work to play more prudently, without losing the current energy. She hopes the Australian Open will take place early this year and there will be many more tournaments next season.

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