Russian player Veronika Kudermetova (world No. 46) commented on her two matches against Ekaterina Alexandrova at Roland Garros.
In singles, she lost 2/6, 2/6 in the third round, while in doubles, partnering Elise Mertens, they defeated Alexandrova and Peyton Stearns (3/6, 6/4, 6/2).
– I don`t even know how we managed to pull off that doubles match. We slightly changed tactics and turned the game in our favor.
During such matches, when we need to come back, we just support and encourage each other during the games themselves, and during changeovers, we discuss what to change, how we can turn the match around.
But we simply shouldn`t have let it get to that point – we are certainly to blame for getting ourselves into that situation.
– You played Ekaterina Alexandrova in both singles and doubles twice in a row in one day, and in the singles match, you struggled a lot and were constantly getting frustrated.
– I couldn`t even show 20 percent of my game. I can`t explain why yet. Of course, you get frustrated in such a situation; how else could it be, because you want to show at least half of your level in such moments.
We both didn`t play cleanly; we were both very nervous. But Katya was more stable, more resilient. And because of that, she won, and I was just angry at myself. I couldn`t find a way to get out of the situation.
– We are talking a lot now about how Ekaterina`s game is changing. How much did you notice this, and how much did it bother you that her game was so unfamiliar?
– It was all about me – I didn`t give Katya a chance to show anything special. I handed her everything on a silver platter. With my kind of play, it didn`t matter who was on the other side; the result would have been the same. I still can`t figure out the reason why I couldn`t show even a minimal level.
