Reem's Diary: World No.6 Angelique Kerber avoids WTA maths

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  • The former Wimbledon and US Open semi-finalist can still book a place in the last four.

    There are press conference gems that often sneak past the majority of people in the room thanks to the subtlety in a player’s delivery.

    Maria Sharapova provided one of those on Thursday when she was talking about how she doesn’t shy away from scouting her competition by watching other matches during tournaments.

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    “If I'm in my hotel and the tennis is on. I also have a subscription to TennisTV. I don't know how that happened. Well, I do know how that happened, but I no longer need it. Thankfully,” the Russian world No. 4 said.

    Not many picked up on what Sharapova meant but the probable reason she had TennisTV was to watch the matches of her ex-boyfriend Grigor Dimitrov. But since they broke up, she no longer needs the streaming app, “thankfully”.

    Maria Sharapova has admitted she watches her opponents on TV.

    She continued by saying: “But I do watch tennis. I know I always say that's the last thing I want to be doing, but when I'm at a tournament I do enjoy watching. When the matches are on TV I do enjoy watching who is playing, no matter if I'm playing against them or not.

    “It's part of the spirit, the tournament. You start your day with tennis. Everything is surrounded by tennis. I don't shy away from watching my opponents.”

    Mathematics overdose

    Round robin play comes around just once a year for tennis players and it always results in madness, be it in the press room as we try to figure out qualification scenarios or amongst the competitors themselves.

    Most players have said this year that they won’t check what exactly they need to do heading into the final day of round robin action but one WTA star was particularly adamant on how far away she is staying from a calculator in Singapore.

    When I asked German No.6 Angelique Kerber whether she’d look into the different qualification scenarios ahead of Friday’s matches, she cut me off mid-sentence and said: “Let's not count. I was counting the last few weeks. I will not count anymore. I will just play and not counting. The WTA can count, but not me.

    “Next question,” Kerber added laughing. “Not counting, please. Sorry.”

    Poor Angie. She had a stressful few weeks heading into Singapore as she was trying to gain enough points to qualify for the WTA Finals and it looks like it really got to her. She is normally a relaxed person – I’ll just make sure next time I don’t bring up the ‘M’ word. Math!

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