Alize Cornet was clearly disappointed with her defeat to Venus Williams in the Dubai final last night but the Frenchwoman is also confident she can be considered part of the group that are the future of women’s tennis.
The 24-year-old, who as a teenager peaked at No11 in the world before slipping down the rankings, is on her way back up.
And following a week where she beat world No1 Serena Williams and reached the final of a Premier-level tournament, Cornet is feeling optimistic.
“I hope I’m still a little bit thefuture of the tennis at 24 years old. I’m not dead yet,” Cornet said with a smile.
“Now that you see that Venus is 33 and she’s still playing unbelievable, I guess I have some years coming ahead of me. I think we are definitely the future of tennis. I hope I am now that I am back to my next level, and I hope I will keep playing like this, because I really enjoy mytennis when I’m like that on court. So we will see in the years coming, but I’m confident.”
Cornet was reduced to tears during her 6-3, 6-0 loss to Venus, getting frustrated by her inability to capitalise on her early break.
She insists the scoreline is not a fair indication of how competitive the match was and felt disappointed a solid week ended that way.
“It was a great week for me. It’s always tough to finish like this, and I believed in my chances today.
“I would have loved to make it a better final with a little bit more of suspense. But I will have to take all the positives out of this week. Ithink there is a lot, so I’m still very motivated for the rest of the season.
“This score in the final, that’s bothering me a little bit, because it was still a battle and you cannot see it with the score, so it’s frustrating.”
Cornet had a huge night on Friday when she beat Serena, and she said she got goose bumps when the crowd was chanting her name.
“For sure, beating the Williams sisters in the same tournament would have been amazing, but maybe next time if I have the chance to do it,” said Cornet.
“Venus was playing faster, deeper. She was taking the ball earlier than me, and was serving better.”
