After more than 11 years on tour, Agnieszka Radwanska can be considered a veteran in the sport.
Yet, at 27, she is far from being the oldest player amongst the tennis elite, with seven women in the top-20 aged above her, including the 35-year-old world No1 Serena Williams.
Tennis can be an unforgiving sport and like many other disciplines, your body takes a beating as every season passes by.
Age is no longer a factor when it comes to success in tennis and it’s how one feels that determines how far a player can still go.
“Mentally, I feel much younger. Physically, I feel much older,” Radwanska told reporters ahead of her eight appearance at the Qatar Total Open.
“It’s hard to say, generally just to put everything together, how I feel, what year? I’ve been on the tour 11 years now. It’s quite a long time. Physically, for sure, I’m not feeling so young.”
The Pole, who peaked at No2 in the world and is now ranked No6, had her best grand slam result in 2012, when she reached the Wimbledon final, and continues to search for ways to advance her game and conquer her major dream.
One of those efforts has resulted in her taking a bold decision to change her racquet from Babolat to Srixon this season. For someone who has incredible feel like Radwanska – nicknamed ‘La Profesora’ and ‘Ninja’ for pulling off inconceivable shots from every inch of the court – it was definitely a risk after spending so many years using Babolat.
While we're waiting out this rain... Here's me teaching @ARadwanska some Arabic.. because why not? #QatarTotalOpen #WTA pic.twitter.com/0m99zFgh7I
— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) February 14, 2017
Her first tournament with the new racquet saw her reach the final in Sydney, where she looked like she was hitting the ball harder than usual, without losing any of her deft touch.
“I’m trying. Of course, it was a tough decision, changing the racquet after so many years playing the same racquet. But, well, I think this is kind of the last year or the last kind of timing that I can change something,” Radwanska explained.
“So, yeah, I was really thinking about this for long time. Around Christmas, I said, ‘Yeah, why not? Let’s change something’.”
Following Sydney, the Krakow-native suffered a shock second round defeat at the Australian Open to surprise eventual semi-finalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni – a 34-year-old Croat who was ranked 79 entering Melbourne.
It was Radwanska’s earliest Australian Open exit since 2009. But while clearly disappointed, the Pole says she was able to keep that result in perspective.
“Well, as we can see, Mirjana had the best tournament of her life. She played unbelievable tennis till the end of the tournament. It wasn’t only one match,” said Radwanska.
“So, well, it’s always disappointing losing first week of the grand slam. Doesn’t matter who you play. But, well, I think I also was a bit unlucky. That’s kind of a lesson, that those players still can play really good tennis, without any pressure, you know, just hitting the ball as hard as they can. You really have to be careful on those ones, as well.”
Radwanska will be looking to rebound this Middle East swing – a region where she has done well in the past. She has reached the semi-finals in Doha in five of her seven appearances, while she won the Dubai title in 2012.
Seeded No4 in Doha, Radwanska has a bye in the first round and awaits the winner of the clash between ex-world No1 Caroline Wozniacki and last year’s French Open semi-finalist Kiki Bertens.
“Of course, is not easy draw,” confessed Radwanska, who trails her good friend Wozniacki 6-9 head-to-head (Radwanska has won their last two meetings end of 2016).
“We’ll see after that match who’s going to win. Caroline is playing good tennis at the moment. She’s definitely starting to be more confident. Playing really better than before. I guess it’s going to be her. Yes, we played couple times the end of the last year. That was really three good, long matches. So we’ll see.”
