Former world No2 Svetlana Kuznetsova made an impressive start to her Wimbledon campaign, beating ex-world No1 Caroline Wozniacki under the Centre Court roof, on a day that was plagued by rain at SW19.
The Russian, who spends every offseason training in Dubai, is a two-time grand slam champion – with titles at the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open – but has never made it past the quarter-finals on the grass courts of Wimbledon.
Here, the No13 seed who turned 31 on Monday, tells Sport360 and WTA Insider her thoughts on her tricky opener, her creative side and what it’s like climbing out of a tennis slump.
Q) What was your reaction when you found out you were playing Caroline Wozniacki in the first round?
A) It was funny because I was walking towards the courts to Aorangi, and I saw (Margarita) Gasparyan with her coach, and I’m like ‘who do you play?’ and she said whoever she’s playing and her coach looked at me and he was like ‘I know, I know who you play, topspin, topspin…’ and I said ‘difficult match?’ and he said ‘I don’t know, but I don’t remember the name, not difficult, not difficult’.
So I went to stretch and then Carlos (Cuadrado, her coach) comes to say ‘you’re playing Wozniacki’ and I’m like ‘Canadian Wozniacki, right?’
‘No, no Caroline’ and I’m like ‘you’re joking, right?’ and I was doing my stretches and I’m looking at him like five times ‘you are joking, right?’ and he’s ‘no, no, I’m not joking, seriously’. And I’m like ‘no it couldn’t be’. I asked him like three times.
She is not seeded, sometimes it happened to me as well. It was really a bad draw for both of us.
Capturing the moments ..📸 🌱🎾 запечатляя моменты #happiness @wimbledon pic.twitter.com/YbWqBfmAcs
— Svetlana Kuznetsova (@SvetlanaK27) June 29, 2016
Were you surprised that you were scheduled on Centre Court?
I was with Carlos driving into the Wimbledon club, and he said ‘I never coached you in a match on Centre Court, we’re missing that one’. So I told him ‘don’t say it, because it means we’re going to play somebody on Centre Court’. He said ‘but that’s good, it means you’ll make fourth round or quarter-finals, which means you’re doing well’. I said ‘look it’s not that, there are also other chances’. So I saw the draw and I was like ‘nooo’. I expected we’d be on a good court.
What was it like playing under the roof?
It’s different. I like it a lot. Before the match I saw Martina Navratilova in the locker room and I asked her ‘have you ever played under that roof?’ and she said ‘yes, the ball is slower’ and I’m like ‘slower?’ She said the noise is really loud as well and I said okay.
It was difficult for both of us because I have not played any tournaments on grass, well Eastbourne and I lost the match from five match points up. I know I can play good on grass but still I didn’t have many matches. Caroline didn’t have many matches but a lot on grass so she definitely played much more than I did on the surface. So it was a tough one.
Do you feel good on grass?
I need time and I need to change a little bit my adjustments but I think I overdo it in my head, but playing like I played, it was great. I think it was good and I’ll try to continue that way.
How big of an adjustment do you do in terms of footwork on this surface?
You cannot slide, for me I cannot slide here. Novak (Djokovic) slides, but for me, to slide here I still can’t figure it out, it’s too risky. But I think I was moving great against Caroline.
You play British player Tara Moore in the next round. Have you ever played a Brit here at Wimbledon?
I played juniors against Elena Baltacha (passed away in 2014). She beat me. She was a great girl. I was 4-1 up in the third set in the quarters of Wimbledon juniors. But no, I’ve never played a Brit here (in the women’s draw). But I played Sania Mirza one year and it was similar, that’s the only match in my life I got cramps. That’s weird.
Wozniacki is having a bit of a rough time right now, with injuries, tough draws, ranking drop… You’ve been through ups and downs as well, how do you get out of it, especially when you have experienced being at the top?
Everybody has to find a way you know. The last couple of years were really tough for me. I was outside the top-20 the whole time and I was struggling. And when you’ve been I don’t know how many years in the top-10, a couple for sure, that frustrates you. I see the girls in the top-10 and I know I can be there but I’m way too far from there. I knew I didn’t have consistency so I had to bring it. It’s issues within myself. So this year I said I just want to enjoy it. It depends. I had this you know that people say ‘she did this, so you must do that’, but it’s not like that. I found my own way. For somebody it can work, for somebody it will not. When I start to focus on the results and what people are saying then forget it. I just want to do my thing and I play the best when I’m enjoying it.
I see myself as an artist. That’s what I do. There are some girls who have to go and practice cross-court – I do have to practice, and I do have to work, and I do enjoy it a lot. But I want to create. When I go on court I love to create. If I don’t do it, it’s boring.
Has anyone ever wanted to drill that creativity out of you?
I think many coaches changed many players. When I was growing up in Spain, it was only drills. The same drills day to day for seven years. And I like it but it came to one stage where it was enough. And then I changed coaches, I went through everything basically. I’ve been through most of the things. And then you become at some stage if someone told me ‘enjoy and create’ when I was 19 I would say ‘what is that?’. And now I’m at that age where I have experience, I know I have to hustle, I have to work, I stay humble and keep working and enjoy and now I can create. But you have to have the base and experience and all of that.
What would you tell the younger players who are more creative?
Normally players who can create, they are really talented. And when the player is talented you cannot expect a lot from the talent. Talent won’t bring you to No1, will not bring you to win a slam, will not bring you to top-10. The work always will. You still gotta work. You gotta do the base. When you are strong like that, then on top of this you can create.
Who are the players you consider to be artists on the WTA?
I think in her way, Aga (Radwanska). For me, Amelie (Mauresmo) was. (Anastasia) Myskina was really smart. And (Kirsten) Flipkens.
Quite a few players are pulling out of the Rio Olympics because of the Zika virus. Have you done any research on the matter and are you concerned?
I have not read anything. I heard about a virus but that’s it. I called my dad and I told him ‘but they’re saying there’s a virus’. And my dad was like ‘they always say something, we’re going to go’.
For him, if it rains, if it’s this, if it’s that, it doesn’t matter, you play tennis. When I was like 20 and I lost in the first round of the US Open when I was struggling with injuries and stuff. I flew from New York to Barcelona, I took a car, drove like two hours and a half to Tortosa, it’s the city where my dad was based to practice with his team in Spain and first thing he looks at me and says – and I’m like really broken and I know he’s going to make it worse – he said put on your sneakers, go run, and after we’ll talk.
He called me the other day on my birthday saying ‘how are you doing?’ and I said ‘I’m doing great’. ‘No day without work, that’s how you like it, right?’ So he’s laughing all the time, but that’s what he put day to day into my brain since I was young.
*This conversation with Kuznetsova was edited for clarity*
