Magali de Lattre is a Portuguese former professional tennis player who reached a career high world ranking of 334. She has a career haul of nine International Tennis Federation titles and a singles win-loss record of 185–142.
She also has four ITF doubles titles to her name. Born in Switzerland, De Lattre turned pro in 2003 but took the decision to retire in September 2011. She was just 24 at the time but felt she had to make the tough choice due to a lack of sponsorship.
She has since moved to the UAE to take up a coaching role after falling in love with the place during her days spent practising in the Middle East. Sport360° caught up with her in Abu Dhabi last month where she competed at the Wilson Tennis Cup.
What led you to an interest in tennis over any other sport?
My dad is an ex-tennis player for Switzerland, and since I was little I can remember watching him playing all the time. When I was six I asked if he could teach me. From there I started loving it and I started to practise to become a tennis professional at 12.
He was also the biggest influence on me. When I was younger I wanted to beat his national record. He was No2 in juniors in Switzerland and my goal was to be better than him. And I won the Portuguese National Under 16/18/woman’s titles in the same year when I was 16.
Who was your favourite tennis player growing up and why?
Martina Hingis was my idol, not only was she from the same country I was born but I loved her game and her personality as a big fighter.
Who do you enjoy watching now?
I love watching Roger Federer. He is an amazing tennis player and has a lot of talent. I also watch a lot of my friends of the tour.
As a youngster what was your dream?
My dream was to be the best what I could be, of course everyone dreams to be No1 in the world but for me I needed to focus on working hard every day to achieve the best ranking I could be.
What was the highlight of your professional career?
My highlight was winning the women’s Portuguese national title. This tournament for me was the best because all the best Portuguese players were playing the same tournament. I was No4 national at the time and my objective for that tournament was to reach the semi-final and I ended up winning it. It was amazing.
And lowlight?
My lowlight was 2007. Starting with my knee surgery, I had stop around five months into it and it was a very hard to recover and get back on the tour because I had lost all my ranking and a few months after I decided to stop after nine years of working with one of my coaches.
What was your favourite venue to play at and why?
One of my favourite venues is back in Portugal, named Montemor-o-Novo. It was one of my first WTA tournaments that I played and where they give me a wildcard invitation.
Every time I go there to play I feel so happy, I feel like home and they treat me their family. In 2010 was the first time I had won the international tournament in that location and made me feel amazing.
What was the funniest/craziest/most embarrassing thing that happened to you as a pro?
I stayed in a hotel in Algeria which was terrible and I was sleeping with huge cockroaches in my room, I had about 20 of them in my room.
Either that or probably in India, where I had played my match early in the morning but things didn’t go very well for me so I decided to take the first flight to Dubai where I was practicing at the time.
I had to wait for two hours outside the airport and security wouldn’t let me in and kept telling me no and they would call the police, say I was a terrorist because I was trying to get inside the airport without authorization.
I was asking people flying to Dubai if they could give a message to the check-in desk that I was outside trying to get in to change my ticket for the earliest flight. Luckily a man helped me and later someone from the airport came to pick me up outside and I could change my ticket.
Having rubbed shoulders with the elite as a player, who was the pro you liked the most?
I had the chance to meet a lot great players such like Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniacki, Carla Suarez, Karolina Pliskova, Sara Errani etc.
One of my biggest friends and ex-doubles partner is Fatma Al Nabhani from Oman. We used to go together to a lot of tournaments and we had always so much fun.
You now live in Dubai as a coach. How did you get involved with coaching and how did you end up in the UAE?
I used to come to Dubai for practice because it was the best place for weather and location. In September 2011 I made the hardest decision of my life to retire and to start a new career as a tennis coach. I contacted the academy where I use to practise in Dubai and they told me they had a spot for me.
After one year I changed academy and since them I have been working full time with Super Sports Academy and I am really enjoying it.
And what is the best advice you could give to an aspiring young player?
Do not say it’s impossible because nothing is impossible, you just need to work harder and harder. It’s very important to enjoy and have fun. If you want to be pro one day you will have to make a lot of sacrifices in your life, so be ready for that.
Do you still play a lot of tennis these days?
I try. It’s not easy to fit a hitting session or practise in when you are coaching for a full day every day. When I get the chance to play a tournament I will do because I love it. But now I am enjoying transmitting my passion to young players and sometimes I play a few matches with them and they are always trying to beat me.
Away from the tennis courts, do you enjoy playing any other sports?
My other two sports are skiing and horse riding. Skiing I always did from when I was very young in Switzerland.
I used to go every winter to my grandparents house and I was also in a school to get better, but when I was 12 I had to make a decision which sport I wanted to continue, as you can’t do both and skiing is not good for the knees and would have affected my tennis.
As for horse riding when a good friend of mine had a farm going there was like my energy recharge from tennis.
What else do you like to do in your spare time?
I try to spend a lot of time with my husband, family or friends, going to the beach or even skiing in Ski Dubai as now I am not professional I can enjoy it much more now.
