EXCLUSIVE: Czech tennis participant Martincova on returning to the courtroom after many months out
Thanks to Flashscore for this unique interview. For extra, go to https://www. flashscore.com/
Czech tennis participant Tereza Martincova has returned to the event circuit after eight months out of motion. On this unique interview wth Flashscore, she talks about how a lot her tennis life has modified, her need to return to aggressive tennis and the circumstances on the WTA Tour for gamers.
Jacob King / PA Pictures / Profimedia
Beforehand, Martincova has been spoken about as considerably of a tennis ‘insurgent’, maybe due to her distinctive tattoos or her frank phrases. In her glory days, in early 2022, the 30-year-old Prague native was additionally ranked 40th within the WTA rankings. She beat the likes of Samantha Stosur and Jelena Ostapenko.
Martincova performed her first matches after a break of about eight months in mid-March, however she’s nonetheless in search of confidence and the correct rhythm. She has a damaging 4-6 document this season, however she says she’s not giving up.
On this interview with former participant Kateřina Teruzzi, she discusses in nice element what life is like for a tennis participant throughout unsure instances.
On her return to motion
“I’ve to say that the start was a bit rushed as a result of I jumped into the matches based mostly on the truth that I began coaching. I had an enormous exclamation level from the medical doctors and the physio, saying they did not suppose it was a good suggestion. They’re skilled, after all, in order that was confirmed.
“I went out for the primary two tournaments, and it turned out that the leg actually wasn’t prepared. It had a brand new place, and I had roughly two bones knocking towards one another. I acquired bone oedema.
“I needed to cease once more for 3 or 4 weeks. They informed me it might be as much as three months. I sort of screwed up in that regard. In coaching, you are still sort of watching your motion, however in a match, you are in a unique mind set. I ought to have waited longer.”
Adjustments in her group
“The physio is an enormous issue for me now. I used to be by no means utterly in love with it. Now I completely cannot do with no physiotherapist. I do not imply strictly in tournaments, however normally in preparation. That is an enormous change for me.”
Adjustments in her each day routine
“I’ve to say it (her routine) has modified utterly. I all the time wanted to coach rather a lot. However now we’re attending to the stage the place I can not practice that a lot with that leg.
“I’ve needed to reduce on the courtroom and step up once more in one thing utterly completely different, in particular workout routines, as a result of I completely could not do with out it. It is new for me.”
Adjustments in her method
“I had an enormous downside with my wrist (a 12 months in the past – editor’s notice). On this case, I modified strings, which luckily helped me as a result of I used to be dealing with surgical procedure.
“However with my leg, I felt the other. I needed to be cautious to not change the method. It is the knee, in spite of everything. I’ve to lean into the leg, however I began having bother not leaning so a lot.
“My model of tennis is that I’ve to go extra with my physique as a result of I do not fairly have the arm power to play it with simply my arm.”
ČTK / Lebeda Pavel
On returning to tournaments
“I’ve to say it was a comeback, however extra prefer it nonetheless is. It is difficult as a result of I’ve by no means taken a break this lengthy. Plus, after the surgical procedure, which was initially imagined to be simpler. It is a massive unknown for me, and I am nonetheless studying how I can operate with it. It is one thing I am not acquainted with.
“I’ve to simply accept it a bit of bit, as a result of it is not about going right into a event now and getting used to my recreation. It is all in regards to the harm. The place it lets me go, the place it would not let me go, what it hurts me with, what it would not harm me with.
“I am on the stage now that I must get the leg to final so long as potential. I discover that the extra video games I play, the more severe it will get. I could not have carried out it in Trnava with out the painkillers. It is harder for me to deal with that now, as a result of I can not evaluate myself to the extent I used to be used to… That is very tough for me. It is all targeted on one thing utterly completely different.”
The psychological results of an extended break
“I feel I even wanted to modify off from tennis as a result of I used to be in it for fairly a very long time. It helped me. I can not say that I used to be in some sort of melancholy, that I could not play tennis. I believed that I might do it. I used to be assured that we might do it as a result of I had an amazing group round me.
“I constructed it with child steps. That strategy helped me. Alternatively, I used to be informed that I used to be very far forward general. And that I additionally acquired on the courtroom fairly early.”
Not working with a psychologist
“I do not work with a psychologist. I’ve an excellent group of individuals round me. That is all of the coaches. For instance, my health coach (Michal Mirejovsky – ed.). We did the toughest work after the operation collectively. He is sort of a psychologist to me.
“My household and my background helped me rather a lot. On this respect, I did not actually really feel the necessity to speak to anybody.”
The interval of uncertainty
“I do not actually know something proper now. I do not know if I’ll go to a event subsequent week, what event I am presumably going to play, the place I’ll go, or how it’ll go.
“After Trnava, for instance, I did not know if it might harm extra day-after-day or if it might get higher. I have already got some expertise, so I am making an attempt to place collectively a program. It is about watching and making choices on the final minute, going again to the starting.”
Adjustments on the WTA circuit
“I have been out of it for some time now, however there was loads of speak in regards to the balls. The older I get, the extra I discover it.
“In any other case, they’re making an attempt to enhance the circumstances for the gamers in order that they’ve the most effective service potential. In fact, it is a bit like the most effective for the finest.
“Funds are growing as a result of that was in all probability the largest stumbling block in tennis, the place gamers are undervalued. I do not need it to look like we’re not getting cash, however there is a massive downside with the redistribution of cash from the associations.
“In share phrases, they offer gamers little or no in comparison with the NHL, NBA, and NFL. There’s loads of preventing occurring proper now, and so they’re making an attempt to alter that.”
Francois Asal / Panoramic / Profimedia
On the creation of the PTPA
“I used to be on the beginning of the PTPA (Skilled Tennis Gamers Affiliation, ed.). I can say that (Novak) Djokovic has been preventing rather a lot to enhance the circumstances for gamers. They gave us an enormous lecture about what they had been planning.
“They confirmed us graphs and figures in order that we actually knew what the scenario was. I used to be on the beginning, and I stand by the truth that what these gamers are preventing for, or we’re preventing for, makes sense.”
Life after her enjoying profession
“I am positively going to need to coach. I am satisfied of that. The previous season has made me assured in that. In that respect, I feel I’ve it discovered, and it helps an individual to not fear in regards to the finish when it comes. Possibly I may even final that for much longer in tennis that approach.”
Martincova’s motivation
“I take pleasure in tennis rather a lot, and I need to show to myself that I can nonetheless push myself again. The problem motivates me. I do not discover myself getting outdated. When my knee begins to harm greater than it provides me, that is the place the issue begins. And I am not at that stage.”
Her future plans
“They modify from event to event. It is determined by how I am feeling, not feeling, and naturally, how I am doing, not doing. It relies upon rather a lot on my knee, merely to have the ability to inform myself that if I need to play two or three tournaments in a row that I can do it.
“Surgical procedure has taught me to take every thing in incremental steps. I wish to get again to the largest tournaments.”
