Ai Sugiyama
Ai Sugiyama
Ai Sugiyamais a Japanese former professional tennis player. She reached No. 1 in women's doubles on the WTA Tour. Her career-high singles ranking was No. 8, achieved on February 9, 2004. In her career, she won 6 singles titles and 37 doubles titles, including three Grand Slam women's doubles titles. Sugiyama held the all-time record, for both male and female players, for her 62 consecutive Grand Slam main draw appearances, until surpassed by Roger Federer in 2015 Wimbledon Championship by...
behind crowd forced kindness pace picked second shots slow start trapped
She set a slow pace and I got kind of trapped into it. In the second set, I picked up the pace and that forced her to start making errors. My shots weren't so good, but with the crowd behind me, I willed myself to win.
becomes couple fed fine last olympics schedule tight whenever
Whenever we have the Olympics or the Fed Cup, our schedule becomes very tight and I couldn't play the last couple of years. Everything is fine with me this year.
attack found kept moved rhythm second unable
I moved well in the first set but then I found that I was unable to attack as we went into the second set, ... She kept me back (on the baseline) and that's not my style. I couldn't get the same rhythm back.
beginning concentration great maybe point seen smart thinking tried
I've seen her play better than today. She was thinking smart at the beginning. But maybe the concentration wasn't great today, up and down. I tried to just play every point and focus.
difficult player playing relieved strong win
It's always difficult playing a strong player like Anastasia so I am pretty relieved to win and make the quarter-finals here.
felt hand shook until won
It wasn't until I actually shook my opponent's hand that I felt I had won the match.
difference focused gave last match night today won year
I won my first match of the year here last night and that really gave me a lot of confidence. Today I just focused on myself, on my rhythm, and not on my opponent. That was what made the difference for me today.
tough
I think it's going to be a tough match,
serve
My serve wouldn't go in. It was a very frustrating game,
among hope japanese players top
I hope more Japanese players could come out even among the top 50.
lost missing rhythm
I completely lost my rhythm after missing that smash,