Traffic cones usually signal frustration or annoyance but to tennis star Alicia Molik they have become crucial over the past few months.The former world No.8 had those cones in her sights every time she served during her crushing 6-1 6-0 victory over 19-year-old Queenslander Jade Hopper in the Australian Open wildcard event on Tuesday.
Molik has been working hard in a bid to gain entry into next month's Open and a key to her practice have been targeting strategically placed cones at the other end of the court.
"I've had a great preparation with my coach, Nicole Pratt," Molik said.
"We've had a really solid couple of months so, for me, it's a matter of being here on Sunday. That means finals day and earning my spot in the Open.
"I think I hit my spots well. It's something I've been doing day in and day out.
"Nicole has had the cones out there non-stop. That's my goal in a match. I visualise those orange cones and away I go.
"It certainly helped me beat Jade Hopper today."
Molik, a winner of five WTA Tour events and an Australian Open quarter-finalist in 2005, has slipped just outside the world's top 100 but said she was much better prepared ahead of the first major of the season.
"I feel great. I feel a lot more fresh come this time than last year.
"This year my highest ranking was 84. I'm better positioned now and I'd certainly love to improve that quite a lot.
"Playing in this slam, for myself in particular, reaching the second week is a pretty mean feat and that's something I'll be gunning for."
Jelena Dokic is also back fitter and more optimistic than last year and made her intentions clear when she disposed of Victorian Viktorija Rajicic 6-2 6-2 in her opening match.
Dokic, who took the latter part of the season off to prepare for 2011, was playing her first official match in two months and said she wanted to improve more for the next round.
"I think the round robin format benefits everyone, you get three matches no matter what happens and I think that's a good thing," Dokic said.
"So if I do get through my group I've had three matches and you can go into the semi-finals pretty prepared."
Dokic said her aim was to use the play-off as practice for her long-term goal of doing well in 2011, as well as the Australian summer.
Apart from being fitter and fresher, Dokic said she felt less pressured this year than last year when she had a string of WTA points to defend after a 2008-09 season which included a run to the Australian Open quarter-finals.
"I had a lot of pressure on me last year," she said.
"I did so well and people were expecting me to do really well again or even better and it was a tough situation and I didn't feel good at all coming into the Australian Open.
"But you have to learn to deal with that and I think I learned a lot from last year."
read more:
0 comments:
Post a Comment