Article
22 Jul 2021
Pavlyuchenkova primed to carry Paris momentum to Tokyo
22 Jul 2021
Still riding the wave of her surge to the Roland Garros final in June, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is ready for another special tournament run at Tokyo 2020.
The No. 13 seed will face fellow former French Open finalist Sara Errani of Italy in the first round, with a potential third-round showdown with Australian world No. 1 Ash Barty, should they progress as the rankings suggest.
And with ROC hosting a training camp on the Russian island of Sakhalin, 28 miles off the north coast of Hokkaido, the 30-year-old is quickly acclimatising to life at the Ariake Tennis Park.
“It feels great,” Pavluchenkova said of reaching her second Olympics, following her debut at Rio 2016. “I always like playing for my country, playing with the team. We have this Olympic spirit with all the other athletes. I love it. I think it’s special. It’s something we can’t have every day, obviously – it’s every four years. It’s a good change.”
Pavlyuchenkova produced a star turn at Roland Garros to reach her first Grand Slam final, beating Aryna Sabalenka – the No. 3 seed in both Paris and Tokyo – and former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka before overcoming Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina en route to the final, where she fell just short in three sets against Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic.
“It gives me quite a lot of confidence,” she admits. “It’s always nice playing well at the big tournaments. I felt like I was in good form, and I’m trying to bring it here. I just feel like the Olympics are different and special so I need to be strong mentally and physically, and I will try to enjoy that challenge.”
With the sun beating down from bright blue skies onto the azure courts at the Ariake Tennis Park in the days leading up to the Olympic Tennis Event, conditions – and conditioning – are going to be as significant a factor as the players stood across the net.
“It’s definitely very hot and humid here, but I think it’s tough for everybody,” Pavlyuchenkova said. “We’ve had quite a nice preparation with the team in Sakhalin, we came here in advance to try and get adapted, and I’ve started to feel a little bit better now.”
ROC have a heavyweight tennis squad in Tokyo, with Pavlyuchenkova joined by Rio 2016 doubles gold medallist Elena Vesnina, Veronika Kudermetova and Ekaterina Alexandrova, as well as men’s quartet Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Aslan Karatsev and Karen Khachanov – all of whom could be considered medal contenders at these Games.
“It’s a bit of a pressure as well to be honest,” Pavlyuchenkova said. “We’ve always had such strong and big results in every sport. That’s why I feel like maybe it’s a good challenge and pressure because we always want to be among the best. I’m privileged to be amongst the best players in the world in Russian tennis, and also other sports. We have so many legends of the sport, and it’s very inspiring as well.”
High temperatures and high stakes in Tokyo, then, but Pavlyuchenkova believes she benefits from her previous Olympic experience this time around, adding that barring a few Covid-centric modifications the village experience hasn’t changed all that much.
“Nothing has changed – I was in Rio and it’s actually exactly the same, apart from everybody’s been wearing masks,” she said. “That’s the only difference. It’s still full with athletes and energy – you feel the energy, definitely.”
Energy enough to ride another wave all the way to the sharp end of the action here in Tokyo? Time will tell…