For a player of Agnieszka Radwanska’s calibre, ten months seems like a long gap between semi-final appearances.
However, that is exactly what the Pole has endured between her last-four appearance in New Haven in August 2017 and her run this week at the Nature Valley International.
Today, the former World No.2 beat 5th seed Jelena Ostapenko 6-2 7-5 in an entertaining match on Court One and looked more like her best self than she has all year.
“I guess the rest did a good job for me,” Radwanska said. “I feel healthier and more relaxed. I think it’s important to be fresh. Then you’re motivated more.”
Accordingly, Radwanska’s movement during her match with Ostapenko was excellent. She chased the ball down point after point in typical style, which forced the Latvian to play extra shots in rallies.
This approach drew a lot of mistakes from the 5th seed’s racket. It is something we are used to seeing from Ostapenko, whose matches are often decided by whether she hits more winners than unforced errors.
Today, the Latvian made more errors than winners. She also had trouble on serve throughout and remarkably only won 43% of points in her service games.
Radwanska took full advantage of these difficulties and broke Ostapenko seven times in the match.
“I think she was definitely returning better than serving,” the Pole said. “I was trying to be aggressive and not let her play, especially against the wind, and I think I did a good job.”
Radwanska: I’m never going to be a power player
Although she was not at her best this time around, the Latvian is exactly the kind of player the Pole frequently struggles to beat as she cannot match her power.
“Even if I wanted to, there is no chance I’m going to hit as powerful as the other ones,” Radwanska said.
“I can always try to be more aggressive on court, but I’m never going to serve or hit a forehand like those couple of girls bombing those balls.”
However, the Pole believes women on the tour with a style like hers can still thrive. “You can really see a lot of styles,” she said. “There are a lot of good ones that are playing (my) kind of tennis.”
Despite this, Radwanska believes that the ever-improving standard of the WTA tour will make it harder than ever before to climb back up the rankings.
“Of course I would love to be back in the top 10,” she said. “But I’ve missed a lot of tournaments this year and I just hope I can play all those I want to before the end of the year.”
“But I know how tough it is. There are a lot of players who deserve to be top 10 and a lot of new names around: young, up-and-coming players playing great tennis.”
The Pole continued, “I think what’s changed is that when I see those 17-, 18-year-old girls, they are very mature. They play like they really have a lot of experience.”
“A couple of years ago, 17-year-olds were not at that level. So I think tennis is getting better and better and you really have to play 100% because otherwise you are never going to go off the court as a winner.”
