Interview Tennis Weekend Magazine. New times have come to our tennis somehow unnoticed when the tennis players have moved to the front of the scene, who were considered the immediate reserve of the national team not so long ago and now have justly become its leading players. The first in the list, by all means, is Ekaterina Makarova, who eventually proved to be the leader of the national team in the semifinals against Slovakia last year. It were these recollections of that battle against Slovakia that served a beginning for our exclusive interview with Kate, who was “caught” by the TW editor-in-chief in Sochi right after the Russian national team had defeated the national team of Argentina. TW: Kate, could you name the most valuable victories in your career? EM: Id name the FedCup semifinals against Slovakia last year, when I got to defeat Daniela Hantuchová in the third deciding set. Having trailed in the course of the set 2:4, I managed to win. And then - with Lena Vesnina - we won the rubber for our team. That match taught me and gave me a lot - added positive emotions and confidence. And of course, I should mention my victory over Serena Williams in Australia. That victory was worth a lot: not everybody can defeat her. I demonstrated incredible tennis in the match against the American. (Makarova reached the 2012 Australian Open quarterfinals having defeated the American 6:2 6:3) TW: Your highest singles ranking in the career is 19. Now, you are ranked 22 - and youre almost at the peak. But all players set their goals for the perspective. What next milestone have you set up for yourself? It would be logical to suppose that it would be your breakthrough to the Top 10... Or is this task too ambitious? EM: No, why? Everybody somehow have faith in me: all my coaches, all my team that helps me a lot, - all of them bang me over the head that I do play very well and I can easily become a Top 10 player. Sometimes, I guess, its hard for me to believe it, but here perhaps some traits of my character have an impact. TW: Natural modesty? EM: Yeah-yeah (laughs). But year by year, tournament by tournament I feel that I get more confident, more bold in a good way, if you will... And, I guess, I will reach this goal. TW: In WTA Players Profiles it is said that your favorite surfaces are hard and grass. But you used to win key matches of the FedCup on clay, reached the final in Fes, Morocco, and in Estoril, Portugal, - and these are also clay tournaments. So is clay a favorite or least favorite surface? EM: I cant call it absolutely least favorite. Everything depends on your shape. If Im prepared both physically and technically, in general, I dont care on which surface to play. Yet, on clay you win the points through long rallies, need to change the rhythm of the play - everything is different here. And I have an active manner of play. I play more with flat shots, therefore, I like hard and grass the most. TW: Now, its become popular among the top world players - mostly women, but men also - to change coaches often. You are not actually in the top players, though (I hope, such an assessment would not hurt you), but youre definitely on your way there. Havent you come up with an idea to change something in your coaching staff to move to the new level? Of course, I know that you treasure your coach Evgenia Manyukova who has worked with you for so many years... And now Anastasia Myskina also woks with you as a traveling coach, accompanies you at the tournaments... EM: Well, its not that shes a traveling coach - she helps us... TW: So, are you happy with everything in your coaching staff? Or at some point you would like to change or enhance anything? EM: No, Im happy with my team now and Im not going to change anything. It never crossed my mind! Because Ive been working with Evgenia Manyukova for seven years already and she knows me very well. And every year its getting better, because (thinks...) TW: Some synergism emerged as the phrase goes now? EM: Yes. Im built this way: I cant change someone all the time, I need time to get used to the coach... And Ive dreamed to work with Evgenia Aleksandrovna since I was a junior. After I had trained in Luzhniki for 12 years, where I was just taught how to play, was given an incredible experience - and so much was done for me having invested a lot of efforts, - I got stuck at some point... And then I came to Evgenia Aleksandrovna by myself and just said: I dont know anything, I want to work with you and thats it! I guess, I was somehow attracted to her and after that we had results, thats why Im not going to change anything, Im happy. TW: And who fostered you in the tennis school in Luzhniki? EM: Irina Grigorievna and Elena Grigorievna Granaturova. I was in their group and visited individual trainings. TW: Why were you attracted particularly by Evgenia Manyukova? Did you admire her as a player or did someone just recommend her to you? EM: Because we used to spent a lot of time together when I played for Russian national junior teams. She traveled with us as the team captain. And somehow I was always under her wing in the national teams- both when I played in “under 14” category, and at 16, and at 18. And I liked everything in our teams training camp. And for the six years of my playing for Russian national junior teams, when I was sitting beside Manyukova during changing of the ends, I had lost only one singles match. I used to have some amazing positive stats. TW: And all that time did Manyukova sit beside you as the team captain? EM: Yes (smiles). And thats why I felt so comfortable with her that I really longed to work with her. TW: On the national team... What does participation in the Olympics mean to you? You and Elena Vesnina made your joint debut at the Olympic Games in London - and reached the quarterfinals at once. What are your goals for the Olympics in Brazil? EM: The Olympic Games mean a lot to me. I guess, even more than the Grand Slam tournaments. And even when the ladies ask me what I would like to win more - a Grand Slam tournament or the Olympics I definitely say: the Olympics. TW: Just like Elena Dementieva in her days... EM: Yes (laughs). I dont know, but somehow it has been since my childhood, when I watched all the Olympic Games and at the same time I watched Grand Slam tournaments, the Olympics evoked different feelings and emotions in me. Thats why I had a great wish to get to the Olympics in London and I did it, everything shaped well for me and Lena. And I also train intentionally for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, its my priority. TW: Once you named US Open your favorite tournament. Why didnt you name Australian Open? For your results there in singles are at least not worse. Is it because you won in New York the mixed doubles tournament with Soares? EM: I dont know... I guess now I could name both these tournaments my favorite, adding the Australian Open. TW: Can I ask you tricky questions? EM: Tricky (laughs)? How tricky? TW: You can decide yourself, whether this one is tricky or not. You already won the FedCup (in 2008) but back then you were not in the leading position in the team. But last year, you became a rightful leader of the Russian national team, including due to the tie against Slovakia mentioned above. And there was the straight road to the final in Italy... A lot was said and written about this. Could you comment on all the situation when in the end our national team went to Cagliari not in the strongest composition. EM: Of course, it was a shame. That year the situation was such that the ladies (Vesnina, Kirilenko and Pavlyuchenkova) made it to Sofia (the WTA Tournament of Champions held for the tennis players who didnt make it to the WTA Finals, held at the same time as the Fed Cup) for the first time. And we reached the final. This was the ladies choice because they had already won the FedCup. You dont make it to Sofia every year. Of course, it was a little bit more interesting for them because it was something brand new. I was injured. Yes, I went to the Masters in Turkey (the WTA Finals in Istanbul), because there I could play two matches at most, and besides, doubles - its not singles: when you play doubles you can adjust yourself and play so that you could save your hand a little. And I just cant go to the final and say that I cant play. Because if I came, I must really help the team and do my best 100 per cent. But I wasnt ready to do so, that is why I, in fact, found it better to give my place in the team to some of the young ladies who would probably try to make it better... TW: So, if we sum it up, was it a kind of a worse fate, unlucky circumstances? EM: It was in fact the way the situation came about. It was not that someone wanted to do something bad, or everybody turned their backs on the federation, or something like that... It just happened and I think that nothing bad should be said... About us, that we, say, ... denied. Its just one of those things. TW: In the same cup season of the last year, during the tie against Japan, when you hadnt played for the national team with such confidence, when you lost the first singles rubber, Shamil Tarpischev, the team captain, said that Ekaterina Makarova was a great player and she would show herself. We all memorized those words then. And indeed, after that you won your second singles rubber in the tie against Japan and then played incredibly against Slovakia... Question: is it true that the FedCup is a great impulse for the individual career? EM: You have absolutely different emotions at the FedCup. And there, I guess, I somehow am more motivated, can beat the bag out of myself unlike at the individual tournaments. Because at the Fed Cup matches you feel that the whole country supports you and you play for it, not for yourself. Its different at the individual tournaments. On the other hand, you need some time to get used to these special emotions, because theses matches for the national team are very tough and uptight. For example, last year, after I had defeated Hantuchová and Lena and I had won the doubles rubber, the next day I ached all over. It has never happened to me in my career that every muscle ached... such is the tension you may not feel it when you play, but then... It might be only me, I might be the only one who takes these matches to heart and somebody takes it easier. But thats how it goes with me. TW: The last tennis question: at the current stage of your career can you adjust something in your play - in technique or tactics? EM: No, I really have some things to improve, and we are working on it. There are moments when you should play in more varieties, more actively (sometimes I dont play as actively as I should...) There is always something to work on and every year and every month its getting better. TW: Enough for tennis. Weve found out that you like chocolate muffins. And pizza... EM: Yeah-yeah (laughs). I love all kinds of pizza, even not tasty ones. TW: Do you have favorite kind of pizza? Marguerita, or, say, Primavera? EM: The most favorite is the one with prosciutto. TW: Well, it is in fact Primavera... EM: Yes, exactly. But even the most ordinary pizza in the airport, even if its not tasty enough, attracts me... Though, of course, I stop myself because one cant eat so much pizza. But... I love it! All the ladies laugh at me because of that. TW: And do you cook yourself? In the same WTA Players Profiles it is said that you enjoy cooking... EM: Really?! Does it say so? TW: They say your favorite activities are cooking and dancing. EM: Yes, dancing is what I really enjoy, and during the training season I do dancing all the time with a personal coach. TW: What do you dance? Latinos? EM: Yes, last year it was Latinos. Before that, I practiced Ladies dance - studied more ladylike plastic. TW: And why then dont you demonstrate it to us like Petkovic or Jaksiс - a celebration dance after the matches won? EM: I guess, its not for me. Im such a ... shy lady. TW: Favorite singers? EM: Rihanna and Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake, Beyonce. Should I also name some Russian singers? TW: You dont have to. If you dont have one, then no. And among your favorite activities apart from tennis there is shopping. What are your favorite brands? And what is your favorite shopping city? New York, isnt it? EM: New York, absolutely. I also like Rome. In the past years I could go there and have a walk and shop. I really enjoy to do window shopping before some tough, uptight matches - not for buying anything, just to distract me. For example, here in Sochi I didnt manage to do this at the Olympic facilities. And one of the favorite brands is Dolce&Gabbana. And, I guess, Pucci dresses. TW: Elena Vesnina, your partner, posed for Playboy. Have you been proposed something of the kind? And have you seen these shots of your partner? EM: Yes (laughs). Yes, of course I saw them. TW: And? EM: I liked it. Good for her! Well, its somehow... (embarrassed). I dont want to tell right now. TW: Well, you liked it and thats it. EM: No, I liked it, I mean it. And I assess her decision absolutely positively. She might have wanted to overcome something inside herself or... Its a good magazine, moreover she had such a proposal and she was on the cover. Im for it! TW: How do you treat yourself? Some shopping? In the same WTA Players Profiles it is said that you have earned almost $5 million for your career... Can you by a car? Buy your own apartment? Or are you attached to your parents and live with them? EM: No, I live by myself. TW: In your apartment? EM: Well, yes, in the one we use to have - my parents used to have. I havent got a chance to buy my own one yet... TW: But do you plan to do it? EM: Absolutely. TW: In Moscow? EM: Yes, I dont want to live anywhere but in Moscow. I really enjoy living in this city. Cars? Yes, I drive, Im selecting the second car now. I like it a lot. EM: Now I have Range Rover Evoque. And before that I used to drive BMW 3 Series Coupé. TW: And did you drive both cars by yourself? Arent you afraid of Moscow traffic jams? EM: No. TW: And how do you deal with the beloved traffic police? Do you say “Hello, gentlemen, Im Ekaterina Makarova”? EM: No (laughs), I try not to violate the traffic regulations. TW: And is it at all possible in Moscow - not to violate the regulations? EM: Im not brought to stop often. If its done for identity check, I smile and say: Oh, come on, dont find fault with me! TW: Your mothers name is Olga, your fathers name is Valeriy, isnt it? EM: Yes. TW: What are they? EM: My mother is a housewife. I have an elder brother Andrey, and now our mother helps him with his kids (he has two daughters). And my father is employed with Gazprom. TW: Another personal question. Is Ekaterina Makarovas heart free? Or does she have a boyfriend? EM: She has a boyfriend. TW: Serious plans for the future? EM: Time will tell. TW: Actually, what are your pure womans dreams? Lets forget about the world Top 10 for a while. What should happen so that you said “My life couldnt be better”? Home, family? EM: Home and family - absolutely! To get married, to have kids... And then Ill become the happiest woman in the world, because Ill have the goal in my life. You cant live for those cups standing in the cupboard! Thats why I really want to get married. And to have kids.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 22:14:44 +0000
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