Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova hopeful about the future after defeat in French Open final
By ANI
PARIS: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova’s Roland Garros fairytale came to an end on Saturday when she fell to Barbora Krejcikova, but by breaking through to her maiden Grand Slam final she surpassed expectations and demonstrated a new-found mental toughness.
“The most important, I think, is to believe in yourself,” World number 32 said after her 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 loss to the Czech on Court Philippe-Chatrier. “I didn’t expect that this tournament, this Roland-Garros, I’ll be in the final. Again I tell you: physically I wasn’t feeling super great, like ready, 100 percent. Still, because of fighting and believing, you can still achieve it. That’s probably the most important.”
“Then just go out there, compete and enjoy.”
The Russian knows the importance of mental strength as she is now in a better place – thanks to the work she has done on her cognitive approach.
“It started just before Madrid, like a couple weeks before,” she said of her work with a sports psychologist. “I didn’t expect that I would really feel so much better on the court. I seriously felt a little desperate sometimes. You work hard, you do everything, but something is off all the time.”
