L'Open d'Australie 2025 tient son match référence dans le tableau féminin ! Le derby 100% américain entre Emma Navarro (n°8) et Peyton Stearns n'a simplement tenu ses promesses : il a fasciné par son suspense et niveau de jeu. "Un des matchs les plus uniques que j'ai joués depuis bien longtemps" reconnaissait Navarro en conférence de presse. 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-5 en 3h22 de jeu. Les regrets peuvent être nombreux pour Stearns, qui avait un set et un break d'avance, puis menait 5-3 dans la manche décisive. Mais l'expérience a fait la différence, sans doute.
Photo : @AustralianOpen
Photo : @AustralianOpen
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00:00Yeah, one of the more unique matches I've played in a while, I think.
00:12Definitely did not have my best staff today and was just relying a lot, I guess, on my
00:23grit and toughness and fight.
00:26I think she had a lot of moments there where she could have maybe closed it out or run
00:32away with it.
00:34I just tried to stay really tough.
00:37Like I said in the interview on court after the match, I just kept telling myself there
00:43at the end, make the most of the skills I have today.
00:47I think maybe that's something that kind of clicked there for me at the end.
00:52Questions?
00:53I just wanted to ask more generally about your journey at the college system and coming
00:59to it maybe later than some players and just the benefits you feel you had of that journey.
01:04Yeah, I think it was really important for me to kind of take my time and do things on
01:10my own timeline and gain that just experience.
01:16I definitely wasn't ready to take the jump to join the pro tour after high school.
01:22I definitely needed a couple more years and felt like UVA was the place to do it.
01:29I think I grew a lot just maturity-wise, on court, off court, kind of all around.
01:36I definitely needed a couple years to feel 100% ready and committed to being a pro player.
01:47College was kind of a great pathway to do that.
01:50Was part of that just because of an awareness, even at that young age, of how tough and demanding
01:55the tour was going to be?
01:57Yeah, I knew that if I was going to go pro, I wanted to be 100% committed.
02:06I knew that anything less than that wasn't going to be enough and I wouldn't have the
02:11experience that I would like to have.
02:16Yeah, I just wanted to be all in when I took that jump and definitely wasn't ready coming
02:22out of high school.
02:26Can I just ask you about, just mentioning college, the coaches being on the court, is
02:33that sort of familiar to you because you've been through that and that's sort of where
02:38they are when you're playing college matches?
02:41Yeah, it was, I guess, I don't know, similar to how other matches feel where they're sitting
02:49just like a little bit higher but also, yeah, a little bit different.
02:53Probably felt more different when I was on the side where her coaches were just because
02:59it feels like we're so close and sometimes they would be hollering over at her from the
03:06far side so that was a little bit different but, yeah, I kind of liked it.
03:12I think my coach and I were able to interact a little bit more comfortably and a little
03:20bit more often, I guess.
03:22Do you like interacting during the matches with your coaches?
03:25Depends on the match, I think.
03:29One of the things I love about tennis is the problem solving part of it and I think my
03:35ability to solve problems in the moment on my own are something that make me a really
03:42good player and I don't have to rely on somebody to tell me what's going on.
03:46I feel like I have a pretty good handle on what's going on in a match so, but yeah, other
03:53days I feel like I need something more from the sidelines.
03:57Maybe today was one of those days where I just didn't feel like 100% comfortable on
04:02court and I needed, yeah, just a little reassurance, I guess.
04:08Hi Emma, Ayush from Sportskeeda.
04:10Obviously playing a match like that is not convenient but, I mean, do you think is it
04:15good to get tested early to, you know, to know what's coming and, you know, it's going
04:19to get tougher?
04:21Yeah, for sure.
04:22I think, you know, those are some of the most rewarding matches and some of the matches
04:29where you learn the most about yourself and about your game so I think it's definitely
04:35super valuable to have those early in the tournament and, yeah, I'll definitely take
04:41some confidence from today going into my next round.
04:46I know tennis is an individual sport but there's 17 Americans in action today and I'm just
04:50wondering if you're close with any of the men or if you're in a group chat with any
04:53men or the women?
04:55Yeah, I've gotten to know a lot of the American players over the past year or so and I just
05:01saw Maddie in the locker room and we were kind of laughing about how long I was on court
05:07and she's waiting to play so, and yeah, I've gotten to know Jess a bit and Coco so, yeah,
05:14it's really cool to kind of have that camaraderie with my fellow Americans and cheer each other
05:21on and, you know, it's great to see their success and it's fun to sort of feel that
05:27patriotism on tour.
05:31Hi Emma.
05:32Just in terms of decompressing, I guess, in the off season after an incredible season,
05:37what were the key things that kind of, once you had time and distance away from the tennis
05:42you played last year that you kind of focused in on of what last year meant to you and what
05:48are some of the things that, you know, as you start this year you want to bring from
05:522024 and things that you want to leave in 2024?
05:58I think I learned a ton last year.
06:02I would say the biggest or a big thing that I felt last year was just enjoying playing
06:13and I think when I'm enjoying myself on court it's when I play the best and it's when I'm
06:19the most creative and, yeah, I'm just able to read the game my best so that's definitely
06:27something that I've tried to bring into this year and, yeah, I think a lot stays the same.
06:35Goals are kind of the same.
06:36Just try to continue to improve myself and get better every day of practice and every
06:43match and, yeah, it was definitely, I've had some things to work through coming back to
06:51match play after, you know, a couple months away from matches and I kind of really felt
06:59like today, if I could get through today, I'll be feeling the best I have so far this
07:05year so hopefully I can take that momentum into next round.
07:09Where do you feel like that gap is right now in terms of the way you want to play your
07:13tennis to start the year and where you're feeling like you're kind of swimming upstream
07:17maybe to kind of get there?
07:21I think tennis is obviously a super mental sport and there's little cues and kind of
07:31tricks you play on your mind during match play that get you into the best place that
07:37you want to be in and those are kind of just things that you don't get to practice when
07:45you're practicing so just getting back into a rhythm with, yeah, I guess things you tell
07:52yourself.
07:55Speaking of things you tell yourself, how did you reset after that overhead in the third
08:00set?
08:02I guess there's just like kind of no choice, you know, you have to move on.
08:08That was, yeah, not my best moment but, yeah, got to move on.
08:13I knew, obviously I wanted to win the match and I knew lingering on that wasn't going
08:19to serve me any good.
08:22There's no mantra or anything, you tell yourself just one point, right?
08:25Anything?
08:28Not specifically.
08:32Before when you said about you felt you weren't ready necessarily to come on towards teenage,
08:36was that like a physical thing, a mental thing or a combination?
08:40Yeah, some of both.
08:41I just felt like I, yeah, I just wasn't totally committed to it.
08:47I didn't know that it was, I didn't know for sure I wanted to make a career out of
08:53tennis and that was probably reflected physically as well so, yeah, just both mentally and physically.