Martinez: Helping Karolina? It Did Not Take Long to Decide

Karolina Pliskova’s team for the U.S. Open was joined by the Spanish tennis legend Conchita Martinez. And their cooperation started right after the world number eight arrived to New York from New Haven. The 1994 Wimbledon champion talked shortly about Karolina, mutual plans for the upcoming weeks as well as about her comeback to coaching.

Conchita, you are traveling to New York quite unexpectedly, and allegedly you cut short your vacation because of the offer to coach Karolína Plíšková. Were you surprised by this offer? And how long did it take you to decide whether or not to accept it?

Yes, I was in San Diego on vacation when my friend Rennae Stubbs asked me about the possibility to help Karolina at the U.S. Open. It didn’t take long to decide at all, Karolina is a great player and for me to be able to coach her at the US Open is a pleasure.

What do you think about Karolína’s tennis, have you been following her this season?

She is a great player, she has a very aggressive game and to me she is one of the players that can do well and be at the top in every tournament. Great serve and all around game.

What are you going to focus on with Karolína during the U.S. Open?

We just started today with our first practice. I would like to focus on her intensity on every point. The footwork is really important so that she can continue to be aggressive and take charge of the point.

So far it is said that you are going to stand in for Rennae during the U.S. Open. Or do you also plan any longer cooperation with Rennae and Karolína?

Yes, I’m going to stand in for Rennae at the U.S. Open and after that Karolína is going to do the Asian tournaments with Rennae. You never know in the future, but I would like to focus on the U.S. Open and then we will see if there are more opportunities.

Last time you were helping Garbiñe Muguruza, but your cooperation ended in March. Are you looking forward to being back at the WTA Tour?

I love coaching and I love the game of tennis. To be able to be back with a top player like Karolina is very exciting and I’m looking forward to this couple of weeks!