Korneeva storms the third consecutive high school. But she does not need a calendar “Helmet”?
Sofia Kolodkina Jul 13, 2023 07:15 UTC Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The top seed advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
The champion of two Grand Slam tournaments in 2023 is going for a hat-trick. At Wimbledon, Alina Korneeva has already reached the quarterfinals, beating the Moroccan tennis player Aya El-Auni in the first match, the Czech Vendula Waldmannova in the toughest trio of the second round and the Italian Greta Greco Luccina in 1/ 8. playoff finals. In the quarterfinals, she will face the Japanese Ena Koike.
The 16-year-old Russian is our only tennis player on the women’s grid still playing. In general, only three young people came to England at the Slam: in addition to Korneeva, this is the Roland Garros champion in a pair of Yaroslav Demin, who settled at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Mallorca, and Anastasia Grechkina. The small representation is partly due to visa problems: England did not provide documents to those who have contracts with the Russian Tennis Federation: those who receive at least some financial assistance, such as partial refunds for flights or accommodation.
And if Grechkina, who got to TBSH through qualification, stopped fighting alone in the first round, then Korneeva and Demin continue, they are already in the 1/4 finals. Racket number 324 in the world, Muscovite Korneeva, has repeatedly confessed to her sympathy for Elena Rybakina, who, however, flew out of Wimbledon the day before, losing to Ons Zhaber in the quarterfinals. According to Alina, she sees a lot in common in the style of play with the representative of Kazakhstan and the student of the Spartak Moscow school: power serving and attacking with flat balls from the baseline.
Alina Korneva
Photo: Bradley Collyer/Getty Images
For Alina, the victory in the round of 16 over the Italian Luccina was already the 25th of the season: in addition to AO and RG, in 2023 she won the W60 category tournament in Pretoria, South Africa, defeating four top 400 tennis players in the road and winning the final Hungarian Tima Babos – 6: 3, 7: 6 (7: 3). The Russian became the fifth youngest tennis player to win an ITF tournament of this level after Mirjana Lucic, Sara Beylek, Marta Kostyuk and Mirra Andreeva. After RG, Korneeva also played in the W60 category tournament on Italian clay, but in the second round she lost to Australian Astra Sharma, and began to prepare for the grass, where she fights for the third TBSH title of the season. . True, second-seeded American Clervi Ngunu and No.5-seeded Slovakian Rinata Yamrikhova still remain on the grid, but both will not be able to meet Alina before the final.
However, with all the possibilities of a “Helmet” calendar, a full TBS game for the season is not the main goal of the Russian woman. Korneeva dreams of the main draw of the US Open for adults, which she said in the victorious post-final press conference in France. “This year the goal is to play junior Grand Slams, but the secret is to qualify for the US Open. I will do my best to play there. I still don’t think about my tournaments, because I just finished one. And as my father says: enjoy the game, play actively, but not too vigorously.
In theory, he can play in qualifying for the US Open. 220 qualified tennis players participate in the TBS draw – 128 make up the main draw. Korneeva is currently ranked 324th and has 188 points, but there is still time before the US Major to earn the necessary points to participate in the qualification: she must play in the W60 and WTA125 tournaments. The calendar, according to Alina, is made up of parents.
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And if Alina nevertheless enters the qualifications of the older adult, then in case of an unsuccessful performance there, she can apply for the TSH among the girls, and still make a coup in the junior Grand Slam. At one point, American Corey Gauff, for example, played in 2018 US Open qualifying and then entered the junior tournament and reached the quarterfinals. Or Amanda Anisimova, who did not make it past the first round of Roland Garros 2017 as a wild card, but reached the 1/4 final of the junior major.
amanda anisimova
Photo: Dam Pretty/Getty Images
Korneeva’s opponent in the quarterfinals is racket number 941 in the world, Japan’s Ena Koike, who has yet to get past the first round at W25, W40 and W60 tournaments. Although the girl is 12th in the junior ranking and eighth seed in London. In addition, Ena debuted in the Cascos del AO-2023 in singles and even reached the third round. And in a couple there, she completely broke through to the semifinals, as well as at the next Roland Garros.
Koike has been trained by her father Yohei since she was three years old, but for the past three years she has lived in Bradenton, Florida, where she studies at the IMG Academy. “We train for an hour every morning and two more in the afternoon, five or six days a week. Sebastian Korda, for example, lives next door. And Ash Barty is my favorite player. He thought very smart on the tennis court, ”said the girl with a smile.
