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Karolina Pliskova French Open
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‘I need to stick with my game,’ vows Karolina Pliskova ahead of French Open


Karolina Pliskova grew up playing on clay but in nine visits to the French Open has gone beyond the third round only once. Now the former World No 1 is hoping that a change of tactics can revive her fortunes on the surface.

“Some people might think that my game is maybe not the best for clay, but I think I got it a bit wrong when I started playing professional tournaments on clay,” said the 29-year-old Czech, who has enjoyed her best results on hard courts and reached her only Grand Slam final at the US Open.

“I tried to play a bit of a different game because it was clay. I tried to hit with more spin and play more of a clay-court game. But now I can see that a lot of girls are hitting big. I also feel like the clay is not as slow as it used to be. You can still play aggressively and beat the girls who run a lot, like Simona Halep. So I think I should just stick with my game.”

Pliskova, who has not won a title for 16 months, recruited Sascha Bajin as her coach at the end of last year.

The Czech struggled on the clay in Stuttgart before falling to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Madrid after beating Cori Gauff in her opening match.

However, Pliskova was much improved in Rome, beating the likes of Jelena Ostapenko and Petra Martic to reach a third successive final in the Italian capital. The World No 10 went on to lose 6-0 6-0 in the final against an inspired Iga Swiatek, who is one of the favourites for the French Open.

However, the World No 10 insists she is happy in her work with Bajin. “I think everything is working well,” she said. “He’s trying his best, I’m trying my best, so hopefully we’re going to have more success in the future.”


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Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.