Mary Pierce Constructs Her Perfect Female Tennis Player

Former Australian Open and French Open champion Mary Pierce she would pick the fitness of Martina Navratilova, the backhand of Gabriela Sabatini, the forehand of Steffi Graf, the service of Serena Williams, the shot selection of Martina Hingis, the speed of Kim Clijsters and the heart of Monica Seles to construct the perfect female tennis player, in an interview to the Indian Express.

Here is a look at some of her comments - 

FITNESS - Martina Navratilova. Just because she was the first person to bring that into the game. Kind of the pioneer. At the time women weren’t really working on that and she just changed it with her focus on fitness, nutrition. A real game-changer in that sense.

BACKHAND - Well, the first person that came to my mind is Gabriela Sabatini (laughs). I mean, because it is a particularly beautiful backhand.”

FOREHAND - Steffi Graf. 

SERVICE - Serena. So fierce and intense. Obviously physically she hits it so hard, but the placement is also the key.

SHOT SELECTION - Martina Hingis was a very intelligent player. She used to play tennis like she was playing chess. She was super efficient, super smart. Not the most powerful player out there but really, really smart.

SPEED - I was thinking Kim Clijsters. she is super fast. (On Clijster’s comeback) I didn’t see her match, but I saw the score (2-6, 6-7) against Muguruza, who is playing well right now. I thought ‘that’s a good score’. Kim must be playing well, especially cause it’s her first one after a layoff, so I was impressed.”

HEART - Monica Seles, without a doubt. What a fierce competitor. I mean… (pfft). Just amazing.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2IhyB9x