In the tennisnet interview Mona Barthel talks about difficult moments, buying books as a sign of self-responsibility, the mental”monster” Caroline Wozniacki and her coach Christopher Kas.
From Ulrike Weinrich from Doha
Despite promising preparation, Mona Barthel has played a disappointing season so far. The number 75 in the world, which has been repeatedly thrown back by illnesses and injuries in her career, still has its sights set on the top 20. The narrow opening defeat against Agnieszka Radwanska in Doha gave the smart Barthel cause for some optimism.
tennisnet:”In the match against Agnieszka Radwanska in Doha, you fought off nine match points – and then lost unhappily in three sets. Has anything like this ever happened to you before?”
Mona Barthel:”I can’t remember it anyway. I think I forgave eight match points myself once, that was sometime in the Bundesliga…”
tennisnet:”Measured against the results, your start to the season was relatively disappointing, similar to the last few months of 2017. Do you still find courage in your performance against Radwanska?”
Barthel:”Yes, that was one of my best matches. I had a very clear plan and did it. I went to the net a lot and kept giving myself new opportunities. That felt totally good. On the whole, I draw positive things from this defeat. The important thing was that I recognized myself as a player. Much more than in the weeks before. I had somehow lost my identification on the square. She’s slowly coming back now.”
tennisnet:”Why hasn’t it really started yet?”
Barthel:”Of course I’ve given it a lot of thought. But there’s probably not a single reason. My preparation at the TennisBase in Oberhaching went well. There was really no unit that wasn’t good. That’s why I started the season with high expectations. And that’s why I was all the more disappointed about how things went in the first few games. It came a little out of nowhere. It was an incredibly difficult time, very challenging – especially mentally. Cause I knew my tennis was here. But I couldn’t transport it to the field in the competition. Maybe it was a little bit of a wake-up call.”
tennisnet:”What do you mean?”
Barthel:”I have changed many things recently. It is precisely from these difficult times that one can learn a lot. It’s a process that’s not finished just because I’ve played the last few matches much better. It’s heading in the right direction. That’s good to know.”
tennisnet: What did you do specifically to counteract this?”
Barthel:”I started working with a mental coach last year. And because I also wanted to take responsibility for myself, I bought books on the subject. It was not only about sports, because the normal life is sometimes very similar to tennis. This can be transferred quite well, because the principle is always about the same things. I wanted to see what the problem was – and how can I approach it rationally. It’s actually one of my strengths to think logically.”
tennisnet:”What do you think is the ideal player Mona Barthel, who has already been ranked 23rd?”?
Barthel:”A little bit like I showed against Radwanska. I want to play hard and try to find my way to the net to finish the points. On the other hand, I would like to be free to vary a little bit so that the creative is present in my game. I think the serve is a great strength on which to build.”
tennisnet:”Do you look at your competitors to see how they develop?”
Barthel:”Of course. I also wrote down what my game should look like and compared it to other players. One wonders: Where am I still lacking, what do I have to work on now? When it comes to service, I’m a big fan of the Pliskova twins, they have a great fluent serve movement. I like Caroline Wozniacki mentally because I think she’s very tough. But at the same time you can see that she is having fun on the course. Caro manages this balance very well. Ana Ivanovic always impressed me in the forehand. On the backhand, I’ll take my own.”
tennisnet:”How important is the sunny spirit of your coach Christopher Kas – especially in these challenging times?”
Barthel:”Incredibly important. I think we are very contrary and can therefore complement each other quite well. He’s teaching me a lot of things outside the field, too. It is a really good cooperation, the team spirit is always in the foreground. It has, of course, helped enormously in the last few weeks that he is such a positive person. He’s always trying to find a solution and helps me approach things a little more pragmatically.”
tennisnet:”You were not in the line-up for the surprising 3-2 win of the German Fed Cup team against host Belarus in Minsk. What was the reason?”
Barthel:”The girls showed an unbelievably good performance. I would have liked to have been there, but together with the new team boss Jens Gerlach I decided that it was simply not the right time for a nomination. We sat together at the Australian Open and talked. And to be honest, my last six months haven’t been so sparkling. But a lot can happen in the weeks leading up to the semi-finals. Angie Kerber and Jule Görges will be seated, but the rest is so close together. In any case, the Fed Cup will continue to be a topic for me in the future, because I really like team sport.”.
tennisnet:”In Angelique Kerber and Julia Görges two Germans are in the top ten. How much does this serve as motivation?”
Barthel:”Of course this is an incentive. At Angie’s, it was incredibly nice to see her start into the new season in 2017 after such a difficult year and play great again. And Jule is also very inspiring. I think you can tell she’s calm. She enjoys everything, also because she is in a good mental state. Jule has a great team around him. For years she has worked consistently – and that pays off.”