CoCo Vandeweghe calls Karolina Pliskova in the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Sunday from 1.20 pm (live at DAZN). It’s the duel between two players who actually don’t feel so comfortable on sand. Tennisnet presents the quick-witted American with vertigo and the extrovert Czech with family tattoo in a slightly different preview.
By Ulrike Weinrich from Stuttgart
CoCo Vandeweghe and Karolina Pliskova have faced each other five times so far. The Americans won three times – most recently in the quarter-finals of the 2017 US Open, winning Vandeweghe 7:6 (7:4), 6:3.
born December 6, 1991 in New York City
Residence: Santa Fe/California
World ranking position: 16.
biggest successes: Semifinals at the Australian Open 2017 and the US Open 2017
WTA title (single): 2- s’Hertogenbosch (2014 and 2016)
Match balance 2018: 6:4 victories (including Fed Cup)
Total prize money: $6,281,502
NEUE LIEBE? “Things are going well for me in Stuttgart. “I’m still a long way from a love affair with the sand.”
AND THE PORSCHE? “I like to drive fast. And I haven’t received any parking tickets this year either.”
HAVE YOU EVER DRIVEN REALLY FAST? “My mother had already bought me a ticket for a lap on a race track in the USA. But then my brother and my cousin came and took him away from me. So they can drive more often themselves.”
AND WHAT MAKES COCO UNUSUAL OUTSIDE THE COURTS? “I was diving in an aquarium with sharks and stingrays, for example. And last year I tried skydiving. I’m afraid of heights, but it went well. Because I get pushed off the plane – and I don’t have time to stand up there and look down.” Aha!
WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE VANDWEGHE’S BOSS? “Why not? She took her Argentinean physio to the Empire State Building in New York as a tourist guide. “I didn’t have so much fun?” Why? Of course, the fear of heights!
WHAT OTHER MUST KNOW…: Vandeweghe is trained by former Australian Wimbledon winner Pat Cash (52). And her great-grandmother comes from Pforzheim – only about 50 km from Stuttgart.
ANYTHING ELSE? She comes from a family of athletes. Tauna was an Olympic swimmer in 1976, Grandpa Ernie was a basketball player for the New York Knicks, Uncle Kiki was a manager for the Denver Nuggets and also played basketball herself. Only Grandma Colleen is a little out of place – she was Miss America in 1952. And once gave her granddaughter the following motto: “Fake it till you make it!” “(“Fake it until you reach it!”)
born 21 March 1992 in Louny
Residence: Monte Carlo/Monaco
World ranking position: 6 (she was already ranked 1st)
biggest successes: Final at the US Open 2016
WTA titles (individual): 9 – Brisbane, Doha, Eastbourne (2017), Nottingham, Cincinnati (2016), Prague (2015), Seoul, Linz (2014), Kuala Lumpur (2013)
Match balance 2018: 18:7 victories (including Fed Cup)
Total prize money: $11,645,928
WHAT IS THE GREAT STRENGTH OF KAROLINA? The service. In the 2017 season, she beat a total of 452 aces in 68 matches and, as in the previous year, was number one in these statistics. She is also called “Miss Aces” or “Queen of Aces”. In her 6-4, 6-2 semi-final win in Stuttgart on Saturday against Anett Kontaveit from Estonia, Pliskova did not lose a single point in the second set on her own serve.
WHY DOES IT HAVE A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP TO GERMANY? As a child, Pliskova lived with her family in Wolfsburg for two years and played at TC Fallersleben.
WHAT DOES PLISKOVA LIKE TO DO WHEN SHE DOESN’T PLAY TENNIS? The pasta lover likes to go fishing in her home country – preferably with her dad Radek. “Then I’ll just enjoy the peace and quiet and nature.” However, she lacks more and more time to indulge in her hobby. However, the fishing fits somehow to the 1.86 meter tall Karolina, who describes herself as introverted and phlegmatic.
great outbursts of feeling are not your thing…: “There is so much suffering in the world. A winning match or an ace will never make me cheer extraordinarily. I can’t change the world by doing this.”
WHAT’S WITH THE TATTOOS ON YOUR THIGH AND UPPER ARM? Every member of the Pliskova family – Mama Martina, Papa Radek and the twin sister Kristyna (herself a tennis pro) – wears at least one Polynesian Maori tattoo. “That expresses cohesion!” Speaking of sisters. Next week there will be a special duel at the home tournament in Prague. Top seeded Karolina will face Kristyna in the first round. So far it’s 4:4 in the duels, sisterly shared – so to speak!
HOW MUCH DOES PLISKOVA LONG FOR A GRAND SLAM TITLE? “If it doesn’t happen this year, maybe next year. I still have so many years ahead of me. And there are many players who didn’t win a major tournament until they were 30 years old or later,” emphasized the “Aces Queen” Pliskova, pointing out another advantage: “I have a game that doesn’t take so much energy. In other words, with her efficient appearance on the court and the short rallies she can continue to play on the tour for a long time.
AND FINALLY A LITTLE GOSSIP AND GOSSIP? Since summer 2017 Pliskova is engaged to Michal Hrdlicka. The former TV sports presenter had a long reputation in his Czech home country as a “party bad boy”. There are discussions between the “lovers” (Pliskova) actually only about the framework of the wedding. “I’d rather have a little celebration – and he’d like a bigger one,” revealed Pliskova with a smile.