Former Wimbledon finalist Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria made waves this week at the Sydney International after the current world number 108 stunned sixth-ranked Petra Kvitova in the semifinals. Pironkova will have a chance to win her first career WTA title when she faces Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the final.
Pironkova, who’s ranking fell out of the world’s top 100 last year, said that her resurgence may be attributed to a new outlook in the game.
“Definitely a difficult season last year, very disappointing,” she said. “If we excluded Wimbledon performance and a couple of quarterfinals, what happened? I really don’t know. I’ve been trying my best through the year. The off-season last year I was working so hard. I never worked that hard in my life. Just didn’t work for me.
“I started to get anxious. I think that also didn’t help me a lot. When you lose so many matches in a row, definitely that affects your confidence. It’s normal. I couldn’t get out of that until the end of season. After the end of the season I took like a longer break. I’ve been working mostly on my own. I say, ‘Okay, what the hell. You don’t have anything to lose. Just relax and enjoy the game.’”
