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Karolina Pliskova thinks the game has always been there for Magda Linette but changing a bit her mindset is the main reason behind the Pole's sensational Australian Open run. On Wednesday, 30-year-old Linette upset former world No 1 Pliskova 6-3 7-5 to progress into her first Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open.
“Of course she improves, but I think the main thing with some of these players, which takes a while for them to get up, I don’t think you can improve that much of the level of tennis what you play. Like you don’t improve that much your forehand.
I think it’s just a belief and the confidence, which obviously she has now," Pliskova said, per Tennis Majors.
Pliskova thinks Linette has the game and is playing very confident
Before beating Pliskova, Linette also defeated world No 4 Caroline Garcia and former world No 2 Anett Kontaveeit.
After beating Pliskova, Linette explained what has been different at this year's Australian Open. “I think through all my life, I’ve been taking mistakes and losses very personally. So to disconnect those two things, being a tennis player and a person was really difficult, because I felt a lot of times that the misses and the mistakes are defining me.
So I mean, my coaches and me did a really great job, and I’m really thankful to them because they really put up with a lot of crap," Linette explained. Linette didn't really start the match well as she dropped her serve in the very first game of the match.
However, it didn't take long for Linette to respond as she broke Pliskova in the second and sixth games to overturn the deficit and win the first set. In the second set, no breaks were seen until the 11th game, when Linette broke Pliskova for a 6-5 lead. In the following game, Linette served out for the match against Pliskova.