Interview with Ankita Raina - "My confidence and improved forehand helped me reach Karshi finals"

India’s Ankita Raina reached another milestone last week. The 20-year-old became the first Indian woman to reach the finals of an ITF $25K event since Sania Mirza. Ankita had to come through the qualifying draw in Karshi last week and scored four wins over higher ranked players before going down in the finals. Her efforts will see her break inside the top 400 of the world rankings next week and also makes her India’s top ranked singles player. Sportskeeda caught up with Ankita after her run last week for this quick chat.

Congratulations on a fantastic week in Uzbekistan. This was your first ITF final at the $25K level. How different is the competition at this level as compared to the ITF $10Ks?

Ankita: Here in the $25K events, you normally face players who are ranked between 250- 350, whereas in a $ 10K you face players ranked between 500 and 900. So, in my opinion, it’s the next step of the ladder.

You beat four players ranked above you (no. 412, no. 250, no. 279 and no.301) in this tournament. What do you think was the key to your wins this week?

Ankita: My confidence and my improved forehand were key in my wins last week.

You lost in the finals in straight sets. Was your opponent too good? Or was it just too many matches in the week catching up with you?

Ankita: No doubt she was good as even she had reached the finals beating higher ranked players, and she had also won the 10K a week before the 25k in Karshi itself. But it’s not like she was unbeatable. In fact, the opponent I had faced in semi-finals was much more patient and experienced than her. And of course, it was my 7th match of the week, so my body might not have been as fresh as it was for other matches, but I personally didn’t feel exhausted. About how I played, I think I wasn’t as patient as I was a day before, so it was my impatience that cost me that match.

You have earned 35 WTA ranking points this week and will now be ranked around 380 in the world, which is your career-best ranking and also makes you India’s no. 1 player. What are your goals for the rest of the season?

Ankita: My goal is to be in top 300 by end of this year.

Life on the road must be exciting and adventurous. Tell us an interesting incident that you were part of while on the road.

Ankita: I have been travelling alone since I was 14-15 years and I remember once, a friend and I were travelling to Morocco in 2008 and we landed in one city and had to take a train to the city where our tournament was held. In Morocco, people speak only French and the local language, and they didn’t know even one bit of English. We didn’t know in how much time our station would arrive, and when the trained stopped we tried asking everyone whether we are supposed to get down here and they didn’t understand. As soon as the train started moving somebody finally said ‘yes this is your station’, so we got freaked out, and in haste I pulled the chain to stop the train. I thought it would stop and we would press the button next to the door and get down; but the door didn’t open and the TT arrived and said we would have to pay 6000 dirhams fine and so my friend couldn’t believe it and started crying; seeing her, even I started to cry. Finally, he took us to the station master at the last stop and that man saw two little girls in tears travelling alone and lost so he let us go without paying anything and sent us back in the same train to our station. So that was quite an experience I can never forget!

What is your tournament schedule like for the rest of the season? Do you plan to play more $25K level events?

Ankita: I have planned 5 to 6 $25K tournaments for the rest of the year, but I might add some $50K and $100K events also.