Demi Schuurs from Nieuwstadt would even participate in Wimbledon next month if no prize money is awarded.
The best doubles player in the Netherlands, active this week at Roland Garros, is not thinking about skipping the prestigious grass tournament now that the WTA and ATP have decided not to award points.
Most special and unique
“Even if they don’t give money, I still play Wimbledon. Because Wimbledon remains Wimbledon and if you look purely at tennis, the tournament is the most special and unique. Actually, I have already prepared myself for it. The hotel rooms are already booked, so to speak,” says Schuurs.
No points
The tennis associations recently decided not to award points at the grand slam tournament in London because Wimbledon does not welcome players from Russia and Belarus.
Schuurs does not change planning
There are fears of devalued tournaments during the grass season, but Schuurs sees no reason to change her schedule. “It doesn’t matter to me: even if I win Roland Garros, I still play Rosmalen. Playing in my own country gives me the same feeling as playing in the Billie Jean King Cup or at the Olympics.”
The grass season starts a day after the Roland Garros final, including at Autotron in Brabant. Wimbledon starts on Monday 27 June.
Doubles partner
Four years ago, Schuurs took the title in Rosmalen, alongside the Belgian Elise Mertens. This year she will perform with the American Desirae Krawczyk, with whom she has been a permanent couple for a few weeks. This season they won the tournament in Stuttgart and reached the final in Madrid.
Cooperation not successful
The 28-year old Schuurs had started the season with Chan Hao-Ching from Taiwan, but that cooperation did not prove successful. “Nothing happened at all, but we were both pretty calm. And she didn’t like training very much and I had a hard time with that. Then I wanted to stay longer at a tournament to train and then she canceled because she wanted to rest. That started to irritate.”
back on track
After a difficult start to the year and missing the Australian Open due to surgery, Schuurs says he is back on track again. “It didn’t go well with Krawczyk in the beginning, but we noticed that there was something in it, that there was potential. In the training sessions we won 85 percent of the practice matches,” said the specialist.
Billie Jean King Cup
“At the tournaments we were eliminated early a few times, until the Billie Jean King Cup came in between. Then we were not together, but we still had contact about how we could improve individually. After that it started to run.”
Schuurs and Krawczyk are fifth at Roland Garros.