Fact. Timea Bacsinszky is having a totally awesome year. Time for the stats… So far in 2015, Timea has compiled together a 22-3 W-L record, which has included a 15 match winning streak that included back-to-back titles in Acapulco and Monterrey, and a quarter-final showing at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.  Her only three losses of 2015 have come against Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza and Serena Williams.  Her stats in three setters have been equally impressive… Timea has won 1o of 11 three set matches in 2015, which has included winning her last eight three set matches.

Bacsinszky’s comeback has been a really uplifting story.  Bacsinszky was a solid top 5o player, peaking at number 37 in the world back in 2010 before injuries derailed her seasons between 2011 and 2013.  She was here and there, playing ITFs, but enjoying little success on the WTA tour.  In 2014, the results started to come.  Bacsinzky played five ITF finals, winning two titles early on and she worked her ranking high enough to play WTA events.  Her transition back to the WTA tour has been smooth; she qualified for back-to-back Grand Slams at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and enjoyed some excellent wins in Guangzhou and Wuhan.  The absolute highlight was a straight sets win against Maria Sharapova that saw her reach the quarter-finals in Wuhan.

I’ve really been taken aback by Timea Bacsinszky’s form this year and even more so, her story.  I’ve heard snippets before this week, but there have been a number of press conferences and articles where Timea has been extremely open about what she has been through in her life.  In case you missed it, i’ve included some of the highlights from her press conference after her victory over Elina Svitolina, which is some heavy stuff.  All the quotes comes from the full interview transcript on the BNP Paribas Open website and are provided by ASAP Sports Transcripts.

You know, it’s tough in tennis because you put so much energy in working and getting ready for the tournaments, and then you expect right away results. But actually, you never know the results are coming, and you just need to be patient sometimes… He (Timea’s coach) learned me well to work and not to be waiting results right away and just to be patient and to keep on working and keep on keep trying to give my best every day on court while I’m practicing, as well as on court having a match.

Well, I have been a kid of like a syndrome of pushy parents. I think it happens worldwide. Yeah, sometimes, I mean, many, many stories, they never get heard because the players are not good enough and they don’t want to talk about it if they are not good enough.  Anyway, it’s happening a lot, especially in tennis, because ‑ especially in women’s tennis, because for sure, as a woman, as a young girl, you can never go against the power of a dad. You have no money or nothing.
Actually, you have no chance to get out of it. Or you tank your tennis career and you lose matches.

I had to win matches because otherwise my parents would fight. I’m this kind of kid which is ‑I had‑ I have Hungarian parents but they live in Switzerland. At home I was kind of in a prison, and when I was at school I was looking at all the happy kids around me with a family and stuff. I was kind of wondering, Why am I the only kid in this class which is not having fun at home?

Well, at a certain point, I said, no, No, I don’t want that anymore. So I was kind of all the time putting pressure on my dad, saying, I’m not going to play tennis anymore. I’m not going to play tennis anymore. But at the same time, I was so good, so everyone would tell me around me, Why don’t you want to play? You’re so talented. You’re gonna win this and that. You’re going to be so famous and everything.

For a kid, you can make believe anything to a kid. You just think at some point my poor mom was also part of this, because she was kind of saying, Okay, if you don’t argue with your dad, I buy you jeans. But she wanted to do good, but at the same time she wasn’t. Then I was like, Okay, I’m going to have a jeans so I’m going to shut my mouth. But was it helping?

Well, I’m just so glad that I’m kind of survived. I didn’t get to do drugs or alcohol or whatever. Okay, yes, certain part of my career I was partying way too much because it was just too heavy for me to have it inside.  But, well, at the age of 15 I kind of forced my mom to divorce. Otherwise I told her, Okay, if you divorce I stay with you, but if you don’t divorce, you’re both not gonna see me anymore.

He (Timea’s former coach) did a great job. He was 25 when he started with a 15 year old kid, and he brought me 37 in the world. He tried his best and he did a great job and I’m really thankful, but at a certain point he couldn’t do anymore because I wasn’t able to give more. I was already giving my best, but my best was not the thing I’m giving right now.  It was like 98% and the 2% were missing. Then I stepped back and did something else. I decided not to have contact with my dad anymore. Probably forever. And, well, I have a great contact with my mom. I have half sisters and half brothers which are really great. Well, I just choose the people I would be surrounded of.  Yeah, I just learned a lot about myself and did some work with a psychologist.

(Talking about the match against Svitolina) Usually my heartbeat doesn’t get so high, but I promise you the first set my heartbeat was almost at 200.  I was like, Okay, why did I drink two coffees before the match. I was blaming myself. Then I said, Okay, well, let’s try to find a solution. Why didn’t I think about the solution before? Well, I tried, but it was not working.  So sometimes it’s like with work. You have to get patient, and then you (In French.) You take the fruits. You collect the fruits later on.

Yeah. That’s why I got so emotional, because it’s just hell of a story. (Smiling.) Just so proud of it, yeah. Happiness. Yeah, I don’t know. No words. I cannot even say.

I have this ability to believe in myself at any time. I think this probably is one of the only things what I’m taking from my childhood, is that I had really to fight until the last point. So I was kind of forced to do that, otherwise, yeah, it would not have been good for me.  So, yeah, I know I have, yeah, all the time this thing in my mind that there is a solution. There is not only problem. There are not only problems. There are definitely solutions.

You can watch the entirety of Timea’s press conference in the video from the BNP Paribas Open’s YouTube account below.  Most of the press conferences from Indian Wells are on YouTube which is not something i’ve seen before, but is greattt!

There was also an interview with Timea that featured in l’Équipe on the 19th March and was translated on Tennis Translations by Mark Nixon HERE.  If you haven’t heard of Tennis Translations before then I couldn’t recommend it more… the site offers translations of non-English tennis articles and is a superb resource.

Bacsinszky has pulled out of the Miami Open next week, which feels like a wise move.  It will allow her to recuperate fully for the clay court season, which feels like a surface that she can thrive on.  It will be fascinating to see whether Timea can continue the form through the rest of the year.  Right now, she is playing with bucket loads of confidence as her record in three set matches demonstrates.  It is likely that there will be a dip at some point in the future and it will be telling how she responds to that.  As she has little to defend over the next couple of months, she should break into the top 20 soon and i’d fancy her to be a top 16 seed for Roland Garros.  However a new dimension will arise in 2016 when Timea will have to defend these points… but for now, let’s just focus on 2015!

Timea’s upward trajectory in the rankings has been a revelation and her openness about her experiences in life and tennis have been very moving to read.  Right now, Timea is TOP of my list of players I want to photograph during the summer 😀

Quotes from Timea Bacsinszky originate from the BNP Paribas Open website HERE by ASAP Sports Transcripts.  All transcripts during the tournament from all the players can be found here too.

Photo is taken from TennisTV coverage