With exclusive insight from the tour, ELLEN PEREZ explains how a winning reunion and the benefits of training with Sam Stosur are among the positives of her 2023 clay-court season so far.
Paris, France, 29 May 2023 | Ellen Perez
Returning to the tour in Europe several weeks ago, the transition back onto clay was nice and smooth. I felt really happy with where my game was at after only a few practice sessions.
Sliding and moving on clay come naturally to me; the next part is bringing in depth and shape on the ball to buy myself time and to trouble my opponent. I naturally have a heavy forehand, so it’s mostly about repetition and hitting different balls from different parts of the court.
The only thing I struggled with a bit was the altitude in Madrid. This always requires time to adapt, so even though I felt pretty comfortable, it wasn’t the easiest tournament to start the clay-court season.
A winning reunion
Contesting a tournament in Reus, Spain, was a very spontaneous and last-minute addition to my schedule. Originally, I was supposed to head to Tossa De Mar 25k+H as I wanted to play some more singles after Madrid, given that I had decided to skip Rome. I signed up for the Reus 125k event without expecting to get in, but at the last minute, I made it into the singles draw.
That’s when I noticed that Storm Hunter had lost in Madrid and had a week before Rome started. We thought it would be great to use Reus as a base to train in singles, sharpen up our doubles skills, and just have a really fun week together.
Storm and I have travelled together a lot in the past few years, and our tournaments have almost always aligned. However, this year, we haven’t seen each other much, so it was long overdue for us to reunite. I think that’s part of the reason Reus was a successful week for us – we had dinners together every night, played board games, and trained together. Anytime you can balance competing and enjoying yourself on the tour, it’s a recipe for success. Storm and I have a great friendship and have played together quite a few times, so we know each other really well. But most importantly, we have each other’s backs, so it was pretty special to be able to play with her again and achieve success.
Star support
Storm wasn’t the only fellow Australian to provide a boost in my 2023 clay-court season.
Working with Sam Stosur while I was back in Melbourne was an amazing experience. Sam has always been the…
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