Liudmila Samsonova burst onto the scene in 2021 with an outstanding run to the Berlin title. A qualifier ranked outside the Top 100, Samsonova knocked off Marketa Vondrousova, Veronika Kudermetova, Madison Keys, Victoria Azarenka and Belinda Bencic to win her first Hologic WTA Tour title.
Her Berlin debut foreshadowed what was to come. Fifteen months later and the 23-year-old has become near unbeatable.
On Sunday, Samsonova notched her third title in two months by winning the Toray Pan Pacific Open without losing a set. She has now won 18 of her past 19 matches and 16 of those wins came in straight sets. On Monday she will rise to a new career-high ranking at No.23 and move inside the Top 20 on the Race to the WTA Finals Leaderboard.
The secret to Samsonova’s success? Her sports psychologist, Claudia Gambarino. At the suggestion of her coach Danilo Pizzorno, Samsonova began working with Gambarino in July.
“I think [the mental] was the part where I had more difficulties, to play all the weeks on the same level,” Samsonova said last month at the US Open. “I think I had the tennis level, I had the physical level already, but I didn’t have the mental level to do it consistently.”
Before she started talking to Gambarino, Samsonova had failed to win back-to-back matches in her last six tournaments. Since then, she is 18-1, with titles in Washington D.C., Cleveland and Tokyo.
“I’m understanding very well during the match what is happening,” Samsonova told WTA Insider after her win in Tokyo. “I’m not getting nervous. I’m always very calm and I’m trying to understand what is going on on the court and what will be the solution to make me play better. That’s the difference.”
“We are talking every day. It’s the work that pays off.”
Samsonova joined the WTA Insider Podcast by phone after her Tokyo triumph to discuss the evolution of her game and how she’s maintained her focus during this sizzling run of form.
Listen to the full interview below:
The key to her winning week in Tokyo:
“You know, this time was a little bit different. I was very, very focused on my game, every time. Every match I was so focused on finding solutions, just playing my game. I was not thinking about the result or the score. That was very important for me. I was in the final today, but in my mind I was playing the first round. It was amazing.”
On the importance of her coach Danilo Pizzorno:
“I think [Danilo] is a genius, a tactical genius….