This is an interview with a former world #3 doubles player, 2-time Grand Slam champion, and Top-50 singles player, Vania King.
Vania shares key moments and what led to them during her career, the unique way that she made adjustments (especially to her kick serve), and what went right in 2010 for her two majors. She won Wimbledon and the US Open back-to-back in 2010 with doubles partner Yaroslava Shvedova.
I also ask Vania about:
- Her unique approach to improvement that led to her first singles title and her two doubles Grand Slams.
- What was going through her mind & some behind-the-scenes stories during her Wimbledon title.
- How to deal with parents/coaches that push kids too hard.
You will hear how she got into tennis, a trend she has seen in club-level doubles, a teaser for a possible second episode to discuss strategy and her foundation, and what we can do to make doubles more popular.
25 Winning Doubles Tactics to Help You Play Smarter
Expert serve, return, net-play, baseline, & approach strategies and tactics you can use on the court.
Interview Notes from this Podcast
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- Follow Vania: Twitter | Instagram
- Why did you say you’re not athletic on the Inside-In Podcast?
- Vania thinks tennis is one of the hardest sports because you have to have a broad range of skills (physical, mental, technical, etc…).
- However, the good part about it requiring several skills is that you don’t have to be great at all of them.
- For Vania, she felt that her timing and intuition were good but she was never the faster or most physically-talented player.
- What led to your only WTA singles title?
- She felt like before October of 2006 she had been improving a lot but not seeing it in the win column.
- Her coach at the time, Ray Ruffels, believed in always implementing adjustments into matches and she felt like in Bangkok, those adjustments were finally clicking.
- What are your thoughts on making adjustments?
- Due to her time with Ray, she learned that you should often commit to changes or try to make smaller modifications towards a change but never revert to an old habit.
- If you’re trying to improve or change something, you need to be okay with sucking and commit to at least three focused practices a week.
- What led to your Grand Slam breakthrough in 2010?
- Ray helped her connect with Rennae Stubbs to play some doubles at a Tier 1 tournament where they lost in the finals to Lisa Raymond and Sam Stosur. Vania thinks that experience helped her progress.
- Related Podcast: Lisa Raymond Interview
- Before she won Wimbledon and the US Open with her partner Yaroslava Shvedova, she was playing with Anna-Lena Gronefeld, who she felt like she was playing well with. But, Anna-Lena got injured, so she had to find a new partner.
- She also felt like grass was her worst surface, she was sick heading into Wimbledon, her partner had a racquet stolen, and all of these things helped them because it lowered their expectations and helped them relax.
- She also details how they got through several tough rounds against players like Stosur/Nadia Petrova, Kveta Peschke/Katarina Srebotnik, Bethanie Mattek-Sands/Liezel Huber.
- In the finals against Elena Vesnina/Vera Zvonareva, all four players were in their first Grand Slam final and Vania felt like they handled the pressure better than their opponents.
- What is your advice to parents/coaches that are hard on kids?
- First and foremost, Vania thinks that abuse is not acceptable in any form.
- Aside from direct abuse though, she suggests that fear is only a good short-term motivator and won’t motivate as well long-term as things like joy, thoughtfulness, and passion.
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