A wedding, a baby and a new-look backhand – a lot has changed since German Tatjana Maria last played in the Hobart International.
As a 22-year-old she contested qualifying here in 2010, losing in the second round. This year marks her return after six years. She is the top seed in the qualifying draw and has a husband and two-year-old daughter in tow.
“A lot of things have happened,” Maria laughed when asked to reflect on the difference from her last visit.
“First of all, I’m a mother now so it is already different. I have improved as a player too. It is a different story to six years ago when I was still young, I didn’t have too much experience but year by year, you learn more things. It’s a nice feeling to improve.”
Maria had her daughter in December 2013 and returned to the WTA Tour by April 2014. Maria’s husband is also her coach, which means they can travel the tour together.
“It is really nice, we are travelling together as a family and we can all enjoy tennis together,” she said.
Tennis was never far from Maria’s mind during her maternity break, using that time to reinvent her two-handed backhand into a single-handed one.
“I was before playing a lot of slice and my husband told me when I was pregnant, let’s try change your backhand,” she explained.
It is an unusual move for a professional player, but the extreme technique change is paying dividends for the Florida-based Maria who reached a career-high rank of No.62 in 2015.
“It’s not easy, but I’m really happy we did it,” she said of her new backhand style. “I was working really hard on it and it’s getting better every day. Now it feels normal.”
Currently sitting at world No.74, Maria hopes her improved backhand can help her climb further up the ranks.
“My next goal for sure is the top 50,” she said. “I’m trying to improve every day and I hope it will pay off.”
Maria is one of 10 Germans ranked in the world’s top 100. Compatriots Mona Barthel, Annika Beck and Carina Witthoeft will contest the main draw in Hobart this week.
“It’s really nice to have a lot of Germans doing well now, especially after we had a little hole after Steffi Graf and Boris Becker,” she said.
Maria is hoping for a strong preparation ahead of next week’s Australian Open, where her best result is a second round appearance in 2009.
She started her 2016 season in Auckland, where she lost to Witthoeft in the first round.
“The tournaments are always hard before Melbourne. I will try to have a lot of matches here to be prepared for the Australian Open,” she said.