Article based on interview conducted by wtatennis.com
Serbian 17-year-old sensation Olga Danilovic won the first WTA title of her career in Moscow becoming the first lucky-loser to lift a WTA trophy since Andrea Jaeger in 1980.
Danilovic admitted during the post-match press conference that her mother had already bought the tickets to Belgrade after losing to Paula Badosa Gilbert in the final round of the qualifying round. Before this week the Serbian teenager had won just an ITF Pro Circuit title in Versmold. Olga is mentored by former ATP world number 2 Alex Corretja.
“After I lost the qualies, I was disappointed, but I lost to a good girl, so I was just thinking: “The next tournament is going to be mine. When I got that chance, I really took it. I really felt like. This is a chance. I got in, I should take this chance. I took it, and I am so proud of that. My mother bought the tickets to Belgrade, because lucky losers in these kind of events, it’s not that easy. I don’t think I have ever been a lucky loser in any tournament before. We were in Red Square, just walking around, and my coach Alex Corretja called me and he said: “You have to come back, you are playing tomorrow”. I am like: “No, I lost. You were there”. And he said: “No, no, you got in, you are playing tomorrow”. I am like: “No way. We came back very fast to the hotel, to prepare for my match”, said Olga Danilovic.
Olga is the daughter of former basketball legend Predrag “Sasha” Danilovic, who won the Olympic silver medal for Serbia in 1996 and played for Partizan Belgrade and Virtus Bologna. Olga started her career with rhthmic gymnastics and fell in love with tennis when she watched this sport on television when she was five years old.
“My father does not put me pressure. He comes from another sport. My first role model is Novak Djokovic. My parents told me that Novak always follows my results. It means a lot for me. At the Australian Open I had the honour to play with him in training”, said Danilovic.
She has become the first player born in the 2000s to win a WTA title. In the Moscow final she beat her friend Anastasia Potapova after clinching wins over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, Kaia Kanepi, Wimbledon semifinalist Julia Goerges and Brisbane semifinalist Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
“When I saw the draw, it was like: Okay, it is a great opportunity. i did not expect anything from myself, only to play with them, and just to see where I am with them. When I saw that I could play with them, it was a very nice feeling. I had a tough draw. I had to beat one of the top 10 players in the world. That’s just an even greater feeling”.
Potapova and Danilovic have met many times since playing one against each other since the junior tournaments. Danilovic had always beaten her young Russian rival in their five previous five junior head-to-head matches.
“Potapova is an amzing friend. I have known her since all my life. We have been playing all the same tournaments since we were 12. I think it’s a big achievement for both of us to be in a WTA final”.
