Multilingual Grant eyes on-court fluency in Roland Garros glory bid
As Tyra Caterina Grant considered the challenge ahead of her at the Roland Garros Junior Championships on Monday, the talented American remembered the lessons she had learned from some fan favourites.
The multilingual 16-year-old, who won the girls' doubles at Roland Garros last year, was on the defensive early in her clash with German Julia Stusek before rallying to win 2-6 6-4 6-0.
Grant, who is half-Italian and now trains in France, idolises Novak Djokovic and is full of admiration for the mental toughness the 24-time Grand Slam champion possesses.
“My favourite player is Novak, without any doubt. I love Novak, every aspect of him. The way he plays, his mentality, just everything about him,” she said.
She has also been inspired by the performance of French player Varvara Gracheva, whose superb run at Roland Garros was ended on Monday not long after Grant’s comeback victory.
Now training at the Elite Tennis Center in Cannes, Grant has practiced with the world No. 82 and had the fortune of watching her third-round victory over Irina-Camelia Begu prior to the beginning of the junior event.
As she plotted a comeback against Stusek, who she defeated in a semi-final of the Under-12 European Championships four years ago, Grant calmed her thoughts and devised a strategy.
“It was exactly like a chess match, just seeing what moves, what happens and bringing it with me to the end of the match,” she added.
“I resettled (after the first set) and I thought to myself, ‘what are the odds she plays like this another set and another set as well? I just went out there and knew what I had to do.
“I started really solidly in the second set and the same in the third. I wasn't feeling my serve in that third set, but I managed to find a way to win and that's what matters at the end.”
A daughter of former American collegiate basketballer Tyrone Grant, who played professionally through Europe, and Cinzia Giovinco, she was born and raised in Italy.
When the right-hander was seven, her family moved to the Piatti Tennis Center in the south of Italy, where she lived for eight years. After spending a year in Orlando with the USTA, Grant is back living and training in France.
An aggressive player who loves using all corners of the court, she is comfortable on clay having spent so much of her life in Europe.
“Clay is my favourite surface, if not my best surface. It just fits my game style,” she said.
“I think I'm a really aggressive player and even on surfaces like hard or on grass I find my way, but I really enjoy clay.”
Grant partnered Clervie Ngounoue to the girls’ doubles title in Paris last year and also claimed the Australian Open junior doubles event with Iva Jovic in January.
After reaching the third round in singles in Melbourne, she enjoyed success at W15 Antalya in Turkey, winning both the singles and doubles titles at the professional level.
After her singles success on Monday, Grant and Jovic backed up for an opening round doubles triumph as well, with the American teenager saying the discipline is helping her development.
“After Australia, I didn't play juniors for a little while … so I was feeling my volleys were so and so, but I definitely think playing doubles helps you so, so much in every aspect,” she said.
“I mean, it's more practice … but maybe without the pressure that comes with singles.”
When quizzed as to whether she was as fluent in as many languages as her idol Djokovic, who can reportedly speak 11 different languages, she laughed and said not quite.
But the athletic teenager, who enjoys spending time with friends and cites The Weeknd as her current musical artist of choice, is doing well on the language front as well.
“I would say I have 3.5 languages,” she said.
“My French is good, because when I was living in Italy, I was living close to France. And I have a little bit of Spanish in there as well, but I am trying to learn as many languages as I can.”