Doubles Only Tennis Podcast

ATX Open Interview with Maya Joint & Sabina Zeynalova (University of Texas)

• Will Boucek • Episode 159

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This is the first in a series of post-match interviews with doubles players from the ATX Open, in Austin, Texas. Maya Joint (Australia) and Sabina Zeynalova (Ukraine) won their first-round match 6-7 6-4 10-4 and chatted with me after.

Sabina is a junior at the University of Texas where she plays on the women's tennis team. Maya (17) plans to join her in the fall of '24 as a freshman.

We spoke about how the cold, windy match conditions affected their strategy. They also shared a few things they learned on the court playing for the first time together. You'll get a sense of what it's like for college tennis players preparing for a professional career.

I expect you'll hear these two names more often in the coming years as they continue to improve. After this conversation, they lost their quarterfinal match in Austin to the top seeds 11-9 in the third set.

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Speaker 1:

So for the next several episodes you're going to hear my conversations with pro doubles players at the ATX Open. A lot of these are very short post-match interviews where I ask a little bit about the match and the partnership, and then a few of them will be a little bit longer as well. But this first one is actually with two college tennis players. So Maya Joint is only 17 years old she will be a freshman next year at the University of Texas and then Sabina Zanilova is a 20-year-old junior currently at the University of Texas, and they won their first round match at the ATX Open and I got to catch up with them for a few minutes, so we talked about the differences between pro and college tennis. I also asked them what they learned playing together, about each other playing together for the first time. We talked a little bit about the windy conditions and the court conditions there at the ATX Open, and then at the end you'll learn a little bit about what it's like playing a pro tournament when you're still a college student. Sabina actually had a quiz due at the very next day, so it was a really fun short conversation from these two girls who I imagine you're going to see a lot of on the pro tour over the next five-plus years.

Speaker 1:

So, without further delay, enjoy this very short conversation with Maya Joint and Sabina Zanilova. So, girls, you'll just one your first round at the ATX Open. Very close match 6-7, 6-4, 10-4. What did you make of the match overall?

Speaker 2:

I thought we played pretty well. I mean, we had our chance in the first set, for sure, we were up 5-2. But I think the whole match we were. I mean we never played together, but I think for the first time it was really good.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I think that from the beginning, we started off pretty good and throughout the whole match we were doing the right thing. It's just a matter of us just playing more together and figuring out what works for each other and what doesn't, but in general, I think we did a great job of just sticking with it and not giving up when things got tough, and we just kept playing and doing what we had to do.

Speaker 1:

Were there any things that you learned about each other from a team perspective, since it was your first time playing together?

Speaker 2:

Um, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Like anything tactically, like oh, when the ball goes here, she actually wants me to move here instead of do this, or anything you learned out there on the court.

Speaker 2:

Um that when like.

Speaker 3:

I can go first. Well, I think one thing I learned about Mai is she's very composed on court, which is very different from college tennis, because in college tennis it's just screaming and shouting and just making each other pumped up 24-7.

Speaker 3:

And here it's like okay, so she's more calm, she wants to take some time, she doesn't want to, like you know, be too pumped, which is a great thing, because we're running a marathon and we're not sprinting, so we need to conserve some energy. So I thought that's one thing that I learned about Mai. Another thing I learned about Mai is she's very clutch and big moments, she has powerful strokes and she's really good at using them. Thank you.

Speaker 2:

One thing that I learned was just very, very positive. Like you kept giving me compliments in the game and I was like oh my gosh, so nice. And I mean, yeah, your volleys are insane, thanks. Some of you are down the line, shots from like all the way in the back corner and I was like whoa, I didn't know that was possible.

Speaker 1:

This feels like some good team bonding going on right now. Oh yeah, talk a little bit about the conditions. Obviously, the past few days you all have been practicing it's warm, it's sunny, and then today it's cloudy, it's cold, it's windy. How did that, how did you adjust to that and what did that change in terms of your game plan and how you played?

Speaker 3:

Honestly, we didn't talk much about the wind and the cold thing before the match and during the match. I think in doubles everything goes by so quickly and you just need to keep playing aggressive no matter what's going on. And especially with these cores and these balls, it's important to just attack it and get it, instead of like waiting for them to like mess it up or the wind to take it somewhere else.

Speaker 1:

Why for these cores and these balls?

Speaker 3:

Because the cores are very fast and the balls are stiff and they're flying, so you just got to be dominant and just do it yourself.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and then what about the lobs and the windy conditions? How did you handle that? I know you had some really successful lobs and then some that were a little short and they kind of put away. How do you adjust to that?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, when you're against the wind, I think it's easier because you can kind of just really hit through it, and then you kind of need a lot more spin on the other side.

Speaker 3:

But you know, I thought Maya did a great job today with her hands. I thought there were points where, like, the lobs were just like right in the right spot and I was like Maya, great job, that's what we needed, yeah she put some right in the corner. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So your next round will be against either the top seeds or Kulikov and Cheng, I believe. Will you all go watch that match next or do any sort of scouting, or are you just kind of happy to be here? You're going to focus on yourselves and not really worry about the next round.

Speaker 2:

I'm probably just going to go back to the hotel and do some school.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean, that's like the reality of being in college. I have a quiz due today and exam due tomorrow. I got to prepare, and so my life doesn't revolve around tennis for now.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

I hope I can get a recording and watch it, but honestly it just comes down to how we play. So, it doesn't really matter how they play. It's just got to do what we got to do.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, hopefully your professor would understand if you turn in the quiz a little late, yep. Okay, awesome, that's all I've got, thank you.

Speaker 3:

Nice, thank you.