00:00The 24th edition of the Qatar Open is officially underway here in Doha.
00:04It's the first WTA 1000 women's tennis tournament of the season,
00:08which means 1,000 ranking points are up for grabs.
00:11Most of the top 20 players are in action this week,
00:13including world number two Ega Swantek,
00:15who's very much at home on these hard courts.
00:18The 24-year-old Polish superstar has already won this tourney three times,
00:22so I asked her what she needs to do to lift the trophy in Doha once again.
00:27So being aware that usually it's super windy here
00:30and you need to accept that you're going to make a little bit more mistakes,
00:33I think this is important because in past years I remember
00:36anyone who got more frustrated with the wind lost more points because of it.
00:42I think here it's important to adapt to the courts, to the ball,
00:47because they are pretty heavy, they are pretty slow,
00:49so it's important to play deep in the court and try to stay aggressive as well.
00:56One notable absence this week is world number one Arina Sabalenka,
01:00who's still recovering after her loss in the Australian Open final.
01:04Even so, with the rest of the top five competing this week,
01:07fans here are expecting a very high level of tennis as the tournament unfolds.
01:12Adil Halim, Euronews, Doha.
01:14Ash Ian
01:16westip
01:17P Bell
01:17PELL
01:18PELL
01:19PELL
01:19PELL
01:20PELL
Comments