Krunić and Stojanović in the doubles semi-finals

By winning against Lidziya Marozava (BLR) and Andrea Mitu (ROU) 2:1 (6:2, 3:6, 10:6), Serbian tennis players Nina Stojanović and Aleksandra Krunić secured their places in the doubles semi-finals of Serbia Ladies Open tournament.

Krunić briefly commented on her game in singles and doubles:

“I am not satisfied with the single, but as I arrived from America early in the morning on Friday, and played my first match on Saturday, I could not expect that I would play the best tennis. I didn’t play many matches and every match I play is a step forward. As for the double, I am glad to be playing at home, that fact makes me relaxed, because dear people are next to me, I can return home after the match, and that is definitely a factor that relaxes me. Playing on home courts helps me”.

Krunić is a member of the Player Council and is advocating for starting to relax the measures.

“It’s strange when we are ‘in the bubble’, it’s physically exhausting. I hope that the measures will start being relaxed slowly, both in the world and here. I’m not the kind of person who wants to be at the club and on the courts at all times, I need to vent, to be able to walk somewhere else. I believe the situation would be a little easier. It’s important to accept the situation as it is, but I’m trying to make change through the Player Council, to relax the rules a little, and that we can be safe and not endanger tournaments and health, but also have a life outside of tennis.”

Krunić also proposes a potential solution for relaxing the measures:

“We are more in favour of being tested more frequently, but being able to go outside. To take more responsibility, because no one wants to endanger anyone else, we just need to be careful. Now we have an hour or two to train outside, and it would be good if that time was extended and if I could do something other than training. We also depend on the country we play in a lot, so we have to regularly monitor all changes. Until then, I’m trying to immerse myself in books and Netflix.”

The next chapter are Roland-Garros qualifiers.

“Qualifiers for Roland-Garros begin on Monday, and if I get in in the doubles, I will be competing in that one too. I will see when the season on grass will begin. My goal is to play as many matches as possible, to be healthy. Ideally I will return to top 100, but I’m aware that it might not happen this season. With my current ranking, it’s difficult to enter tournaments, I will have to decide about that at the last moment. My primary goal is to find a routine for the schedule and everything, and that will not be easy this year.”

Serbia deserves to have a women’s tournament.

“We deserve it, it’s an excellent opportunity for young players to enter the tournament directly and play matches, because if you have one week of easier tournament access, that always happens.”