By Chris Oddo | Monday August 20, 2018
Kiki Bertens has come a long way on the hardcourts, as a tennis player and as a person. All that was made abundantly clear this weekend at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati where the 26-year-old, typically known for stellar player on clay and troubles on all other surfaces, continued a torrid run and claimed her first hardcourt title and biggest at the WTA-level.
More: Bertens Saves Championship Point and Topples Halep for Biggest Career Win at Cincinnati
Bertens is clearly a talent and always has been, but for her to achieve so much success this summer—not on clay—is truly a remarkable story.
The Dutchwoman entered the North American hardcourt swing with a career record of 42-76 on her least favorite surface, and it is this record that gives clear indication of just how far Bertens has come as a player in 2018.
Always a threat to do damage on the clay, Bertens credits a commitment to aggression on the surface as one of several key contributing factors to her success.
“I think over the last year we practiced a lot to play more aggressive,” she told reporters in Cincinnati. “And it's working out well now, so, yeah, I'm really glad with that.”
Shot tolerance and understanding when to attack and when to lay back has also helped Bertens, who is currently coached by Raemon Sluiter.
She also says better conditioning has helped her become more comfortable defending when the situation calls for it.
“On the clay I think I'm moving pretty well with the sliding, like before I did, but right now I'm also faster on the hard courts,” she said. “I'm getting more balls back and also using my slices more, some heavier balls, and then stepping in where I can. So it's just like a matter of what ball do I play when. But, yeah, I'm feeling that right now.”
Fitness has certainly played a role in Bertens’ rise as well. She defeated Petra Kvitova and Simona Halep in back-to-back three-setters in grueling Cincinnati heat. Those were her ninth and tenth Top 10 wins of the season—you don’t get those kinds of results in tough matches against top players if you aren’t extremely fit.
But it’s not just the aforementioned factors that are helping Bertens, there’s also just a general coming of age that has occurred over the last year. Bertens has also been able to minimize stress in her overall psyche, which has made it a lot easier for her to enjoy the tennis. After a difficult finish to 2017, the stress was eating at Bertens—she says things were so bad at the end of the season with residual anxiety from matches that she knew she couldn’t continue playing if it continued.
She worked with a sports psychologist for a while, but decided that it wasn't helping her. In the Dutchwoman's case, soul searching was the answer.
“I think in the end of last year I was really, like, not happy with the way I felt,” She told reporters this weekend in Cincinnati. “I was like, okay, I don't want to continue like this. So if I have to feel like this all the time on the court it's better to stop. From then on, I just made some rules for myself and with Raemon, like, Okay, how do you want to play? How do you want to feel on court? Okay. Let's go for that. Yeah, that's working.”
Bertens’ rise on surfaces other than clay has been a truly remarkable one, and it shows us that we shouldn’t always get too comfortable labeling players as one-trick ponies or limited in segments of their game, especially relatively early in their careers.
But the numbers certainly told a story of a player who was experiencing a big mental block on the faster surfaces. Even after her brilliant summer they still do. The Dutchwoman owns a .680 winning percentage on clay, and even after winning 13 of her last 15 matches on grass and hard (she also reached the Wimbledon quarterfinal for the first time this season), she has a .390 winning percentage at tour-level on hard and grass.
Mark 2018 as a significant turning point in a career that has been characterized by a stunning polarity.
“That's a great feeling,” Bertens said of winning her first hardcourt title at one of the tour’s biggest stops. “Like, normally I was, like, really looking forward to the clay court season. So, okay, I'm looking forward to that again next year. But it's such a great feeling that you can play on other surfaces really well, as well, and that you can, yeah, win tournaments like this, also.”
Next stop, U.S. Open, where Bertens has compiled a 2-4 lifetime record and has never been past the second round. But with burgeoning confidence, a new career-high record of 13 and a truly remarkable ten Top 10 wins to her name (including her first ever win over a reigning No.1 on Sunday against Halep), it would be silly to bet against another Bertens breakout in the Big Apple.