This episode is another short interview from the ATX Open . I chatted with the top seeds , oksana Kalishnikova and Nadia Kitchenalk . They are number 51 and 53 in the world on the WCA doubles tour and they won their first round match 7-6-7-6 against a really good team , and we talked about what they did during that match so well .
One thing that I had noticed is that Nadia Kitchenalk , who played in the ATX Open last year , had never run , or never ran iFormation the previous year with a different partner , and then in this particular match in 2024 , she ran iFormation I would say over 90% of the time , almost every single time , and I asked her why the big adjustment from one year to the
next ? Was it something about her partner or something about the opponents ? And she had kind of a surprising answer for me to that as well . And then we chatted a little bit about the cold and windy conditions , how they handled that as well as how they plan to prepare for the next match .
So again , this is a very short conversation with them , but wanted to get this out there to y'all and there will be a few more interviews coming up from the ATX Open as well . So , without further delay , enjoy this conversation with Oksana Kallishnikova and Nadia Kitchenalk . So you're through your first round 7-6-7-6 victory .
Obviously , it was very cold , as we were just talking about . What did you all make of the match other than the weather ?
I mean it was tough upon us because they played a lot of doubles together so they know what they were doing on the court . We tried to read their game and also have a plan . So whatever we were doing , we were trying to give a signal to each other so that to know what to do .
We also tried to read their game and then I think we adopted to their game right .
Yeah , we knew what to expect a little bit because they play together pretty often . I think you also played against them before . We were trying to keep it simple because it was a little bit windy also just to focus on the good quality of the serve , the return .
The basics .
Yeah , just to stay focused on the basics . But it was a very close match and we are happy to get through .
Last year , naughty , you were here and I spoke with you and I asked you at the time you were playing with yeah . I asked you why you didn't run any I formation .
Oh yeah , so you didn't run any . I formation once last year , I'll tell you , I'll tell you , and you told me .
I think you told me , it's just something we don't do .
Yes .
And today I think you ran I formation every single time . It helped us . I think it helped us .
What changed between last year and this year .
Luzana when we were playing last year it was our like first tournaments together and with her coach , patrice , I was also working with him a little bit . He doesn't like it , oh wow , he doesn't like I formation . So I didn't want to confront him , you know , I just wanted to play around it . It was working like we was working not too bad . We played semis .
We lost in semis against good doubles team . That's where I thought we were lacking I formation . But yeah , ana was also not very comfortable because she's more of a singles player . She was not very comfortable moving down there .
And today you ran , I formation . It seemed like over 90% of the time , maybe almost every time . Why so much today ?
In my opinion , like on my server , faxana has very big , like long range . She can cover whole net . So I think we just got to use it .
You have to put pressure , I feel like especially in the wind , it's tough to kind of control the return .
So you need to be really precise , like you have a very small margin , you know , like to hit the ball in the court , and I feel like we kind of like we made them confused like where to place the ball and especially if , like we were moving to the left or to the right , then we kind of were cutting out the net person if we were rallying like down the
line . So I think because I felt like most of the times they were comfortable more on the cross guard than on down the line , okay , yeah , yeah , we were forcing them to go for more risky shots .
I guess .
One thing that they did , that I noticed , and a lot of teams don't do this is on Angela's serve . If she misses her first serve , sophie moves back . So they play two back on the second serve . How do you all handle that ?
I think there was no issue yeah .
I mean it sort of takes off the pressure because the net player when there's a player at the net , it's a little bit more pressure .
You have the whole court kind of . So you have a way bigger angle to hit the ball .
So it gives you more options ? Yeah , okay , and then what about your next match ?
Will you try to watch the your opponents or scout them a little bit , or do you feel like , yeah , I think it's a record ?
Yeah , replay to watch them , yeah .
Okay .
I mean we never , I don't know , because it's a wild card . I think they won right .
Yeah , I have to look .
It's one of the . It's one Ukrainian girl and her partner . I think they're from college here .
Oh , the Texas girls . Yeah , yeah I talked to them earlier . Yeah , yeah , they won in the third set .
Yeah , I actually practiced a couple of years ago against Sabina , against with Sabina back in Ukraine but , it was a while ago . I think she probably improved about since then , so we definitely need to watch a little bit .
Okay , and was there any adjustments you did have to make with the conditions , since it got cold today and it was hot the past few days ?
Just a rocket , the tension yeah the tension and more clothes .
Yeah , definitely that . More layers , definitely that .
Awesome , all right . Well , thank you all very much .
Thanks for having us .
So next I have one more post match interview with Oksana and Nadia and in this one Hanlon Walsh joins me and we caught up with them after their quarterfinal wins .
They won the first round match , which is the interview you just heard , and then they won in the quarterfinals against the two University of Texas players who , if you have been following the podcast , I released the interview with them earlier this week . So Oksana and Nadia won this quarterfinal match 11-9 in the third set .
After dropping the first set , we talked a little bit about the match . The conditions were very different and they talked a little bit about how they handled that . They ran less eye formation against this particular team and they discussed why that was the case . And then we talk about a particular down the line backhand return winner from Oksana .
That was really crucial to this win because it was on a big point during the 10-point tiebreaker in that third set . And then at the end Hanlon asked them about their doubles rankings and then just kind of life on tour , what people might be surprised to hear as far as playing professional doubles .
So , without further delay , enjoy this part two with Nadia and Oksana , all right . So another very close victory , this time in a third set . What did y'all make of the match ? You lost the first set . You turned it around . What ?
were your thoughts . I think we had kind of a slow start because the conditions were very different . I mean , I'm just going to talk for myself . Like , for me it felt like the balls were flying way faster .
So it took me a while to kind of find my rhythm , because I feel like in the first matches you could have hit the ball as hard as you could and still it would have like fly into the court . And today I felt like everything was flying . So for me it just took a bit of adaptation and yet to get .
Also the reason was a bit different and opponents obviously different . So for me that was like a turning point .
Yeah , it was different conditions today from our previous match and our opponents . They were playing good tennis , they were spirited , they didn't have anything to lose and the crowd was on their side . So it was not easy also to play against them today .
But I think we managed to turn things around , trying to focus on the basics in the second set a little bit more . We were complicating things a little bit too much in the first set . Then we just focused on the simple things and I think that's helped us .
I noticed you ran less eye formation . This is always a topic when Nadia is on . You ran less eye formation today than you did the other day . Was that something about the opponents , or was it the conditions , because it was warmer and sunnier , or something different ?
I think the opponents . I felt like I don't know , I thought they would have like they were struggling more if they had to do like with the regular stand returns and I felt like if we were serving wide they wouldn't have enough angle to hit the ball and with eye formation I felt like they had more space .
I don't know , that's how I felt , so yeah , we still were trying .
We gave up eye formation a little bit , but we're trying to twitch them a little bit , sometimes moving , sometimes staying . Yeah , it worked a little better than eye formation , so we stuck to that .
At four all in the tie breaker . Oksana , you hit a backhand down the line return runner .
Oh yeah , I was like oh , that was good .
Is that something that you had picked out before the point ? Yeah , yeah , yeah .
Nadia , she showed me the sign . I was like , okay , why not ? I'll try down the line .
Okay , yeah .
Usually we try when the ball goes down the line , we try to get to know it .
We tried to tell our partners that we are aiming there , so it's not like out of the blue , I guess , like so that the person who is not a returner , the second person , would know in case if the volley would be flying at him . So it's kind of at her , I mean . Yeah , so it kind of saves a few seconds .
Sure .
And you are more ready .
Were they ? They weren't in eye formation when you called that . Were they ? Wasn't it regular ?
No , they were doing regular . Regular Okay I think on Nadia they were doing more eye formation . Yeah , I feel like yeah .
Okay , so you just wanted to throw in like a down the line return against the regular , just to catch them off guard .
Yeah , a little bit of guessing also , because you can predict sometimes when they're going to move , yeah , in a match sometimes you have .
Sure .
Talk about life as a top 50 doubles player , just traveling the tour and getting into tournaments . What might people be surprised by behind the scenes as a doubles player ?
What do you want to know ? What behind the scenes like particularly ?
On the court , off the court . Yeah , you tell us anything .
I mean pretty much I'd say the same , it's similar . What other players are doing ? I mean , it's just we pay , we get paid a little bit less .
They pay a little bit less for us , but everything same same hotels , same courts , a bit of maybe one match less . Yeah , like different schedule .
And different things to do at the practice , like we practice different stuff .
I guess at your current ranking . How does that work getting into ? You know , you're kind of on the cusp of probably masters 1000 , I mean WTA 1000s and some of the bigger events sort of right in the middle there . How does that work with entry lists and tournaments ?
Yeah , right now we are kind of trying to get our ranking better so that to make a cut for Miami , I did the cut for Indian Wells but I had to switch the last minute because our combined ranking didn't allow us to get in . So now we're trying to improve the ranking . It's literally like two , three positions . It's so close , yeah .
So if you want to be safe to be getting for all the tournaments , probably you need to be like top 45 .
Yeah , top 40 to be like safe , safe . So yeah , this tournament is pretty important for us because on Monday the deadline for Miami is finished and we will be . You have pretty nice to earn some more points here .
Awesome , well , good luck .
Thank you .