Relaxed Bacsinszky grateful for motherly love

After beating Petra Kvitova to reach the French Open quarter-finals on Monday, Timea Bacsinszky marked the moment by scribbling a note of thanks to her mother on a TV camera by Court Suzanne Lenglen.

The 25-year-old, who was born in Switzerland to Hungarian parents, said later that without the financial support of her mother, she would never have been able to compete at the top level in tennis again following a series of foot operations.

Bacsinszky made her Grand Slam bow at Roland Garros as a teenager in 2007 but participated in just two majors in three years due to injury before returning to the French Open last year.

Now she is preparing for a first ever Grand Slam quarter-final, against unseeded Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck, after beating Wimbledon champion and fourth seed Kvitova 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 in a match that finished well after 9pm local time on Monday.

When asked if she thought she could ever make it this far when she started out on the road back to the top by appearing in qualifying at Roland Garros two years ago, she said: "No. Well, never. Never, ever.

"I remember my mum's eyes when two years ago I just woke up, read the e-mail, went down for breakfast...I was jumping. I had butterflies in my stomach. I'm like, I'm going to Roland Garros.

"She was like, You got to be kidding me...You're going to be ridiculous on court. I was like, I don't care. I want to go. I don't care if I get 'bageled' in my match. I don't care. I'm going to keep on playing.

"She was like, Okay, well, there's not much money left. I'm going to try to help you as much as I can. We will see how far you go, I'm going to support you. She said that.

"Without her I wouldn't have been here. I think no-one on Earth would have given me any financial support or something two years ago with a broken foot, with, I don't know, the past I had and everything. No-one would have thought that."

- 'Surprising myself every day' -
Bacsinszky had gone from appearing in the top 40 in the WTA rankings in 2010 to outside the top 500 because of her injury problems.

Now, seeded 23 in Paris, she stands one win away from a potential Grand Slam semi-final against Serena Williams, who faces Sara Errani of Italy in Wednesday's other last-eight tie.

"I think I'm surprising myself every day for a year now already. Who'd have thought? Not me," said Bacsinszky, who won her first singles title in Luxembourg in 2009 and added two more this year in Acapulco and Monterrey.

"I'm not only talking about tennis. It's also out of tennis, the way I behave. I'm more relaxed with people, just more gentle also with my surroundings.

"Maybe it helps definitely for like how to play, as well, because I'm more calm with myself. If I miss an opportunity, it' s okay. I will try to seek another one.

"If it doesn't happen, then at the end it's only a tennis match. I'm not going to heal the hunger in the world or something like that playing tennis. I'm just trying to enjoy what I'm doing."

Her financial worries will also disappear as she is already assured of 250,000 euros for making the last-eight.
Source: AFP