The best Montenegrin tennis player Danka Kovinić returned to the top 100 on the WTA list last year, and in order to qualify for the Olympic Games in the summer, she still has to improve.
A visa to Tokyo will be secured by tennis players who are ranked up to 8th place on June 56, although it is certain that the list will be expanded, mostly because the maximum number of competitors per country at the Olympic tournament is four.
- Finally, the form started to improve. Last year I was back in the top 100, after a bad period. There were a lot of obstacles, but I fought through and found a game that brought victories and progress - said Danka Kovinić for the website of the Montenegrin Olympic Committee (COK).
The new season started with an injury and two defeats, albeit in difficult matches - in the main draw of the Australian Open, Danka was eliminated by Belgian Elise Mertens in the 1st round, while three days ago in Acapulco, Mexico, she lost to experienced Ukrainian Katarina Bondarenko.
American tour follows - Indian Wells, then Miami...
- This season didn't really start as I planned, I had a quadriceps tendon injury and that significantly slowed down my preparation process. I played the Australian again and again I had to take a break. Now I started slowly from Acapulco, followed by Indian Wells and Miami, where I hope that my form will be good and that I will take a sufficient number of points to ensure the main draw of Roland Garros and the norm for Tokyo - said the 25-year-old woman from Novigrad, who is currently 97 .on the WTA list.
An eventual appearance in Japan would not be Danka's first Olympic appearance.
He carries, as he says, beautiful memories from Rio de Janeiro 2016.
"The flag of Montenegro is next to my name at the Olympic Games and at every other tournament. However, the emotions are much stronger at the Olympic tournament. The biggest difference compared to other big tournaments is that our other athletes are there, which I feel as part of a big team and that we support each other as much as possible," Danka pointed out.
The period before the Olympics in Rio 2016, when she fought to go to Brazil, is something from which the Montenegrin tennis player draws motivation and optimism.
"When I think back to 2016, I would say that it was one of the most beautiful in my career. The Games in Rio definitely marked that period. From this point of view, it seems to me that it was easier to reach the norm then, than it will be for Tokyo, but I believe that I will succeed. The biggest motivation was that I knew that by going to Rio, I was writing history for Montenegrin sports, as the first representative of our country in tennis. I am very proud of that," Danka added.
Remember the full "Maracana" in Rio: A feeling that is experienced once
Danka Kovinić was unlucky in the draw for the Olympic Games in Rio, in the first round she played with Puerto Rican Monica Puig, the gold medal winner, but she has strong memories from Brazil.
When asked which is the strongest, she answered:
"Definitely that it was the opening of the Games, I will remember that forever. That feeling of impatience, and a little bit of fear, while I was waiting in the tunnel for us to be called. Then we heard "Montenegro", and our delegation came out in front of the full "Maracana". that feeling is incredible," Danka Kovinić recalled in an interview with COK.
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