Routliffe ready for first French Open

Routliffe feels ready for first French Open

New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and her Polish partner Alicja Rosolska have arrived in Paris after a week training at Rosolska’s home in Warsaw. It’s the first time Routliffe and Rosolska will team up together at a Grand Slam and the first French Open appearance for the Kiwi since playing in Paris in the Juniors a decade ago.

Routliffe and Rosolska have formed a strong combination since joining forces before the Australian Open.

Routliffe is ranked 37^th and Rosolska 53^rd in the WTA rankings and the pair are 12^th in the race to qualify as one of the top eight teams to go to the Tour finals at the end of the season.

Routliffe is thrilled to be in Paris and playing a Grand Slam with Rosolska for the first time.

“Yeah, I'm excited, obviously, my first French Open is a big deal. So, I'm excited to get the opportunity. It’s Alicja and my first Grand Slam together, which feels kind of weird, because I feel like we've been playing together for a bit now. But obviously, we played the warm up in Australia, but didn't play the Australian Open together. So, I think we're excited to be on a big stage together.” Routliffe said.

Their results on clay have been solid without spectacular. They won rounds in Stuttgart and Madrid before a heavy first round loss in Madrid.

“I think we're still kind of trying to figure out our game, you know, on hardcourt, I think we figured it out, the ways that we wanted to play and what made us successful as a team. I think clay is a bit different. Just because you got to change the trajectory of all of your shots, and the ball comes back a little bit more often. You have to have a little more margin on your shots. So yeah, I think we're just still figuring it out.’ Routliffe said.

Routliffe felt heading to Rosolska’s in Poland for a training week last week was beneficial.

“I went to stay in her house, which was nice. I mean, she was going to go home anyway and not play that week. I was kind of debating it. But I think that it was the best decision for me to go and train and have a little bit of a refresher.  We trained with just a couple of players at her club, and then her husband who's obviously her coach. The weather was amazing. I've never been to Poland, so I got to eat some Polish food.”

Routliffe and Rosolska will find out who they will play when the doubles draw comes out on Monday NZT.