There are few tournaments Erin Routliffe looks forward to more than Wimbledon.<\/p>\n
The New Zealand doubles star returns to the All England Club hoping to kickstart her season after several months of uncertainty, having played with six different partners since splitting with Asia Muhammad after the Miami Open in March.<\/p>\n
This fortnight she teams up with Nicole Melichar-Martinez as the American\u2019s regular partner, Christina Bucsa, is currently injured.<\/p>\n
Despite the disruption, Routliffe remains optimistic about her game, although admits this has been a tough season for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a rough one,\u201d Routliffe said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been bopping around a lot of different partners, but I feel like I\u2019m working really hard and playing really well, to be honest. So I\u2019m just trusting the process and keeping my head down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Changing partners so regularly has been tricky for Routliffe. Although she briefly played with other partners while Gaby Dabrowski recovered from breast cancer a couple of years ago, it\u2019s not a common occurrence for a doubles player of the Kiwi\u2019s stature.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really hard, for sure, especially when before it was almost three years (with Gaby Dabrowski), and then before that I had, like, basically set people. It\u2019s difficult for sure, but it is what it is. I always say, if you want to be one of the best doubles players in the world, you got to be able to play with everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is no certainty over what comes after Wimbledon either.<\/p>\n
Asked whether she expects to continue changing partners for the rest of the season, Routliffe admitted she simply does not know. Often, top doubles players commit to playing with the same partner for an entire season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. I guess it depends on who\u2019s looking,\u201d Routliffe said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt depends on what other people want. I don\u2019t have any plans after this, so I\u2019m not sure yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a former world No 1, Grand Slam champion and current world No 11, Routliffe hopes finding future partners won\u2019t be difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope so. yeah. That helps as far as finding partners. We\u2019ll see who\u2019s looking, we\u2019ll see who\u2019s wanting to try, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, though, all of her attention is on Wimbledon, a tournament that continues to hold a special place in her heart.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always amazing. I love playing here, it\u2019s one of my favorite events of the year, so I\u2019m just really excited, and it\u2019s a feeling like no other. I feel like I say the same thing every year, but it\u2019s really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even after several appearances at the All England Club, including reaching the final in 2024, Routliffe still feels the occasion as soon as she arrives.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely different. Even if you\u2019re not a tennis fan, you\u2019re, if you\u2019re a sports fan, everybody knows Wimbledon, so it\u2019s nice. I really like it, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n
Routliffe and Melichar-Martinez have been handed a tricky opening-round match on Friday, against Marta Kostyuk and Elena-Gabriela Ruse, a team she knows well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve played them a few times. Gaby and I played them here two years ago in the round a 16. They\u2019re a really great team, they play a lot of slams together, they always beat good teams, and they always play really well. So, we\u2019ll do our thing, scout them, and I\u2019m excited for a good match.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite only playing two tournaments together in the build up to Wimbledon, Routliffe is confident they can challenge anyone in the draw.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Nicole and I can win any match and beat the people in front of us,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we\u2019ll just try and do our thing each day. Scout and try to show up and compete as hard as we can, and play well together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as the rest of the year goes, honestly, I haven\u2019t even really thought about it, I\u2019m just focused on this right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although doubles players have to wait until after the opening round of singles, at least, before their tournament begins, Routliffe says there is little opportunity to switch off at Wimbledon.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou definitely feel like you\u2019re part of a slam, you\u2019re practicing a lot, you\u2019re hustling for court time, you\u2019re doing your gym, and all that stuff, and it\u2019s still has that chaotic, hectic feeling, it\u2019s definitely not relaxing,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can do your best to get away from the courts and relax wherever you\u2019re staying, that\u2019s like really important, because it\u2019s such a long two weeks. But the buzz of a grand slam, it never gets old.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are few tournaments Erin Routliffe looks forward to more than Wimbledon. The New Zealand doubles star returns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-521571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}