Maja Chwalinska doesn’t want to look at a tennis court for a day after qualifying for her career-second Grand Slam main draw.
The 23-year-old earned entry to the Australian Open on Thursday after taking just over one-and-a-half hours to beat teenager Brenda Fruhvirtova 6-3 6-4.
“I’m really happy right now. I will not think about any match for the moment, because I just want to go to the hotel and recover as much as I can,” she said.
“I’ll be ready for the main draw for sure.”
Destanee Aiava was the first of two Australian women to qualify with a 6-1 2-6 6-4 win over German Eva Lys. Meanwhile, Polina Kudermetova, who finished runner-up to defending Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka at the recent Brisbane International, continued her hot run of form with a 6-4 7-5 triumph over Elena Micic.
Chwalinska believes resilience was key to her success, as she clutched a banana leaving Court 12, with qualifying, for her especially, almost a tournament in itself.
The Pole’s first-round match against Dominika Salkova lasted three hours and 20 minutes, and it took two hours and nine minutes to beat Belgium’s Marie Benoit in the second.
“I’m not a robot, you know, so I couldn’t recover as much as I would like to,” she said. “But it’s tennis, you’ve got to be prepared for that as well. I was just trying to do my best with what I had.
“I knew that I can reach main draw, but honestly I feel like qualifying is very, very tough,” Chwalinska continued.
“There are many, many players and it’s three matches in three days, so it’s very demanding – physically and mentally. You can be a great player, and I’m not talking about me,” she laughed, “you can be great and honestly, just, you have a few weaker moments and then you can pay with a win.”
The world No.126 hasn’t stopped playing since last year. She won her first WTA tournament in December and was part of the national team that finished runner-up to the USA at the United Cup earlier this month.
“No off-season for me this year, no pre-season as well, just playing. Let’s see,” she quipped.
Chwalinksa, who was teammates with friend Iga Swiatek at the United Cup, believes the experience there will only aid her campaign in Melbourne.