Dubai: World No. 5 Dominika Cibulkova knows what she needs to do to retain her flair and bounce back in women’s tennis.
Cibulkova’s misery at the hands of the lower-ranked Ekaterina Makarova continued as she went down in three sets in Dubai to the Russian, who is currently ranked 32 places below her. After winning the second set to be tied 1-1, the third-seeded Cibulkova squandered a 2-0 cushion in the third to allow her opponent to sweep the next six games and lose rather easily.
That defeat was even more disheartening as Cibulkova had fallen to Makarova in three tough sets that lasted nearly three hours in the third round of the Australian Open in January.
“Honestly, I did not have anything of that match [Australian Open] on my mind today. I think it was 99 per cent about me, about how I was 2-0 and 30-0 up and I lost it from such a winning position,” Cibulkova lamented.
“I think I wasn’t brave enough. I should have been better on the returns and on the winners. This is not the way forward for me. I simply lacked that killer instinct that I am known for so well,” she added.
The 27-year-old, who will return to Slovakia for a small break before turning her attention to the hard court season starting with Indian Wells and Miami in the US next month, insisted that she knew the way forward for her game.
“I know what I need to work on. I have to do the right things on court, and it is all about the mental part of the game,” she said.
“This is turning out to be a habit. At the Australian Open it was the same thing and then in St Petersburg too it was the same thing. I know what I have to work on. I have to get back on to the old track. Last year I was there and this year I do not have the confidence and I am not doing the right things. I am just not finishing matches,” Cibulkova added.
“Perhaps at this stage the only positive is that I am going home, and that I am looking forward to Indian Wells and Miami.”
