Dubai: Fast-rising star Karolina Pliskova admits to drawing enough inspiration from famed Brazilian author Paulo Coelho as she continues with her climb in women’s tennis.
By her own admission, the 21-year-old Czech is a huge Coelho fan having been inspired by the Brazlian’s record-selling novel The Alchemist. Since then, she has made it a point to read every book that Coelho has penned including the latest one – his 16th novel – titled ‘Adultery’ that was released in April last year.
“I like his books. Each of them is different. But I have not been reading too many, maybe just one or two a year. But I chose him [Coelho] because I really liked The Alchemist and now I keep reading his books,” Pliskova said.
“I think I have read all of his books, but I don’t think he has any new ones now,” she added.
On court, though, it was business as usual for Pliskova as she survived two gruelling three-setters in both quarter finals and semi-finals to be in line for her maiden crown. First, she packed off her Fed Cup teammate Lucie Safarova in three sets and then survived Garbine Muguruza in a nearly three-hour struggle.
Though she took the win against her Fed Cup teammate and friend Safarova in the quarters, Pliskova did not particularly fancy the thought of playing against players from the Czech Republic. “It’s always hard to play someone from Czech Republic. I’ve already played two times in two weeks, once with Lucie and once with Bara [Barbora Zahlavova Strycova]. So I don’t really like those matches.”
