BTRUSSIA: Recently you participated and win Joao Pessoa tournament in Brazil, Congratulations! So tell about your experience, difficult matches or crazy points. Maybe there were some other memorable tournaments?
Maraike: Sometimes it's not easy with the outside conditions, like in our last tournament in Brazil (very hot and extremely windy). And sometimes you or your partner doesn’t feel very good, so you have to adapt the strategy and find a solution. One crazy match was the final in Santos in January this year against Joana Cortez and Julia Chubarova. In the beginning we were winning easily. We were up 6:1 5:3... Then they started play better, we made some mistakes and lost the set 6:7. We lost the match point that was flying out, and I made a wrong call to my partner Patty. Of course it was not easy to forget about this in the third set... And we got also more and more tired. In the end we managed to win this match with 7:6 final set. It was really crazy!
BTRUSSIA: Tell us about the organization of last tournament in Brazil.
Maraike: The tournament was in Joao Pessoa, in the north of Brazil. It was pretty hot and and very-very windy. It was sometimes very hard to play beach tennis with this strong wind! It was the first time that the tournament took place there, and the organizers made a good job.
BTRUSSIA: Who are the most serious opponents for your team?
Maraike: Our strongest opponents on tour are the Italian teams. They have a very high level of playing, and they practice many times together with good opponents, what gives them an advantage!
BTRUSSIA: How do you feel about the innovations on ITF tour this year?
Maraike: I think changes are necessary in order to make our sport more professional. But I don't agree with all the rule changes. I don't think the new point/ranking system makes a lot of sense, and I would like to see more structured calendar in advance of the tournaments, with more importance also for mixed doubles. I also don't think it was smart to announce these changes just 10 days before the New Year.
BTRUSSIA: What do you think about changing partners on Tour?
Maraike: I think sometimes it's good to change partners for getting new influences. But in general, it's better to have a partner that you get used to and practice with. Only like this you can improve as a team... And beach tennis is a team sport!
BTRUSSIA: Tell us about the plans for the season?
Maraike: I will probably play to small Tournaments in Germany in one week, and then the 15.000$ tournament in Gran Canaria. After that I will focus on some beach tennis projects for work, and play some tennis league matches in Germany and Austria. From mid of June on, I will focus on my beach tennis tournaments again... Let's see what the ITF calendar says...probably July/August in Europe, and after that abroad again.