Czech 'Angry Birds' Of Tennis Together At Last

They are the same age, grew up together in a Czech city famous for its beer and form a potent women's doubles team fondly known in tennis as the "Angry Birds".

Beijing, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Oct, 2018 ) :They are the same age, grew up together in a Czech city famous for its beer and form a potent women's doubles team fondly known in tennis as the "Angry Birds".

Barbora Strycova and Andrea Sestini Hlavackova joke that there is "something in the water" of their home of Plzen that makes them so feisty.

Or perhaps it should be "something in the beer" -- Plzen is a renowned city for beer and Hlavackova's father Jan is a master brewer.

Whatever it is, it is working for the duo, who are both 32 and have known one another since they were babies because their mothers were friends before they were born.

Together, they have qualified for the season-ending WTA Finals in Singapore later this month, one of the most prestigious events in tennis.

The "Angry Birds" nickname was thought up by Hlavackova's coach and comes partly from their aggression on court and partly from a play on their Names: Andi and Bara.

"We were playing in Madrid in one of our first tournaments (Madrid Open in May) and we said that we are feisty little girls," Hlavackova told AFP at the China Open in Beijing, where they reached the semi-finals on Friday.

"'Angry Birds' fits I think," chirped up Strycova, the older of the two by less than five months.

"I can be angry sometimes and we are flying on the court and running a lot, so it's a good name for us." Given that Strycova and Hlavackova "spent every day together growing up", it is a surprise that they only began their partnership at the Miami Open in March.

It should come as less of a surprise that success came quickly, winning the title in New Haven in August.

At the US Open, where they were third seeds, they were surprisingly beaten in the last 16.

But they head to Singapore as one of the most feared double acts in women's tennis.

Explaining why they left it late in their careers to team up, Hlavackova said: "Bara was always ahead of me, she was always playing a higher level.

"And I had a stable partner for a long time and never thought about changing partners, and we were playing well (with her then partner Lucie Hradecka), so it was never in place to even talk about it." Then in February, by chance, both were looking for a new partner, and with their shared history, it all finally fell into place.

"I was like 'Wow, this was never an option before,'" said Hlavackova, who has 26 WTA doubles titles, including two Grand Slams, to Strycova's 22.

- 'The emotional one' - They believe that their contrasting playing styles complement each other well, but most importantly, they understand one another in so many respects.

"It helps that we know each other so well because we know how the other one will react on court," said Strycova.

"I'm emotional not just on the court, but off the court as well.

"But she is more calm and does not get annoyed if I get emotional because she knows that I can come back, and this helps a lot.

"It's also nice that some days I can be like, 'I don't want to see you', and she does not take it personally."