A self-confessed foodie, the Polish No 5 seed carefully plans in advance which restaurants she will go to when she enters a tournament.
She has already sampled some of Auckland’s best dining spots, but with her run at the ASB Classic continuing to at least today, Linette admits the planning gets harder the deeper she goes and she is seeking recommendations.
On court, Linette booked her place in the quarterfinals with a hard-fought 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 win over Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto in challenging conditions yesterday.
Reflecting on the match, Linette said specific moments stood out as decisive.
"Definitely, how I started the first set, came back and ended it, and then how I finished the third set," she said.
"Those three moments, I thought, were really the key that I found my game. I really hope that next time I can keep it for longer."
With the ASB Classic marking the beginning of the season, Linette said her focus was less about results and more about translating training work into match situations.
"Well, honestly, my goals right now are really not result-based," she said.
"It’s more to move whatever I’m doing in practice, to a stressful situation during a match.
"I thought I had those moments today where I wanted to be, and I just really hope that I can keep it for longer, and I can keep it for the whole match."
Away from the court, Linette’s attention quickly turned back to food, admitting she was still undecided about dinner plans after yesterday’s win.
"So yesterday, we went to Bossi. I don’t have anything for tonight," she said, before noting she had already visited Amano twice during the week.
While she is known for planning her dining schedule in advance, Linette said that only stretched until the matches began to stack up.
"I plan up to Monday," she said.
"It’s so tough later on with the schedule and the matches.
"But really, I plan all those days leading up to the matches, and then I try to either come back or find something else when there is any availability on a website."
Asked to rank her favourite so far, Linette was clear.
"Well, Amano is No 1 for now," she said.
"Yesterday was great."
Alexandra Eala continued her strong run yesterday with a dominant second-round win, sweeping past Croatian Petra Marcinko 6-0, 6-2.
Eala was in control from the outset, racing through the opening set without dropping a game before navigating a brief challenge early in the second to close out the match in straight sets.
"I’m very happy with the match," Eala said afterwards.
"Different conditions from the night session that I played the other day. Overall, a great level.
"I think she had great shots, and at one point it became close, but I’m happy pulling off the win."
The key moment came early in the second set. After Marcinko held serve, Eala found herself under pressure at 0-40 in the following game. She responded by holding firm, preventing her opponent from gaining a foothold in the match.
"I definitely think that helped," Eala said.
"It’s never easy. The further they go, the harder it is to come back. But she kept fighting, and I just had to stay there and be solid."
Eala’s aggressive baseline play was again a feature of her performance, but she said knowing when to pull the trigger remained a work in progress.
"I think that’s a fundamental part of my game," she said. "I try to be aggressive when I can and I try to recognise when it’s not the time to be aggressive, and that’s something I’m still working on."
Eala has been one the stars of this ASB Classic and her profile continues to rise.
Eala said she was careful not to frame the growing attention as pressure.
"A lot of people mention the word ‘pressure’ when they talk about all this hype and attention," she said.
"But you can’t take anything for granted. Coming from where I come from, and this whole journey I’ve had, this is a dream to play on the tour and compete against these great players.
"So I don’t take anything for granted. All the support and all the love is an added bonus, and I’m very grateful for it." — Allied Media
