Tennis Atlantic

Orange Crush: Simone Kalhorn and Alessondra Parra CitiOpen Interview

Steve Fogleman, TennisEastCoast.com

I seem to have good luck with losing players agreeing to give me an interview. Under the rules of the tour, only a defeated player may decline to speak with a reporter after a match. Maybe that makes me a “Lucky Loser”. It was a pleasant surprise that Syracuse University products Simone Kalhorn and Alessondra Parra agreed to talk after losing in singles and doubles matches at CitiOpen in Washington on Monday. Parra’s a DC-area native, while Kalhorn is Coloradan.

How do you keep the focus?

SK: It’s always about having a positive attitude because that’s always going to pull you through. It’s about being mentally tough. It’s obviously tough to lose, but I’ll get better.

What did you get out of your Syracuse tennis education to take on the WTA tour?

AP: I think attitude, like Simone said, was number one. Coach Jensen has one of the most amazing  attitudes in tennis you can find. But it’s also about bringing out the pleasure of playing every single time you’re out there. Win or lose, it’s about the challenge of competing and finding so much joy in competing. That’s what I got out of my experience there.

How long have you been a doubles team?

AP: Four years. We played on and off in college. Every single time that we’ve played (doubles) after college, we’ve played together.

Simone, you didn’t look as happy on the courts in Charleston as you have here. Does having your doubles partner and friend around make it better?

SK: I mean, she is a pleasure to be around…

You were a little outgunned in the first set, but pulled it together in the second set today against (semi-finalists) Kai-Chen Chang and Shuko Aoyoma? 

AP: I think we made a little too many errors todays, especially serve and return errors, basic stuff. I think we did a good job closing at the net. I didn’t necessarily think we were outgunned. They got the ball back more than we did. They were a more consistent team than we were, and they won.

What’s next after Dallas doubles and singles?

AP: We’re probably not going to be able to do US Open qualies, because our ranking’s not high enough. If the opportunity arises, we’ll be there in a second.

Any chance to catch the Olympics? 

AP: I just scroll through my twitter feed and feel like I’ve watched the whole thing. Someone’s like “Liezel Huber is yelling GO USA really obnoxiously”. It’s hillarious. Twitter is really keeping me updated, so I don’t need to watch it. But going to the Olympics would be a dream come true.

SK: I’ve been living it vicariously through Alessondra.

Don’t forget to follow @SimoneOrange and @AlessondraParra on Twitter.