Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos are the hottest team in international beach volleyball right now. The reigning world champions, the Brazilians have won gold in four of their last five Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour events.

The two, who have won their last 12 international matches, will try to carry the momentum into the biggest event of the season, the 2023 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, which start on Friday in Tlaxcala, Mexico.

• Watch the 2023 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships live on VBTV.

Duda, 25, and Ana Patrícia, 26, won the World Championships last year, in Rome, following up on U21 world tiles in 2016 and 2017. The top-placed team in the FIVB World Rankings, they’re considered by many as the favorites to take the title among the women.

The Brazilians are in Pool A and will play their first matches in Huamantla. Duda and Ana Patrícia debut on Saturday against Chileans Chris Vorpahl and Francisca Rivas Zapata at 10:00 local time (16:00 UTC) and will then play against Finland’s Taru Lathi/Niina Athiainen and France’s Alexia Richard/Lézana Placette.

Volleyball World caught up with Ana Patrícia ahead of their debut:

Volleyball World: How was your team’s preparation for the World Championships?

Ana Patrícia: “Our preparation has been very good. This season, we were very cautious and thorough when looking at the calendar and deciding which tournaments we would play at. Qualifying for Paris 2024 is our main goal for the year and with all Beach Pro Tour events adding points to the rankings, we wanted to make sure we would be in good shape for the Elite16 tournaments. We see the World Championships the same way. It’s a huge event and we want very much to be among the best again. We know how important it is, not only for the title itself, but also for the Olympic points, and we did the best we could to get to Mexico in good form.”

Volleyball World: Last year, when Duda and you won the World Championships in Rome, that was just your fourth event as partners and you had won just one Beach Pro Tour medal so far. In 2023, you get to Tlaxcala with four titles in your last five events. What changed in the team in the last year?

Ana Patrícia: “Since we became partners, our main goal has been to constantly improve as a team. This is something that our entire team, not only Duda and I, take very seriously. We’re always trying to analyze things and see where we can improve. Last year, we were still feeling each other out as partners. We were obviously very happy to be playing together, but we knew that we needed to play more and figure out what our team’s identity would be. So I’d say that the biggest change was that now we can clearly see who we are as a team and that we know what we need to do to get better and we’ve been working on it.”

Volleyball World: How important would it be for Duda and you to defend the world title you won in 2022? Do you think that getting to Paris 2024 as the reigning world champions would bring any kind of advantage to you, especially in terms of confidence?

Ana Patrícia: “Defending our title would certainly make us very happy. Every time we get to step at the top of the podium, we see it as a reward for the hard work our team and we do. With the World Championships being the biggest event of the year, that would mean even more and we’re really excited to try and do it. But we know that the level is very high and that every other team will do their best to win too because it’s a huge honor to be a world champion. It would be great for us to get to Paris as the reigning world champions, but at the same time we understand that having success at the World Championships doesn’t mean we would do well at the Olympics too, so we’ll prepare and get ready for both events.”

Volleyball World: As the reigning world champions, the top team in the FIVB World Rankings and the duo with the most victories in 2023, it’s fair to say Duda and you have a target on your backs. Do you feel any sort of difference, or maybe extra pressure, because of this?

Ana Patrícia: “Honestly, I think that the level we have right now on international beach volleyball is so high that anything can happen in any tournament. We’re very happy with our continued success, but we understand that in order to keep these results coming we need to work very hard. The level is very high and you really need to be at your best physically, technically and mentally every single day to handle it. That’s where our focus is at now, at being ready to do our best no matter what happens.”

Volleyball World: Duda and you have been extremely consistent this year – you have six medals in eight Beach Pro Tour events, including four golds, and also won all eight Brazilian Tour events you played at. What have been some of the keys to this?

Ana Patrícia: “To me, it always comes down to working hard. Every day, our team and us spend a lot of time talking about what we believe we can do to be better and where we think we can improve. We’ve always been on the same page when it comes to working to get better and I think that has taken us to the place we are at right now. We’re very happy with what we achieved and we hope we can keep going in the same direction.”

Volleyball World: Duda and you are in Pool A, with France, Finland and Chile. What are your thoughts about your first opponents in Mexico?

Ana Patrícia: “Our focus now is on these three opponents. These are three strong teams and they will all fight to advance to the next round. We know we’ll need to be very focused and fight for every point to advance. Every match at the international level is challenging and it demands a lot from us. Everyone will be ready to do whatever it takes to win the title and so will we, so it’s important that we can do our best from the start.”

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