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AEGON INTERNATIONALJune 16, 2014Samantha StosurEASTBOURNE, ENGLAND C. WOZNIACKI/S. Stosur THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You must have thought you had your chances out there. SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, I had plenty of chances. Yeah, serving for the first set, not really being in too much trouble I guess up until that point on serve, and to lose that one, it gets a little bit disappointing. But, yeah, look, it was another match where I definitely had enough opportunities to, you know, win that first set, and then from there you don't know what can happen. Q. It's not often you get an opponent of that quality in the first round. SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, 16, 17 in the first round. Yeah, look, it's not easy for either of us, so I guess it shows the quality of the event. So you've got to be playing well right from the first match to be able to get through. Look, it's a tough draw. So whoever does get through it must be playing very well. Q. Is there anything in particular that you think let you down today and against Casey as well last week? SAMANTHA STOSUR: I mean, there is a few things, but I seem to be starting out matches really well. The first set generally has been really good. Serving is good at the start. And then I go through patches where then I don't make enough first serves, you're not putting enough pressure on them when they're serving, and therefore, that puts more pressure on yourself. And just I think at the end of the day, not finishing things off, it's kind of ‑‑you get to a certain point, and then it's, okay, make a bunch of errors, take the foot off, they start playing a little bit better, the pressure changes and all of a sudden you're in a really close battle. Then unfortunately I have been coming out the wrong side of it. Q. How are you feeling on the grass? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Actually I don't feel too bad. I feel like I'm at least hitting the ball well. I don't think that's an issue. It's those other things I just spoke about. I feel like each day movement gets a little bit better, a little bit clearer on what you want to do and timing the ball fine. It's just, I guess, doing the right thing at the right time. Q. How do you approach Wimbledon now? You have the encouragement of the French Open plus stuff to work on from the last few weeks here. SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, look, there's plenty to keep working on. You've got to look at things, you know, in a good way. I have got plenty of time to go out there and try and practice and get to Wimbledon and work on all these things I need to work on. I guess that's the way you've got to look forward and what the plan is going to be now. Q. Can you talk about your serve? Can you talk a little bit about the strategy you and Miles go through, depending on your opponent, the surface, how you set up your strategy and your tactics for the match? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Look, obviously we change a little bit each time, but I think at the end of the day generally the matches are about me. I know that I'm an aggressive player and I want to impose my game on my opponent. The whole goal and whole idea of what I want to do out there stems from me doing it or not doing it. When I put myself in those positions to use my weapons and do the things that are going to win me matches, then I do well. As soon as I step away from that, get dictated to or can't turn the points around for me to be offensive, then it makes life very difficult. Q. And is your serve a big part of that? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Look, sure, the serve is a big part. One, because it starts the point; two, because I've got a good serve that can, you know, do damage and you can win points just off that. I guess it's hard. You know that that's possible, and then when that's not happening, obviously you've got to rely and fall back on other parts of your game. Q. Having Miles now and his experience with grass, has that helped you change your approach this year, or is there anything new that you may not have done in previous years? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Not necessarily. I think it's still playing the way that I think I should be playing on it. I think a huge part of it at the moment is the execution rather than what I'm actually necessarily trying to do out there. I don't think I necessarily needed to change, you know, needed to do this or do that or do that, but the executing of what I'm doing needs to get a lot better. So when you have a short ball in the mid‑court and you're going for a winner, you can't hit it a meter out and that kind of thing. Q. You have one of the best serves on tour, but you have been struggling a lot to get the results you get from the other surfaces on grass. How do you think that's happening? SAMANTHA STOSUR: I think, A, it shouldn't be happening as much as what it is, and B, I guess my best serve probably is my kick serve, so I think that's kind of a bit null and void on this surface. It's not like I can set the points up, okay, I'm going to go kick wide, backhand, get a ball to the middle of the court, get a forehand, do this, do that. It's a little bit different on this surface. That's probably my best serve, one of my best weapons kind of taken away in a sense when I'm playing on this surface, so it makes me need, okay, to work on the other serves that I can do but they're not the ones I guess I set out to use as much as maybe that other one. Q. Do you look forward to Wimbledon? Do you get excited like you would, say, for a French Open? Or is it a little bit anxiety because of the surface? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Probably both, yeah (smiling). No, I love Wimbledon. It's an amazing place. I do, you know, I love playing there and the whole feel of the place is incredible. But I guess there is that side of the anxiety or sometimes panic a little bit where, okay, I know I need to do these couple of things well for me to play, and maybe they are things I don't always feel quite so comfortable with that makes that happen. I do enjoy playing there, and I guess as each year goes by I want to try and get a better result, as well. So you go there and you go to take it step by step, but I know that I definitely want to try and do better than the year before. And then you show up the next year, and you want to do better than the year before. I guess it hasn't quite happened yet. That's what I want to try and do this year. Q. Do you think that next year, you're going to have an extra week on grass, that's going to help the players who are not natural grass courters? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Maybe. Maybe it will. I guess it definitely gives you obviously another week to get used to it, maybe, you know, take some time from the French, whereas it is very quick obviously at the moment to come back. Another couple of years when I have left the French Open, I probably wasn't prepared or ready to play either again or even on this surface because of what happened at the French. But I guess, yeah, in some ways it could be a real benefit to maybe the people that don't feel quite as comfortable. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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