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WIMBLEDONJuly 6, 2014Samantha StosurNenad ZimonjicLONDON, ENGLAND ZIMONJIC‑STOSUR/Mirnyi‑Chan THE MODERATOR: Mixed doubles winners. Questions, please. Q. I think you've only played together once before, so how was it to combine for the first time and win the tournament? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, fantastic. We have played once before here at Wimbledon, don't know how many years ago it was, but didn't quite work out as well as this time. We had a great week together. It was a lot of fun. Very thankful that Nenad asked me to play. Yeah, it was obviously a great tournament for us. NENAD ZIMONJIC: What she said, yes. Q. At what point did you look through the draw and think that you could really have a chance with the teams going out? NENAD ZIMONJIC: The team we are, I think it doesn't matter who is on the other side. If we are playing good, we can win against anyone on that day. You know, we had one really close match which went to 8‑6 in the third, but the rest I thought we played really, really well. We controlled the matches from the beginning till the end, and it was a lot of fun to be on the court with Sam. Glad she said yes. Glad we took this chance. This is the slam that I missed. In the mixed doubles she won it before with Bob. So thanks. SAMANTHA STOSUR: You're welcome (smiling). Q. What are the strengths of Sam that complement your game? NENAD ZIMONJIC: She has unbelievable serve. She can serve any type of serve in any part of the box. She is very solid from the back. Big forehands. At the net, you know, she's very comfortable. I think all these things are really, really important. First time I've seen Sam was in Australian Open when I lost to her in mixed. I said, I have to ask her. I have to play with her. She's going to be a great partner. I'm glad I had the second chance and I'm glad we're sitting here. Q. How much of a morale boost is it to see your Davis Cup teammate Novak Djokovic win the title? Does it give you an extra spring in your step? NENAD ZIMONJIC: This was kind of a feeling like playing the Davis Cup, you know, watching Novak play and then being ready to step on the court. I was really hoping that he gets through, because he lost some close finals matches. I know how much it meant to him and for his career in the future. I was really happy for him. For sure, I mean, anytime you step on the Centre Court it's just amazing feeling. It's been a while for me. Last time it was probably 2009 when we played doubles finals here. So it helped. I was happy for him. But also I wanted to, you know, achieve something that I haven't. I'm glad we did it. I thought we played excellent match. It was a lot of fun again to be on the Centre Court. Q. Sam, how would you assess your Wimbledon going back right to the start from the singles to then playing a couple of rounds, winning with Flavia, then winning the mixed title? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, I feel like I kind of played three different tournaments. My singles campaign was over pretty quick. Played a few doubles matches before we'd even played a mixed match. Kind of had my singles, then my doubles, now my mixed. Look, it's always nice to leave a tournament winning no matter what the event or anything. You know, I entered all three events wanting to try to do as best as I could. The other two didn't go quite as well as what I wanted to, but this kind of makes up for a lot of those disappointments. I think leaving Wimbledon 2014 I'll think of it as, yeah, a great memory, and leaving with a trophy at the end is fantastic. Q. The next Grand Slam is the US Open. You have good memories from the US Open. How are you going to prepare for that tournament? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Well, I've got a couple of weeks of training planned at the moment in the States, and then I've got three tournaments before New York. Yeah, I guess now it's onto the hard court season. Got to prepare for that. I know I've got a lot of practice and hard work to do. It's going to be a tough summer, but look, I think I'm playing well. It's just a matter of putting it all together on the singles court now for me. This is a great confidence booster, and hopefully I can kind of carry this through. Q. Something special you're going to work on? SAMANTHA STOSUR: No, not necessarily. I think it's a matter of just trying to keep doing what I'm doing, really keep working on my strengths, just trying to build on this confidence. I don't feel like I'm playing badly. It's just a couple of points here or there in these matches that I'm losing. You turn those around and you're probably in a better position. There's lots of things I can always work on, but nothing too crazy. Q. Sam, in every good partnership there's someone that calls the shots. Who does it out of you two? SAMANTHA STOSUR: I let him kind of take over. But he's great. He lets me call where I want to serve, all that. When I'm a little bit more nervous and I don't really know, I look at him and he tells me what to do. It works out well. I think most of the time we're on the same page, and it's been working out really well. Q. What was the key to winning the match today? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Look, I think a big part of it is, being the girl on the court, it's so important to hold serve. I think as soon as you feel like you can be making inroads on the other female's serve you're going to be in with a shot. With Nenad at the net, unbelievable hands and volleys, he can really back up my serving, which makes me feel good and be able to relax a little bit more on that point. As soon as you get an early break ‑ I know we broke Max in that first set ‑ that's a huge boost getting that break from the guy. Once we got the first one in the second set, I think we were able to play pretty loose and keep playing well. Q. Nenad, what made you call Sam after not having played together for four years? NENAD ZIMONJIC: I keep asking every year, you know, just waiting for that 'yes' answer. Obviously she is a great partner. She proved that she can win the slams in singles, in doubles, in mixed, too. She was pretty close twice here in doubles. She's been No.1 in the world in doubles and in singles. She did really, really well winning the US Open, as well. I mean, it's the partner you want to have. So whenever she wants to play I'm ready to play, so I'm glad it worked out this year. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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