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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 21, 2015Maria SharapovaMELBOURNE, VICTORIA M. SHARAPOVA/A. Panova 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 An interview with: MARIA SHARAPOVA THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Is there a sense of relief after that? MARIA SHARAPOVA: Well, certainly, after being a point away from going out. At the end of the day it's always nice to come through a challenge like that. That's the biggest positive out of the match. Q. You painted the lines there in that game that you saved a couple of match points. You were gutting it out. Can you tell us about your thought process. MARIA SHARAPOVA: Well, I thought my thought process through the match to that point was pretty negative. I think I was dwelling too much on my mistakes, what I was doing wrong, not really being in the present, something that I'm really usually good at. At that point when you're behind and you feel like you're making a lot of errors, you don't feel like you have a good rhythm out there, I just really tried to take it a point at a time, think positively, and change my thought process a little bit. When other things aren't working, maybe the mental side of things will help you out. I think in the end maybe that's what did. Q. You then had a service game where you easily held after having some trouble with that. Was that because you continued with that positive frame of mind? MARIA SHARAPOVA: Well, unlike the previous 30 service games, I actually served smart and did the right thing, I thought. I wasn't trying to go for a line, for big first serve, when I didn't have a good rhythm. They were good serves, but they weren't over 180 kilometers. They were good placement serves, out of reach. Yeah, not too many rallies in that game. Q. Why do you think your mindset maybe drifted off track from where you're usually able to keep something unusual happening that you thought led it astray? MARIA SHARAPOVA: No, I thought I did everything I needed to to have a good, solid first set. I was up 30-Love on the first service game, new balls, a few sloppy errors, all of a sudden your opponent gets a bit more confidence and thinks she has a chance to win. All of a sudden she's out of the tournament. Then in her mind, Well, wait, I'm not out yet. Little by little it's a combination of, you know, you kind of going the wrong direction and her starting to play, you know, quite well. Q. Did you know anything about her before the match? MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, not too much actually, no. Q. You do a fair amount of fist pumping when you play. Is that sort of an important part of getting you mentally in the game, just a part of your process? What is that? MARIA SHARAPOVA: I don't know how to answer, What is that? It's something that I've done since I was quite young. I think I've always been a very intense and aggressive player. Yeah, I actually don't think I did that as much as I maybe usually do. I think I was a bit more subtle about things today. Q. When you saved the two match points, did you sense that Alexandra lost the belief that she could win it? MARIA SHARAPOVA: Well, I was down two breaks in the third. I mean, the only belief I had was just try to get into the rallies. She served some really good games out there where I didn't have much chances. When I did, I thought I could put a little more thought into her mind, get those first serves back. I think that was really important. You know, I think she became a little bit more tentative in that last game. Of course, based on experience, you lift yourself up both mentally and physically. Q. Going forward in the tournament, what are the positives that can come out of surviving a scare like that? MARIA SHARAPOVA: Just the fact that you did pull through and that you're giving yourself a chance to keep going. You know, as I say, you never know how you're going to feel until you go out on the court and compete and play. No matter how you prepare, what you did, once you get out there, everything starts from scratch. It was a tough day, but I pulled through. I guess at this point that's what matters. Certainly gives me a lot amount of confidence that I didn't play my best tennis and was able to come through. Sometimes that's good. Q. You're one of the toughest mental players in the game. What do you think the key is to your mental toughness and fighting spirit? Where does that come from? MARIA SHARAPOVA: I mean, I don't know, but I like winning more than I like losing. I'm sure that goes for many people. But, you know, no matter how things go within a match, that's why I said I didn't feel that I was positive enough, even though I was making a few more errors than I would have liked. And I wasn't making enough first serves. But I was thinking about it too much instead of just like being in the present, saying, Hey, go up to the line; do what you do; do what you've done thousands of times. I'm good at that and I'll continue to be good at that. But some days are just a little off. Today was one of them. Q. There's been a change in one of the ITF rules about players who can play for Fed Cup or Davis Cup. Now a player can only play for one country. For example, if for any reason you wanted to play for the United States, you can't because you represented Russia before. What's your opinion on that kind of rule? Do you think players should be able to play for whatever country they want to? MARIA SHARAPOVA: I haven't heard of that rule. I'm not sure. I don't have any plans of playing for another country at this point. I'm very happy playing for Russia, as I have for my whole career. That's the way I see the rest of my career going. Q. What goes through your mind when your back is against the wall? MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, it's not the easiest position to be in because you feel like things are just kind of getting out of your control. Usually I'm a type of player that is aggressive, the one that's doing something out there, not really waiting for another person's mistake. You know, until the very end I still try to dictate', I still try to find my way. But, yeah, your back is against the wall, I guess. Q. You play either Diyas or Schmiedlova next. Neither of those are probably well-known to you. What are your thoughts about having a first week of unfamiliar faces? MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I guess that's the way the draw shaped up. I have faced players I haven't played in a long time, or like today someone I haven't played before either of the girls coming up in my next match. It's always tricky. No doubt about that. It's unusual after being on the tour for many years. Yet there are always girls coming up that are rising, doing well. Diyas is a top-32 seed now with some of her results last year. Don't know too much about the other girl. Depending on that result - I'm sure my coach is out there watching a bit - we'll talk a little bit. But I don't think the focus is really on the other side. I think especially after today's match, I really just want to focus on what I have to do. Q. Do you ever watch things yourself, pull up YouTube? MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, we usually do a little bit of that, especially if I'm unfamiliar with a girl I'm facing against, or sometimes a few highlights of matches I've played against players. I don't watch too much. But, yeah, it's nice to have. YouTube is a good source. Q. Do you ever watch your own videos? MARIA SHARAPOVA: I really dislike doing that. I'm not a fan. But it's quite educational, at least that's what the coaches tell me. But, yeah, it's good once in a while. It's nice to see something from a different perspective because, I'm quite a stubborn individual. You see something from your own eyes on the court, but sometimes your coach, or this little camera on top shows you a different picture. It's nice to see that painting because sometimes it comes out completely different. Q. Why don't you like watching yourself? MARIA SHARAPOVA: I don't know. Sometimes I just feel like I have better things to do. Q. Who do you think is dressing the best on court this year? MARIA SHARAPOVA: I quite like my outfit, so... Q. But others? MARIA SHARAPOVA: I haven't seen all the outfits yet. Maybe I'll check on Getty, yeah. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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