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ROLAND GARROSJune 3, 2015Timea BacsinszkyPARIS, FRANCE T. BACSINSZKY/A. Van Uytvanck THE MODERATOR: Questions in English. Q. Seemed like you handled the occasion of being a favorite in a Grand Slam quarterfinal pretty well. Did it feel like a whole new experience for you, or did it feel like something you were ready for? TIMEA BACSINSZKY: Like being the favorite, you mean? Q. In a Grand Slam quarterfinal. TIMEA BACSINSZKY: Well, you know, when I step on the tennis court I'm not thinking about who is favorite and who is not the favorite. I'm more thinking about how I have to find a pace to break the other one's game or play mine. I mean, it depends. But I know people like to write about who is the favorite and who has pressure, who has no pressure. Well, it's not that I'm not feeling any pressure or something, but I'm just‑‑ well, at the end, we are equal when we step on the tennis court. She deserved that spot in the quarterfinal. That means she plays really well, so it doesn't ‑‑for me, I'm not feeling ‑‑I wasn't feeling like the favorite today. That's why I just, well, try to play my game and try like to find a solution like I did before. Well, it was a great experience. I'm happy that I found the solution today as well against her. Q. Being into a semifinal of a Grand Slam ‑ and against Serena, too ‑ what do you expect from this occasion? Do you think you're going to hit any dropshot returns? TIMEA BACSINSZKY: That's funny. (Laughter.) Well, as I was saying those past 10 days, you know, you don't get to be playing a semifinal of a Grand Slam every day, so I really just appreciate the moment for what I did today, and slowly start to thinking this evening on tomorrow's match. But she's definitely a great champion. Having 19 Grand Slam trophies, well, that shows that, yeah, she plays quite well. (Smiling.) Maybe even more. But it's all the time the same when I step on the court. I all the time try to, yeah, manage to win the last point. For me, it doesn't matter who I'm going to be playing against. I just want to, yeah, have one or two or three tactics and try to put them in the game. If it happens to work, then I'm really happy. If it doesn't happen to work, then it's easy. You go back and you work and you try to be stronger for the next match. Q. And the dropshots? TIMEA BACSINSZKY: And the dropshots, well, you know, I'm someone spontaneous, so we will see on court how spontaneous I will be about dropshots or not or how inspired I will be. Yeah, I know I'm not going to win my match doing dropshots on her second serve. I will definitely have some other things to do. Q. What was it like when you left the tour and you went into hotel management and you were working in restaurants and things like that? What did you learn from that that translates into how you're playing now? TIMEA BACSINSZKY: Well, I don't know if it really helps me for my forehand or for my backhand, but it gives you also a lot of humility because there are many people in this world which are working in restaurants, hotels, in the kitchen, which are like making our beds in hotels, as well. Maybe when you're a tennis player and you have everything around you which is already given to you and you're kind of assisted ‑‑I don't know if assisted, is it the right word? Okay. Then you don't see all the people which are working for you. I don't know, to like clean room, to make a nice breakfast or... I mean, I'm not only talking about tennis players. I mean, there are many, many player which don't realize maybe how lucky they are also to have enough money to go to a restaurant. And then for me, yeah, I learned to be maybe on the other side. My colleagues didn't know actually I was playing tennis. They found out like I used to play tennis, because, well, I didn't play at that time. Well, they found out like three or four weeks after I got there. They were like, What are you doing here? Why are you even working here? But still I all the time asked my director not to make me any particular favors and just to treat me as another employee. Because, you know, it was just to be once treated as someone normal. I mean, not all the time to have those VIP pass and to woohoo, to have the luck, I don't know, first in a row. But, yeah, and now I think I'm also maybe a better person with all those people which are also working behind the scenes. Like I don't‑‑ I guess get less angry with ball boys or umpires or also the locker room attendants. They are super nice, and I guess only some players are just saying thank you. The other day I brought Raclette to the physios. I gave my word in Shenzhen at the beginning of the year to give her, like, Swiss Raclette cheese at the French Open. So I remembered. I went to buy Raclette cheese. I don't know. I gave something to them, because, well, even if they are provided from the WTA, at the end they are human beings. Just giving one time one present or saying thank you is not killing anyone. So, well, that's also something I took from when I was working. Q. Did that also make you say, Look, I need to take advantage; I can play tennis, and really give it another shot? And also, does it make you tip the maid better when you're in a hotel? TIMEA BACSINSZKY: No, it didn't make me come back to tennis. I mean, it was another process. So I just loved the job I did. Even if sometimes they were talking really badly to me, I was like, Okay, well, I mean, all right. I didn't do anything wrong, but, well... I was all the time asking that at least they don't give their anger on me because they are stressed. Because in psychology, I guess, if you're stressed, sometimes you behave in a certain way with other people because you don't realize how stressed you are. That's what I realized also while I was working over there. They were stressed, so they were trying to put the stress away from them. How they are, I don't know, more strict or whatever. But I got back to tennis because I worked on myself and on my childhood. While I realized that even if I loved the job that I was doing over there and it's maybe something I'm going to do later, I had, I don't know, this thing for competition. So I was trying also to clean the plates quicker than my colleague or some stuff like that. Competition is something I have in my blood somehow. (Smiling.) And the end of your question? What was that? Q. Do you tip the maid better now than... TIMEA BACSINSZKY: Yeah, now I take ‑‑before I was, okay, tipping them, but not that much maybe. I didn't have, I mean, really much money. I made a decent career, but still I was not riding on gold. But now all the time, I mean, I feel bad if I forget to tip someone. Even if in Europe they do it, it's different because the tips are already included in taxes. But still I try to tip them, because I was all the time really happy when I got tipped. I said, Okay, one of my favorite quotes is never do to other ones what you don't like. (In French.) Please someone translate it, because I'm not able right now. Don't do to someone else what you don't want ‑‑that the other one's doing with you. And that's why I'm like, Okay, I would love ‑‑at that time I loved when someone tipped me. That's why I said now if I can tip I tip. If the service is really bad, then I don't tip definitely. (Smiling.) Q. What is a proper amount to tip? TIMEA BACSINSZKY: I cannot answer to this question. It depends also the country where we are. In the U.S. you have to tip more because it's not included. Otherwise maybe somewhere, I don't know, someone is going to spit in your drink. Well, I don't know which amount I tip, but I think I I'm just trying to take care of the people which are working behind the scenes. Q. With all the growing and learning you did about yourself while you were away from the game, when you came back, did you have any sense that it was going to be enough of an improvement to put you in the semifinals of a Grand Slam? Did you sense that you were going to be a much better tennis player now, or are you surprised by this? TIMEA BACSINSZKY: I mean, I have never worked on myself for, I mean, my tennis. I worked on myself because I think it makes the life easier if you have more peace inside of you. Then you get angry less times in a day. Then you lose less energy. You feel better when you go to sleep. You just enjoy more your life, and your life is more like enjoyable every day. So you look forward like to fall asleep and to wake up in the morning. But I have never thought it would help maybe my tennis so much. I was not expecting like anything special for my tennis. But, well, it looks like it helps. It does well. So, yeah, I'm proud about that. THE MODERATOR: Questions in French. Q. You were talking about the players, the fact that you were not a favorite, but you're going to play against a player with 19 Grand Slams under her belt. Are we on equal footing? TIMEA BACSINSZKY: I knew you would put this question to me. So in this case, she's the favorite. Serena is the favorite. She has lots of titles under her belt. She can be a source of inspiration to many people, not only tennis players, but at the same time have a job to do. My job is to do the same: to find the weak points of my opponent, to find a solution. If I can't find a solution, it's not a big deal. My life is not at stake with this match. Whatever happens, I know that I will do my best. I will give it all. I hope that I will put her in difficult situations. I hope that I will have the key to the match. I will pull out all the stops to win the match. Q. You played twice against her in March. Can you tell us about this match, the impressions of this match, and especially the matches in March? TIMEA BACSINSZKY: In 2010 we played each other in Rome. I was in the lead in the first set, and then she managed to step up her game. She was very difficult to beat. Then there was another match in Indian Wells. It was a tight match, a very close one. It was a new environment. I was playing on the first time of center court of Indian Wells and had been playing 16 matches in a row. It was quite a lot, so I was less fresh than today. I knew that some doors were open to me, but I didn't manage to seize the opportunities. I was waiting for a couple of occasions more, a couple of break opportunities. You have to find and get the opportunities in order to win a set, and then a second set. So when you play against Serena, you should be able to compete with her. I gave her a hard time when I played against her, and I hope that tomorrow I will do my best to try and beat her and win the last point. Q. Today you have put in a good showing, even though your opponent came back. You are quite serene and calm. When you don't play between matches, what do you do to stay in the tournament, to remain focused on the tournament? TIMEA BACSINSZKY: I just think about the next match. That's all. Even though you ask lots of questions to me. I like this approach because I'm clear headed. I want to feel good the day of the match. After the match I will spend a few minutes to enjoy the victory, to have a positive feeling. Afterwards, I have to answer the questions at the press conference and then have some treatment with my physiotherapist. So with my coach we will talk about the match, the match that I just played or the match that I will be playing the next day. If I have a day off I don't talk about the match. So if I play tomorrow I will talk about the match this evening, but if I had a day off, I will have talked about the match tomorrow evening. If time permits, of course. The tennis players, they have a specific feature. We can adapt. We can adjust whether it rains, whether it's windy. It doesn't matter. So we have to be clear headed in order to play the next point. So we try not to talk about the match at 11:30 p.m. During my day off I get up quite late. I have breakfast. I take some pictures of my breakfast. (Laughter.) So I will turn 26, but from time to time I think that my mental age is 10. Not on the court. But you have to be able to remain a child. That's important. Then I practice. I prepare my stuff before the match. So two or three drinks. I have my clothes ready. Everything is ready should there be a typhoon in Paris. So I'm well prepared for any kind of solution, and then I listen to some music. If I don't play, we go to the restaurant. So around the hotel we tested all the restaurants, sushi restaurant, French restaurant, brasserie. And so the people have asked us if we are working here and they asked us if we are tennis players and are you going to stay for quite a long time? We say, We don't know yet. Q. What type of music do you listen to? TIMEA BACSINSZKY: It depends. It can be Queen, Matoma, Imagine Dragons. This is a song that I listened to when I came here two years ago with Teardrop by Massive Attack. And from time to time Bon Jovi, because my boyfriend likes Bon Jovi, so I'm obliged to listen to Bon Jovi. I have to remember the lyrics. My boyfriend says, You need to sing, sing, sing. So I need to remember the lyrics. Q. What have you written on the camera? What about your family? Will they turn up? TIMEA BACSINSZKY: I wrote on the camera, Val, come to Roland Garros. Val means Valerie. She doesn't know much about tennis, but I told her that she should come. She's at the University of Geneva. She's a translator, interpreter, so maybe she will do the job of the interpreters. She had an exam this morning. Oh, no, she had an exam when I was playing. She told me, If you win, I will turn up tomorrow. My mum will turn up. One of my sisters and my brother are at Roland Garros. Sophia and Daniel. Melinda, my other sister, will turn up with my two nieces. So there will be lots of people and lots of people from my family, and I'm delighted with it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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