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AEGON INTERNATIONAL EASTBOURNEJune 22, 2015Caroline WozniackiEASTBOURNE, ENGLAND THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Feeling good? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah. I'm feeling good. Excited to be back here. It's nice to be on the grass. A bit of not‑so‑good weather today, but it's been nice. Q. What do you do when the weather is like this? You're used to it here? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I just sleep and enjoy my day. It's kind of nice to have a bit of downtime, so I don't mind. I'm from Denmark, so it's not like we have sunshine every day there. So I'm used to it. Q. Do you have any grass courts in Denmark? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: No, we don't. Q. None at all? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: No. We have artificial grass but we don't have proper grass courts. Q. So Junior Wimbledon was your first time playing on grass? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: No. Actually in Key Biscayne they have two grass courts. I don't know if they are still there, but they used to have and I played there for the first time. I don't know how old I was. Maybe 11. Yeah. Q. Did you take to it right away? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah. I loved it straightaway. It was different. It was fun. I don't know. It's a new challenge. I always like new challenges. So, yeah, I have always liked the grass. Q. What are the new challenges you have to take on with the grass each season when you come into it technically for your game? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I think automatically I just switch. It's a very easy switch for me to go from clay to grass. It's worse for me to go from hard court to clay, because you have to get the sliding in and stuff. Here it just comes naturally to me. So it's easy, and I'm like a little kid at a candy store whenever I step on grass for the first time. It's never been an issue for me. Q. Of all the slams you have played, is there more pressure at Wimbledon or is it pretty equal? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I think it's equal, but obviously there are some slams that you like better or that you feel more comfortable at and some that you don't. Every slam I think you want to do equally as well in. Q. How is your doubles partnership with Petra so far? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Well, so far it's been ‑‑it's been good. We have been out for dinner and stuff like that (smiling). But, yeah, I mean, she's just great to hang out with. We have a good time. We always practice together at tournaments. So, yeah. Q. What went into that decision? Because you hadn't played doubles for over three years, I think. CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah, I think three years ago I only played one match or something. I haven't really played doubles for a long time. But we wanted to get a match before our singles match. I don't know if‑‑ because Petra hasn't been 100% these last few days, so most likely we won't play, but, you know, we will see. We obviously want to do the best in singles that we can. We wanted to just get that doubles in kind of just to get to practice some serve/volley returns and kind of just get a match before our main event starts. Q. There is a kind of school of thought, particularly on the men's tour, that the top guys can't be friends with each other anymore because everything is so competitive. You're friends with Serena, you're friends with Petra, Vika. Can you just forget all that when you walk out on court? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah, for sure. When we're on court, it's all competition. We all want to win. That's what we practice for. We practice and prepare every day to be the best player we can be, and it doesn't matter who is on the other side of the court. We just want to win. Yeah, I think, you know, we travel to the same tournaments every week and we have known each other for so many years. I think it's just nice that we can go out and have a dinner together and just, you know, have a nice time. We only live once, so it's all about enjoying what we do while we can. Q. When you're having that dinner, is tennis ever on the conversation list? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: No. Usually when we just go out for dinner, us girls, we don't talk tennis. We talk everything else. Interestingly enough, we went out for dinner the other day with our whole team, so my dad was there, my hitting partner, and Petra's coach and fitness coach, and of course the men can't stop talking about tennis. So they are starting to debate whether Pete Sampras would still be a great player today or who has the best serve ever and things like that. So it gets interesting and we get some history in whenever they are around. Q. I saw you caught up with Laura Robson. How tough do you think it will be for her to come back? She's been out a long time. CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I think it will be tough, for sure. It's not easy. It's never easy when you come back from injury. She's been out for a year and a half. You know, she's a good player and she has the technique. She has everything in her favor. She still has many years to play. It's going to be tough, but I definitely think we will see her back, there is no doubt about it, because if you work hard and have the will and she's been there before, so I don't see a reason why she shouldn't be back. I just think it's not going to be overnight. I think it's going to take time. Q. Was she in good spirits? When you're away for a long time, it can be difficult. CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: She's definitely in good spirits. I think when you're away for a long time you get the hunger and you realize this is what you love to do. She was definitely happy to be back and competing and just practicing and being able to play points again. You know, I think that's a great feeling. Q. You're a familiar face here at Eastbourne. What do you like about this tournament, in particular? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I like that it's very kind of low‑key for us. We can just walk to the matches. The crowd is really nice. We always have big crowds. Courts are nice. They always take good care of us. We have our favorite restaurants we always walk to. It's just kind of a nice calmbeforethestorm next week. Q. There has been a lot of discussion on the men's side about the time for serves, 20, 25 seconds between points. Is that something that you have taken notice to? There has been talk there might be a shot clock put in. Is that necessary or what do you think? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I don't really think it's necessary on the tour, on our tour, because if there is a problem I think the umpires are very good at just stepping in and saying, you know, you have to take less time or you get a warning. I mean, I think most players are pretty quick. You have a few players that are very slow and those you pay attention to more. You kind of just stand around and wait. But then you let the umpire know, and that's fair enough. Q. Is it harder when you're standing around and waiting between points like that? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I think obviously some people use it to their advantage. You know, if they are tired they take a long time, or if it's just a tactical thing, you kind of slow down a little bit in your reactions and you just stand around waiting. I don't know if it's on purpose or not, but I think some of them use it to their advantage. At the end of the day, again, you have the umpire there. If you have a problem, you just say it and they look at the clock and that's it. I don't really think it's that necessary to have a shot clock. Q. On a more personal note, you tweeted your support for Jason Day this morning. What would you say to the suggestion that that was a bit of a dig at Rory? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: You know, I comment on sports all the time. Nothing I do has anything to do with my ex. So, you know, what Jason Day has been through this week with the collapsing on the course and everything and still keep going and, you know, having the doctor out there the full round yesterday, I think anyone who follows sports in general knows that that's a great effort to keep going and not giving up and still doing so well that he's been doing. Yeah, I thought that it was impressive the way he kept fighting. I know how it is when I had cramps just on court and how I felt when I kept going. I can kind of put myself in his shoes, but he had to walk around there for like five hours. It's different. Q. Speaking of Laura again, is it important she takes her time and not try and rush this comeback and paces herself? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I think she knows exactly what she's doing. She has a good team around her. I can say one thing, but she knows exactly what she needs to do. Obviously I think she needs to know it's going to take time. It's not going to come overnight. But again, I think that we are going to see her back. Q. If you walk away from this grass season, what would be a successful grass season for you? CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I don't know. It's hard to say, you know, going into it. I just want to perform to my best and I will tell you after the grass season whether or not it was a successful one. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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