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U.S. OPEN

August 31, 2015

Coco Vandeweghe

New York, NY, USA

C. VANDEWEGHE/S. Stephens

6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How did the on-court interview come about?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: ESPN approached me yesterday regarding if I was open to the idea. They explained it to me that Pam would come out -- actually Pam explained it to me herself. She would come out and ask me two questions. It would be in between sets.

If I didn't want her out there I could just wave her away at any point in time. I could say it two seconds before I walked out on the court. I gave her the nod to go ahead, and then it happened.

Q. Was it weird?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: No. I can't remember a thing I said. (Laughter.)

Q. Are you serious?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: Dead serious. I don't know what she asked.

Q. What do you think are the pros and cons of doing it or not doing it?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: Well, before it happened I was thinking maybe I might lose focus doing it. But then at the same time we have on-court coaching for WTA events. You could also lose focus in that way because you're speaking to someone.

I think it's a positive. I think any innovation, it is a positive. So I see no harm in it.

Q. Did you talk to some of the other players about it?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: No, no. Mary Joe came up to me after the match while I was stretching and was really complimentary of everything. So was Pam afterwards. She was very complimentary and was really proud of me of being innovative in that way. I didn't even think of it like that.

So I just thought of it as, you know, being a sportsfan myself, getting insight into an athlete's head.

Q. Why do you think they approached you?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: Who knows. (Laughter.)

Q. Have you heard from Uncle KiKi yet?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: No, I haven't heard from him at all. He does his own thing. I do my own thing.

Q. All players are usually worried to lose concentration easily. You weren't afraid about that?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: Well, that was my original thought when I was approached about the idea. But, you know, there's lots of distractions that go on during a tennis match.

If you aren't able to put those distractions aside, then you need to kind of definitely work on that aspect of your game.

When I was just in the moment. It felt right, so I did it. Maybe another time I'll be not feeling it as much and I'll tell Pam to go sit back down, which might be equally as fun.

Q. Are you superstitious? For instance, today it brought you luck in a way. You won and it was a good day. Will you do it more because it happened or you wouldn't care?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: Well, my superstitions are all things that I can control. Hopefully this won't become one of my superstitions.

Goodness, you know, it's just something that is fun. It's different. I'm glad I could be a part of it.

Q. A lot of people were already talking about Sloane versus Serena in the third round. When you hear that, is that a little bit of a motivator saying, I still got to play Sloane here?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: I never heard any of that because I only look at my first round. I knew I had to play Sloane. My goal was to beat Sloane, so that's all I was thinking about.

Q. What about looking at that potential?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: I don't look ahead. I just look at the next opponent. If you don't get by your next opponent you have no chance of making a third round. Next opponent's first.

Q. What do you think you did well today?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: I thought I kept my intensity up really well. I thought I was very focused through the whole match. I thought I kept the pressure on, and Sloane definitely made me play.

My goal going into the match was to keep my intensity up and also keep my hustle up. Running down extra balls, making her play again, and actually making her worry that I was making her play that extra ball when I could.

So that was definitely my biggest goal going into the match today.

Q. In Cincy you said you felt like you just started your summer because you had been hurt and didn't have the preparation you wanted. Is today like you're there now, you're where you want to be?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: No, no, not at all. I'm a perfectionist, I guess you could say. You know, of course I nitpick all I want. I'll try my best not to. It's one match at a time, one day at a time, one practice at a time. You can go down to the shot.

We got practice tomorrow, and we'll work out the kinks that weren't working today. Like 47% first serves is not acceptable in my mind. That's something to look at. I'll also look at more stats to see. I always look at the first-serve percentage immediately.

Q. You get another American.
COCO VANDEWEGHE: Who is it?

Q. Bethanie.
COCO VANDEWEGHE: We practiced earlier this week out in the park. She had just gotten her orange hair done so it was really orange. Other than that, first I'm hearing about it. I haven't thought about it too much.

Q. You know her pretty well? She's a friend?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: B's a cool girl. I like her.

Q. By any chance did you hear from your uncle after that offhanded remark about the player drafted, Carmelo?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: I've said all I needed to say about Carmelo.

Q. Did you talk to your uncle about it at all?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: I've said all I needed to say.

Q. Endorsers look at not just the winners and losers, but how you handle yourself. Have you thought about what this can do for your brand?
COCO VANDEWEGHE: I always try and conduct myself to the best of my abilities. I'm not perfect. I'm human. I definitely make mistakes out there.

Especially when you have quite a few people watching you, cheering against you, cheering for you, that can all compound itself on you at times.

There's definitely frustrating moments when you train as hard as tennis players do and sacrifice the amounts that we all individually sacrifice. When things aren't going our way sometimes that implodes on itself. At least for me it does.

So I try to handle myself the best as I can and serve as a role model if I can. I try my best, and hopefully it shows.

Q. What about John McEnroe? He used to do this all the time and he never complained.
COCO VANDEWEGHE: I'm definitely not John McEnroe, but I'm my own person. I'm just CoCo.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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