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QATAR TOTAL OPEN

February 25, 2016

Jelena Ostapenko

Doha, Qatar

J. OSTAPENKO/S. Zheng

6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Jelena Ostapenko, please.

Q. You seemed very happy. Could you talk about the your feelings now.
JELENA OSTAPENKO: Thanks. It was a great match today against Saisai. Both of us played good, so I enjoyed.

Q. Just enjoyed it?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: Yeah, I mean, I try to stay consistent and I fight for every point and, yeah.

Q. You didn't feel any, like, nerve or pressure before the match coming on the court?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: Before the match, I was fine. But during the match when I was leading in the score, then it went 3-0 to 3-All, I was a bit nervous. Then I just tried to stay consistent and play my game.

Q. You seem to be smiling a lot. Are you generally a happy person? Would you consider your personality happy?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: I mean, depends. My mood is changing all the time. But most of the time, I'm happy, yeah.

Q. Can you tell us a little bit about your coaching. Your mother is your coach and your father is your fitness trainer, is that right?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: No.

Q. No?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: My mother is my coach, tennis coach. And my father, he used to play football, he's not my fitness coach. He's just helping me.

Q. Do both your parents travel with you to tournaments?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: Yeah, like, sometimes my mom and sometimes my father.

Q. And back home, you live at home with your family?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: Yes.

Q. Does it become a bit intense? You're with them all the time?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: What do you mean?

Q. Is it difficult because you're at home with your family, you're at tennis with your family, or do you enjoy that?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: I enjoy that because my parents, they know me since I was born and they know me the best. So I'm really happy they can be with me all the time.

Q. How well do you know Ernests Gulbis?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: Yeah, I mean, I know him. We talk sometimes. He's a nice person.

Q. Does he help you at all?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: I mean, sometimes he gives me some advices and that probably helps me.

Q. Are you as crazy as him?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: I mean, now, probably not.

Q. I have a question for you. What is the reason there have been so many upsets? You have accounted for a string of upsets.
JELENA OSTAPENKO: I'm sorry?

Q. There's so many upsets. What's the reason for that? Kuznetsova went down, Kerber went down, Angelique, she also went down. The seed players have just been washed off?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: I mean, everyone on this level plays good, so I think all the players are good enough maybe to win. Probably seed players they didn't play their best matches, but still, there's a new generation coming and they play good.

Q. All of them?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: I mean, like, all the players here, they are good enough to win the matches.

Q. Until this week, before this week, what was the best week of your career? Quebec, the final?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: Yeah, probably there. I played finals there, like, first in my career. It was nice tournament there for me.

Q. What about Wimbledon, how big was junior Wimbledon for you?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: Yeah, it was really amazing because my goal in juniors was to win one of the Grand Slams, and to finish with junior tennis. I won it and I was really happy because grass is, like, my favorite surface. I really enjoy to play. Yeah, it was nice.

Q. What do you like about grass?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: It's very specific surface. It's quite fast, so you -- for my game, I think I play aggressive, so it's good.

Q. Do you think Wimbledon will be your best Grand Slam tournament?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: Yeah. It's really nice there, the atmosphere and everything.

Q. Can you speak about your next match against Andrea or Garbine?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: Yeah, both of them are great players. I'll watch their match today. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

Q. Tell us a little bit more about your personality and what you like to do. Other than tennis, what are your passions? What are you interested in?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: Yeah, I used to do ballroom dancing, as I said already probably, like for seven years profession. Now I don't do it anymore. But I used to do for myself, like, once or twice a week when I was at home.

Also I like to read. I'm going out with my friends, my family, and my dog Juljeta.

Q. Let me ask you about today's match. Saisai, she's very good at defense. It was like long rallies in this match, but seems like you kept attacking. You are very consistent, but at the same time, you kept attacking. Could you talk about your cycles? You always like to attack or how to you encourage yourself in long rallies?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: Yeah, I am aggressive player, but you can't always play aggressive. You have to stay consistent.

And today against Saisai, I have to stay aggressive, otherwise I think it's difficult to win against her because she's really good in defensive.

Q. You are very young. How did you learn that kind of tactics or mentality?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: I mean, I played in juniors, and then I started to play some seniors tournaments. It's totally different. Everyone is playing and fighting for every point. I think it comes with experience.

Q. You mentioned ballroom dancing. That's quite unusual. Disco dancing maybe. How did that happen?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: Yeah, when I was five years old, I started to play tennis. At the same time, I did ballroom dancing for, like, seven years professional. I could dance like 10 dances.

But then I had to chose one, like, tennis or ballroom dancing. I chose the tennis because I liked it more and I had better results.

Q. You say professional ballroom dancing. Did you perform in shows, that sort of thing?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: I went to competitions and also there was, like, National Latvian Championship. I also was there and I had some third places, second places.

Q. So second and third in the whole of Latvia?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: I don't really remember because I was quite small, but it was nice.

Q. You said 10 different dances. Is it like salsa and other things or is it all specific ballroom dancing?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: It is like Latin American dances and standard dances. Latin American, there are, like, five, and standard dances, there are five. Like, for example, rhumba, samba, cha-cha-cha, jive, bossa nova, and quickstep, foxtrot, tango, and two more.

Q. Did you make any money doing that? You said professional.
JELENA OSTAPENKO: In ballroom dancing, it's very specific because you have to, like, invest so much money there. You have to pay for everything.

But then, like, when you do it on a very high level, you don't get back anything. So you have to, like, spend a lot of money to, like, do this kind of sport.

So I don't think it's very fair for them.

Q. Have you ever used any of your ballroom dances to celebrate a win?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: No. I just once, like, my cousin had a wedding, and I prepared, like, one dance for him at a wedding.

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