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BNP PARIBAS OPENMarch 19, 2016Bethanie Mattek-SandsCoco VandewegheIndian Wells, California MATTEK SANDS-VANDEWEGHE/Pliskova-Goerges 4-6, 6-4, 10-6 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please? Q. Pretty exciting. You turned it around. Can you talk about the match, the way it played out? COCO VANDEWEGHE: Personally for myself in the first set I felt like I was so close to connecting on their service games. Making inroads into that, but it was just missing, you know, just getting our feet underneath ourselves. I thought it was really key. Then we just kept working and kept trying out different things in the second set. Changed our tactics a little bit for my service games and also staying active and doing the things that got us there to the final. Q. You guys haven't played together much, almost at all. Can you talk about how you guys decided to play together and get into this tournament? BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS: It wasn't that long ago. It was literally, like... COCO VANDEWEGHE: She hunted me down. (Laughter.) BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS: Saw her in the distance and I was like, I will find you. I need to talk to you. No, I mean, we played doubles at Fed Cup in Hawaii at the last match and played really well. Obviously we're both looking at Olympics ahead, to Rio, and having an option to play there. I think we played really well together, played really well at Fed Cup, and we're like, Let's keep it going. Pick a tournament. Even though we kind of had partners set a little bit, we decided on Indian Wells to see how it went. Obviously it was pretty good. We had a lot of fun. That's a big thing for me playing doubles is getting along with my partner and having fun. It ultimately helps you do well. Q. Can you both talk specifically about that Olympic dream, and what it would mean to you? COCO VANDEWEGHE: Right. I know it's a dream of Bethanie's and myself. It's always been my dream more than anything to be an Olympian since my mom was an Olympian. That's always been my ultimate goal, to represent the United States. So I try and make it a priority, even for Fed Cup. Even if it might not fit in my schedule personally as a WTA, you know, sense, I try and play it as much as I can. BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS: Definitely. I think it's something special. Obviously I have played Fed Cup a lot of times, but I have been close to the Olympics in past years but I haven't been able to play. So I'm really looking forward to a chance, a good chance of playing this year in Rio. It would be amazing just to represent the U.S., to walk out with all the other athletes, with all the other teammates. I think it's something so different from, you know, your WTA, from your singles play. I mean, it's just such a team event playing for your country. Even though we play for the U.S. every week, we have USA next to our name every single tournament, but it's definitely something special. It only happens every four years, so... Q. Can you share some of the stories your mom told you? She was in twice in the Olympics. COCO VANDEWEGHE: Right, she was in twice. She can't watch opening ceremonies. Makes her sick to her stomach. She tells the story about the East Germans. She swam in '76 and that's when they were all on the steroids and it sounded like it was men coming into the locker room. (Laughter.) You know, with the deep voices and, like, pounding of the steps and everything like that. So that's kind of her story about that. But, I mean, she describes it definitely as something extremely special. Definitely it's a privilege, for sure. Q. Bethanie, I think it was four, five years ago you were in the finals here. How does it feel to get the title? BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS: Yeah, no, I was just telling her. I mean, it's Coco's first title and it's always exciting to get your first title. Glad I could be a part of that moment. She's a little emotional right now. COCO VANDEWEGHE: I'm holding it back. Holding it back. BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS: Yep. But, no, it's nice to come back and get the title. I was telling her I had the second place trophy so it was nice to lift the 90-pound first place trophy today. Hopefully we get the big one to take home. COCO VANDEWEGHE: Yeah. BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS: I didn't check in our bag. COCO VANDEWEGHE: No, but it felt heavy. BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS: It did. It's always good to get a title and a win. I feel like we played really well, and I think that's most important. You know, the celebrations kind of are limited because we are going to Miami in a couple days and start over in first round there, but we will definitely share this win. Q. Is there something special about playing doubles here at Indian Wells? The scheduling was pretty good. A lot of the crowds stayed after at men's semifinals. You played at the big stadium at a decent hour. How did it feel to have a lot of fans there for this match? BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS: I think it was awesome. All our matches we had a ton of support, even when we were out on Stadium 4, Stadium 3. I feel like a lot of fans really enjoy watching doubles. I mean, we get that almost after all our matches. Why don't they show more doubles? We love watching doubles. I think that's pretty much what everyone plays in the USTA league tennis. That's why we got a lot of good support. Obviously we are both American and playing here in the U.S. It was awesome. Some of the best crowd support for doubles, and hopefully it will continue and we will get on some big stages like that. It's always fun playing on stadium. I like playing on stadium. COCO VANDEWEGHE: It's not like we are not fun to watch. (Laughter.) BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS: We try and keep it entertaining. Q. Do you feel like after this tournament -- because you beat a lot of really good teams -- do you start thinking about maybe -- do you start entertaining the thought of winning a gold medal? COCO VANDEWEGHE: I think that's so long away. Plus, I take every match just one match at a time. I mean, there is no reason to think of a gold medal if you lose first round. You have to focus on the first-round opponent in any tournament and go from there. BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS: You know, and at the same time, though, we did beat some great teams. I think even if you lose first round you have to keep the confidence, as well. It's not like, oh, if we had lost would we be out? Not necessarily. I think we both know our games and we stuck to it this whole week, even when we were down a set a couple of times. But it's too far away. You know, a lot of it is not in our control. What we can really control is staying healthy, feeling good, having fun, and playing the next match that's in front of us, which is first round in Miami. COCO VANDEWEGHE: First battle is to get picked for the team. (Laughter.) BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS: There are a few battles before that. COCO VANDEWEGHE: Yep. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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