AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 17, 2005

Rennae Stubbs

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Sam, please.

SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah. I mean, every time you lose, it's disappointing. Big Aussie Open, centre court, it is a disappointing result. But, I mean, I'll try and take whatever positives out of it. I mean, it's not like I had an easy opponent out there either. I mean, I did what I could and came up second best. But, I mean, it will be okay.

SAMANTHA STOSUR: No. Never set foot on it for a proper match.

SAMANTHA STOSUR: Not really. I mean, I wasn't really nervous at the start of the match or anything like that. I started out okay, held my first service game. Then she made me play a few extra balls. I don't know, she just kind of kept it in longer than I did. But I wasn't really nervous or anything.

SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, I think so. I mean, she kept the ball in and made me hit five, six, seven shots every point. Then when I thought I had a bit of an opening to go for it, I went for it and missed it more times than what I made it. I mean, that's just the pressure that she put me under. I mean, I did it well for a few games at the start of the second set. That's the way I wanted to play, but couldn't keep it up.

SAMANTHA STOSUR: Oh, for sure. If someone told me this is what was going to happen at the start, I would have been rapt. I mean, in that aspect I'm not disappointed at all. I mean, I've had a great month. Keep going.

SAMANTHA STOSUR: Don't know. I don't know yet. We'll see what I go down to after this one.

SAMANTHA STOSUR: I was trying to. Every time I went to hit a serve, it hurt. I couldn't really avoid it from not hurting every time I kind of reached over my head. But, I mean, I thought I served quite well, considering. I mean, I did what I could with it and I knew that's the way it was going to be, and just tried to ignore it and do the best I could with it. I mean, that's what I did. So, I mean, it's one of these things that's probably not going to totally fix itself until you don't do anything on it to stress it. I mean, I know that it's going to be there. It's just trying to handle it.

SAMANTHA STOSUR: Apart from the serve, it was basically fine. My backhand, I could feel it on, but apart from that, it's just the serve. Unfortunately, for me, my serve is one of the key aspects of my game. And when you've got a stomach injury, it kind of takes it away. I mean, usually I can get one or two free points a game. I just haven't got that the last week. I mean, that's tough in itself. You've got to work for every point.

SAMANTHA STOSUR: Sure. I mean, you want to be going into your home Grand Slam fully fit. But it's one of those things that just happened last week, kind of no one's fault. Not my fault. It just happened. Now just got to get over it, get rid of it, then be fit for the rest of the year. Yeah, I mean, can't do anything about it. It's disappointing, but it's what happened.