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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 25, 2017

Mirjana Lucic-Baroni

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

M. LUCIC-BARONI/K. Pliskova

6-4, 3-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What was the prayer right after the match?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: I was just really thankful, really thankful to God that I was able to do this today, that I was able to finish my match. I was really worried. I was concerned. I didn't know if I had it in me to finish it.

I started hurting pretty bad mid-match, especially towards the end. The fact that I was able to do it and so well at the end, I was really grateful.

Q. Has it started to sink in yet, what you've achieved this two weeks?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: No. Like I said before, those moments when you're on the court and you're winning, those couple minutes of pure ecstasy are amazing, and once you walk off the court, everything calms down a little bit.

I'm still in the tournament, and I want to remain kind of calm and focused and give another really good performance tomorrow.

Q. You said you didn't know whether you had it in you. When did you have that little talk to yourself and what did you tell yourself?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Not that I didn't know I had it in me. I mean because of my leg. I was really concerned with my physical wellbeing at that point. And I just said to myself, I said, They're either going to wheel you out. I mean, I'm not going to give up, just keep fighting. And that was it.

I just kept encouraging myself to keep going, to stay strong.

Q. How difficult is it going to be to play in the final? You've only got 24 hours this time. You've had two days to recover from other matches.
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Every day I've played. I haven't had a day off in weeks. I don't know the last time I had a day off. I played every day singles and doubles.

I'm going to be just fine. I'm going to recover, do some therapy, and I'll be fine. I'll just put some extra tapes on and hopefully it will hold me together. I'll fight hard. I'll be okay.

Q. Did you feel that you deserved to get this chance in your career because of what you went through?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Do I think that I deserve it?

Q. This made everything okay. Does it mean that before this win you felt something was missing and you deserved something better?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: I felt like these results were missing, for sure. This is what I've been dreaming about, this is what I've been training for. At 34 years old, like I said before, I have a wonderful home. I'm happily married. I would be perfectly okay being at home enjoying my family.

But I really knew deep down in my soul that I have these results in me. To now be here and actually live these moments, it's incredible.

Q. We saw you dig around in your bag before the last game and pop the rosary on. Looked like you were trying to get it close to your heart. I don't want to make you emotional, but can you talk to us a little about that moment and what that meant to you when you went to serve out the match.
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: It was really difficult because, like I said, when I took the medical timeout, I wasn't really sure how I was feeling. I felt in that moment only God can help me.

And yeah, it was just something I didn't think about. It was just something that helped me be strong. I didn't really plan it. I didn't think about it. It just kind of was a thing I did.

Q. What allowed you to get so far? Do you feel like everything has now come together, grace of God?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Yeah, grace of God, yeah. Look, I've said before, always, I always knew I had a really good game, really big game, and there has never been a doubt about that. And you know, it's not easy doing it. You know, there's so many great players. Even when you're playing great, it's not a guarantee that you're going to go far in the tournament. There's a lot of other players playing well, and you may wake up that day maybe not hitting the ball as great and somebody else is. It's just really small margins.

And I'm really happy and lucky and grateful that things have come together here really well for me.

Q. There is ever-increasing interest in your back story now, and you alluded to the fact that maybe one day you'll write a book about it. When is the right time to tell everyone exactly what you've been through?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Who knows. Maybe it will be, maybe it won't. I go back and forth with it. A part of it I just want to say because people assume a lot, and people don't know. That irritates me when people assume things like injuries and things like that and people write about it. I understand it's your guys' job to write about it. A lot of it is speculation.

At other times I really want to keep those things to myself, and I don't want to tell anybody anything, and I don't want to focus so much on that.

I kind of want to be known as amazing fighter, a person who persevered against everything, against all odds. And that's what I take pride in.

So I don't know. Who knows. We will see.

Q. You know the questions are going to keep coming now.
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: I know they're going to keep coming. I know. As you can see I'm kind of diverting them a little bit, hopefully somewhat successfully. But yeah, we'll see. We'll see.

Q. Going back to '99 and you made the semifinals Wimbledon, just a kid. Can you contrast what it feels like each time?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: This time, it's incredibly special, especially since it's been so long since the last time I've been in semifinals. And the struggle has been so much bigger, and nobody in this world thought I could ever be here again, beside my closest family, my coach, and my brothers, my sisters, my husband, my mom. Beside my little circle, I don't think anybody believed that I could do it. And it's really fun.

It's fun to prove everybody wrong, and it's fun to enjoy this for myself and live these incredible moments. It's more special this time, for sure.

Q. Serena is coming your way now. How do you see that match?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Serena is our greatest champion, for sure, the greatest tennis player that ever played the game. So it's going to be incredibly tough. She is going to history. I'm sure she's going to be motivated to play well.

And I'm just going to do my thing like I've done before ever other match. I'm going to recover and try to rest. I'm going to go out there with my heart and do the best that I can tomorrow.

Q. What's your memory the last time you played her?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: I think it was really long ago. I think it was Wimbledon. It was Wimbledon? Really long time ago. We played exhibition set last year during the IPTL.

Look, again, she's a great champion. I'm not bad myself. I think it will be a good match. I will work hard. I will fight hard. And we'll see. Hopefully it will be fun.

Q. Will more people from your family coming to see you because you're in the semis from Europe or America?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: No. We're going to keep it really calm, really quiet like this. I'm already playing tomorrow.

Everybody's really excited at home. They're having fun. They're celebrating. They're enjoying my wins and watching on TV. So it's okay. We'll keep it like this.

Q. When you talk about kind of having that belief in your soul that this tennis was in you. You had that same belief when you were 15, when you came out on tour. Where do you think that comes from and did it ever waver?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: It was a bit broken for a few years, for sure. When I was younger, I just believed because I won a lot and it was that confidence you simply have because you're winning all the time.

When you stop winning as much and you don't play for a long time, yeah, you definitely lose it a little bit. Not even lose it, you forget it. You forget deep down kind of who you are on the court. That has happened to me a little bit, where I struggled for a few years. And I'm really glad that I remembered.

Q. How did you get that memory back?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: It's just perseverance. It's just kind of almost being little, I don't know, what's the right word, ignoring everything and just pushing forward and kind of going through the wall. It's not going but you keep pushing and you keep pushing, and nothing is working, and you keep pushing. That belief that eventually it will change...

I think that's what perseverance is, and I feel like that's what helped me get here.

Q. Do you have any ideas on why there are so many players in their mid-30s that made it through to the semifinals?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Everybody's so strong right now physically. Everybody works more intelligently, works harder as well. I think experience has a lot to do with it.

It's difficult these days to be 16, 17, and come out and be beating these big girls in their 30s. And I feel like recovery has gotten better. Everything evolves in sports from preparation to recovery to everything. And I feel like, yeah, us oldies, we're not letting up that easily.

Q. I'm sure there will be a film of your life at some point. Who should play you?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: That's a really tough question. Somebody who has a nice, large nose, probably (smiling).

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