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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 21, 2017

Mirjana Lucic-Baroni

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

M. LUCIC-BARONI/M. Sakkari

3-6, 6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you talk about how you kind of pulled that match back after the first set today?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Crazy. I don't even know how. It was really tough. I battled myself, my opponent, my leg. It was really tough.

And I wasn't feeling, really, the ball very well. I wasn't moving well. I just told myself, Fight. That's what you can do. The rest you can't control, but you can fight.

I was really trying to make myself go, and, yeah, I'm really proud of myself.

Q. What was wrong with the leg?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Let's not talk about it. I'm still very much in the tournament in both singles and doubles.

But I'll get some rest, try to recover, and tape up some more, look crazy on the court. It's okay. I look like a mummy, but it's okay.

Q. Does that make you think about your schedule? Do you have to think about potentially pulling out of doubles?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: No, no, no. I'm not the type to do that, and I wouldn't do that to Andrea, no way. I'll be good to go.

Q. 19 years' wait for a second win here. Now into the fourth round. Chance to go to the quarters. What does this mean for you big-picture-wise?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: It's, you know, it's been so long, and my career has been so long and stop and go and all that stuff. But I just take it, every win, it really is a big deal for me. It is like winning a tournament. I celebrate it.

I don't take losses well. I have gotten better over the years, but I really want to take my time and enjoy and celebrate my wins, and especially my big wins.

And today it was really difficult. I'm really proud of myself. I enjoyed that I found the way to win.

Q. How do you celebrate?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Just really happy with my family, with my coach, my physio here. Just really enjoying the moment. Not worrying too much about the next day or the next day or my opponents or anything.

Just enjoying, kind of relishing the moment.

Q. You won an indoor tournament two years ago against Venus Williams. Was that the moment like, okay, turning point, I can be back on top of the rankings?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Well, around that time, also at the US Open that year, I also went from quallies into the fourth round, and that was kind of what got me going. Of course, winning the tournament with Venus in final was really amazing.

But I always knew that I can do things like that and that I can play big tennis and get some good results, for sure, and improve my ranking a lot.

It's just, you know, the older you get, the more little injuries here and there, and things sometimes don't work out. But I always knew I can do it. It was just a matter of, obviously, doing it.

Q. When you came back in 2008 and were playing small events, challengers, you know, how difficult was that? Were there times when you thought about stopping, giving up?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: I never thought about stopping, but it was difficult. It was a lot of tears, a lot of disappointments. It was really hard.

I think many would give up, and I really take a lot of pride in that, because it was really hard. I didn't get no wildcards, I didn't get any special treatment. I really had to do it on my own, and I had to fight so hard for it.

I take a lot of pride in that, and it takes a lot of character. It takes a lot of hard work. It takes a lot of mental strength. The fact that I was able to do that and be here today just kind of proves to myself who I am and what a fighter I am.

Q. Next opponent?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Next opponent.

Q. Brady.
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Yes, I saw that. Obviously great player. She's in the fourth round. I don't know much about her, but later in the day my coach will take a look and I'll take a look, and we'll talk about it, figure it out.

Every match is difficult. There is no such thing as an easy match or an opportunity. I mean, every match is an opportunity to go further. I'm going to do my best to try and recover as best as I can and fight again, fight my butt off again and try to do one better, for sure.

Q. When you think back to when you won the doubles here with Martina, is there any relevance of feeling good about the tournament now that goes back to then, or is that so long ago that it's like a different era?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Well, if you know my singles record here, no. It was tough, because last few years I kept losing first round and first round. It was really tough kind of going here.

My coach was saying No, no, we're gonna change that this year. I was like, Okay. He said it that many times that I think I started believing him.

But that feels -- the Australian Open doubles win, that feels like a lifetime ago.

But I had a really good offseason. I prepared really well. I came in here just fighting really badly wanting to win that one round and then another and another. Going to continue trying to do that.

Q. A lot of fans see the tour as a very glamorous event with lots of prize money and fame. But you spoke about the challenges of the challenger circuit. Could you bring that alive a little bit? Could you go into some detail on just how tough it was or bizarre, just how rough it was?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Well, I mean, whoever thinks that this is glamorous and all this prize money and all that should come have a chat with me. It is not all it's cracked up to be, and it is -- I mean, it's not so easy to get to this point, for sure. Challenger circuit is very difficult mentally.

More than anything, you have to be super determined and take it as a steppingstone and just try to get away from there as soon as possible and go a step up.

It's been, like I said before, it's been a really difficult road for me. It's been difficult to come back, but I'm very proud that I'm here.

Q. What's the most difficult part of the challengers?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: It's difficult. You play in a small tournament. Court 37. You don't get new balls all the time. I think in third set only, you get new balls. You don't have ball boys, ball girls. You don't have umpires. It's difficult. Things are not as easy or as smooth as they are here, as well organized.

You play for $55 a match, so it's difficult. There is a lot of things that could improve. I mean, prize money, obviously, the most. Yeah, there is a lot of little challenges like that.

Q. Sometimes the line calls are not so good?
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Yeah, a lot of little things. Yeah, we have few umpires. It's not -- yeah, it's a difficult -- if you can get through that, I would suggest to every young player starting, get through that and start playing bigger tournaments, even quallies.

Q. (Question about possibly filming life on the challenger circuit.)
MIRJANA LUCIC-BARONI: Yeah, no. I told my coach couple years ago, I'm never showing up to another challenger. If I can't make it here, I'm done, I'm quitting.

But I have kind of earned my way. I have a choice. I can say I'm not playing another challenger, not for practice, not for anything.

It's difficult, but as every young player or every player starting, they have to go through that, and maybe it's good. It toughens you up a little bit, and, yeah.

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