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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 21, 2017

Jennifer Brady

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

J. BRADY/E. Vesnina

7-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Did you expect to be here? I'm wondering if you had a flight home you missed already?
JENNIFER BRADY: No, I booked a one-way.

Q. Are you going to extend the hotel again?
JENNIFER BRADY: I extended it until Wednesday, so we'll see.

Q. How does this feel? Does this feel surreal at all?
JENNIFER BRADY: Yeah, I mean, it feels amazing. I mean, you know, coming here, being in the qualifying, you know, I didn't expect to, you know, make it all the way until second week.

One of my goals, actually, was, you know, in the next couple years to be playing in the second week of a Grand Slam. I sat down and had that discussion with my coaches and, you know, the rest of my team -- when was it? A couple months ago.

Q. Did it seem like a pipe dream, that idea of making the second week at a major when you sat down and had that conversation? Like, did you feel like you were being really aspirational?
JENNIFER BRADY: Yeah, I mean, I wrote it down and told myself, you know -- I said it, but I didn't say it confidently.

Q. Does it seem a little surreal to you that you have a "team"?
JENNIFER BRADY: Well, I mean, I didn't know what else to say other than "team." Everyone says "team."

Q. It's the hot word.
JENNIFER BRADY: I just went with the flow and said "team."

Q. How many are there in your team?
JENNIFER BRADY: Well, I train at the USTA, so I have coach, fitness trainer, um, mental trainer. I mean, I have the whole shebang.

Q. Are you down in Lake Nona?
JENNIFER BRADY: Yeah, I'm in Orlando.

Q. How's that working out so far?
JENNIFER BRADY: It's good. I just moved there.

Q. We are getting to know you. Basic biography. You were born in Harrisburg. How long did you live there? What has your tennis journey been? Life story in a reasonable length of time.
JENNIFER BRADY: Okay. Yeah. I mean, there's not a whole lot.

I was born in Pennsylvania. Just picked up a tennis racquet, I guess, and moved to Florida when I was nine. Not for tennis, but, you know, it ended up working out.

Went to Evert Tennis Academy. Went to college. Played two years. Now this is starting my second year on tour.

Q. A ways to go? You mentioned college. A ways to go. How would an all-PAC 12 semi be here with Gibbsy?
JENNIFER BRADY: PAC 12. No, that would be pretty cool.

Q. I don't know if you want to impart who your coach and mental trainer and physical trainer are, name-wise, but of the three, is there one you can think maybe helped you get here more?
JENNIFER BRADY: I don't think it's fair to say, but I mean, I'd say all of them, of course. But maybe the main thing, for me, would probably be the mental side.

So Larry Lauer if you would like a name.

Q. What does he tell you? What has he helped you with that maybe wasn't there before?
JENNIFER BRADY: Just believing in myself. Having the confidence in my game. You know, walking out on court, knowing that if I play my game, you know...

Yeah, I mean, just having the confidence in myself.

Q. What do you think has been going well for you on the court that has allowed you to get these results through qualifying until now? What part of your game seems to be clicking and causing these players these problems?
JENNIFER BRADY: I'd say I have been serving pretty well, so I'm able to hold my serve and eventually, you know, have the opportunity to break serve.

And, you know, just having an aggressive game style, you know, having a presence on court.

Q. Do you feel like you're doing anything differently on the court that, you know, this week and a half, I suppose, than you had been previously?
JENNIFER BRADY: I don't think so. I think maybe things are starting to come together, but I don't think anything has really changed.

Q. You mentioned Evert Academy. What's your relationship like with Chris?
JENNIFER BRADY: Oh, we're tight (smiling).

Yeah. No, she, like, tweets me and stuff. Yeah.

Q. Who did you look up to when you were younger in terms of game and tennis?
JENNIFER BRADY: From the women's side, I always enjoyed watching Justine Henin play, Kim Clijsters. I mean, I'd say my idol is Roger Federer. I think a lot of people can say that.

Q. Do you go out of your way to watch his matches?
JENNIFER BRADY: I don't go out of my way, but if he's on, I'll watch.

Q. Have you met him?
JENNIFER BRADY: No.

Q. He's still around. You could.
JENNIFER BRADY: Yeah, no (smiling). I'd get too nervous.

Q. You pretty much doubled your career prize money in these past two weeks.
JENNIFER BRADY: Cool, thanks. Thanks for sharing. I didn't know that.

Q. Curious how that feels.
JENNIFER BRADY: I'm not sure yet. I probably won't know how it feels until I get the check or see the wire transfer.

Q. Do you have plans for it?
JENNIFER BRADY: No. Straight to savings (smiling).

Q. Quite a few of the other Americans and collegiate players have been excited for you on Twitter, tweeting old photos of your days with them. What's your relationship -- is that all through college or through USTA?
JENNIFER BRADY: Yeah, through college, junior tennis.

I mean, pretty much everything, you know. Yeah, I'm sure Kristie Ahn will come out with some good gifts and things.

Q. She's already on it.
JENNIFER BRADY: Yeah.

Q. You face Lucic-Baroni next. She just won. I don't know if you know anything about her, her game, what to expect? It's unusual having two unseeded players play each other fourth round.
JENNIFER BRADY: Right. No, I know she's been playing pretty well. She hits a pretty big ball.

Yeah, I mean, I think I'll just go out and have fun and enjoy it. See what happens.

Q. How are you doing physically with all these matches? Qualifying and then here, dealing with the pressure? Body feels okay?
JENNIFER BRADY: Yeah, so far, so good. Yeah, so far, so good.

Q. Today's match, I don't think we mentioned, how did that go for you? What were the keys to beating her? She's obviously a tough player.
JENNIFER BRADY: Yeah, I mean, she's a tough player. You know, she hits the ball big. She takes it early, comes pretty fast.

You know, I just tried to break down her forehand, I think, and, you know, just keep going after my serve. I think eventually, you know, in the second set, I just broke her serve. I don't know what game I broke her serve, to be honest.

I think eventually, you know, in the beginning of the second set I started breaking her down a little bit, and I was able to capitalize on that.

Q. You haven't been a face around this level of the tour for that long, especially now as the locker room thins out, do you get other people looking at you, trying to figure out who you are?
JENNIFER BRADY: Probably (smiling). Yeah, probably.

Q. What's it been like, just kind of being in a Grand Slam locker room for, you know, like, three rounds already?
JENNIFER BRADY: Yeah. I mean, usually I'm just there the first couple of days, and, you know, it's pretty hectic. It's actually pretty nice. The cafe is not so crowded.

Yeah, it's nice.

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