|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BNP PARIBAS FED CUP: USA VS THE NETHERLANDSFebruary 10, 2018Kathy RinaldiCoco VandewegheAsheville, North Carolina C. VANDEWEGHE/R. Hogenkamp 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Emotional journey of a match. Take us through how you turned it around. COCO VANDEWEGHE: Tennis is such a mental game. I think a match like that shows it. I was quite a bit rusty going out there. Having said that, she gave me a lot of difficulties through the match. She's is a very unorthodox style player with a lot of slices, chips, runs a lot of balls down. I hung around long enough in that second set to give myself opportunities. I took the opportunities. Third set, getting ahead was very important. I definitely saw in her body language she deflated once I started to get ahead. Q. Do you find it's helpful for you when you lose your cool with that racquet and stuff? It seems like in the past also it's calmed you down, helped you move ahead. COCO VANDEWEGHE: I wouldn't say yes. I would probably say no, it doesn't help me. But I would rather that than walking around moping the whole time. To get to that point of having to break a racquet is something I have to work on, catching it earlier. No, I wouldn't say it's helpful. Q. Early in the match, dropshot after dropshot you couldn't get to. There was a moment where you looked at her and said, No, not in my house. What was going through your mind? COCO VANDEWEGHE: Yeah, I'm a bit out there with some of the things I go around to motivate myself. I think that definitely stems from the fact that I really didn't play tennis until I was a little bit older. I was more in a team sport, basketball especially, where trash talking does happen. I say it for myself just to get myself fired up, intense. Definitely have that fire in my belly to kind of prove to myself, because obviously we can't talk to anyone. We're just talking to ourselves the whole time. We're like crazy people. I was just talking to myself to, like, pump up, like not today, not today here. Q. From your own play, after 3-Love in the second set, you had a breakpoint you had to save, what did you do in your own play to turn things around? COCO VANDEWEGHE: I started to make a lot more balls. I really wanted things to happen a lot quicker as far as my play. I wanted things to be really top-notch really early. I think that definitely hurt me at the start. Trying too hard, trying to place it, be so perfect. I kind of just decided, I'm going to sit here and run. She's not beating me in long rallies. Let's just run and grind and see what happens. Q. Kathy, great spot to be in, 2-0 up. What is your thinking about tomorrow, the singles matches? KATHY RINALDI: We'll decide tonight. We'll sit down and make that decision looking forward. Q. Kathy, can you talk about how big of a difference it is going into tomorrow being up 2-0 instead of 1-1? KATHY RINALDI: Obviously you have the momentum. What Coco did out there today was amazing in getting us in that position. Of course, Venus got us off to a great start. You feel good, but you still need one more. We're going to be prepared and ready to go. Hopefully clinch it with the first singles. Q. Coco, can you speak a little bit about the energy in the building today, the atmosphere, how you use that in your own game. COCO VANDEWEGHE: Yes, it was very electric in there. It's so intimate that it made it feel that much more personal. You saw me multiple times throughout the match today asking them for more. It's a home-court advantage for a reason. I want my opponent to definitely feel that out there. Q. Kathy, you've obviously been in this situation before. What is the process, the adjustment process, like for you tonight? How much input do the players have? Is it a long process? Do you know where you're at going into the meeting? KATHY RINALDI: Yeah, we look at everything. Obviously we're going to do what's best for the team, put us in that winning position. We have four great players, so we feel good about it. I believe in all these girls. It's a tough decision, but tough decisions have to be made. That's my job. That's what I'll do tonight. Q. Kathy, was there any intention of Serena playing singles in this? If you do clinch, the fourth goes away? KATHY RINALDI: We play the doubles. Q. But you're not going to play the fourth singles? KATHY RINALDI: Right, that's the rule, exactly. Yeah, of course, when I spoke with Serena, she was here to play. She wouldn't have agreed to play if she wasn't ready to play. That's definitely something we look at. But it's a decision I have to make and will this evening. Q. When you say 'play,' was the intention for her to play singles or was she coming in to play doubles? KATHY RINALDI: We left it open. It wasn't decided ahead of time. It's not something you decide anyway. Just when we all get here. It's not decided who is going to play singles, doubles. You see the surface, you see how everyone is practicing, how everyone is feeling. As a team, a close-knit team that we are, we're all open and honest, want to do what's best for the team. Q. Coco, it looked a couple of times like you had a few miss-hits. Were you staring at the court? How did the court play on the baseline? COCO VANDEWEGHE: No, I'd probably chalk it up to rust. I haven't played a competitive match in quite a few weeks. I'm definitely not going to be perfect out there as much as I would like myself to be. Q. Coco. If I'm not mistaken, you've won 13 in a row in Fed Cup. Does that knowledge of your success in the event help you in matches like today? Does that go through your mind? COCO VANDEWEGHE: I think when you've won matches, I think that carries over into the WTA, as well. When you win matches, you're confident. You're going to believe in yourself when you're out there. There were definitely moments of doubt in my mind out there today just for the fact of, like I said before, I haven't played in quite a bit. To put what you worked on in practice out onto a match court, you have to believe in yourself. I think my record in Fed Cup is more so just how much I really love playing for my country, more so than anything else. Like I said a lot last year, I take this responsibility very seriously. I sacrifice a lot to be here. I give my all out there for my teammates and my country each match I'm nominated for. Even if it is just to be a team player, I've played that role as well in previous ties just to be on the sideline cheering, hit, help anybody who needs help. It definitely is a team atmosphere that gets us through each and every tie. Q. Kathy, it's your fourth tie. Every team is different. Talk a little bit about how this team is different with the presence of Serena and Venus, what they change or bring to the table. KATHY RINALDI: They brought a lot. I mean, we all have such tremendous respect for Venus and Serena for what they've done over the years, what they continue to do for tennis, for our sport, for the next generation of players. It's just amazing. To have them here, we're very happy to have them. They've been absolutely phenomenal with the team. Even baby Olympia, you saw her dressed today. It's been really nice. We had our team dinner last night. They've been very supportive. Every team that I've had has just been amazing. To have the two, Serena maybe the greatest player of all team here, has been amazing. To have her in a team situation, that team role and be there for us, it's been amazing. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|