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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 12, 2018

Julia Goerges

Wimbledon, London, England

S. WILLIAMS/J. Goerges

6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You were hitting shots today which probably would have beaten anyone else in the tournament. Was it very frustrating?
JULIA GOERGES: No. I think 'frustrating' is a negative word. I think I shouldn't be too negative about that match today because I think today it was more about experience, not about hitting the strokes. I felt like I hit the ball pretty clean.

Overall I think she knew how to win that match by her experience, and I didn't have that stage in my career yet. I'm looking forward to getting there another time and getting more experience.

But overall I'm not frustrated about the way I hit. I think that she steps up her game. Yeah, it's a big word, which is 'respect' towards me that she brings her A game in a lot of important moments. I think that's a positive way of thinking and approaching maybe the next time, as well.

Q. I think in the first set you hit 12 winners, just five unforced errors.
JULIA GOERGES: Me?

Q. Yes.
JULIA GOERGES: Oh, okay (smiling).

Q. Still didn't make any headway. How demoralizing is it when you're not making errors, hitting winners, still you're not in the match?
JULIA GOERGES: That's also negative.

I think it's not really -- the first set we played 40 minutes for 6-2. I think every single game was very close. I think on some balls I felt also that she was a little bit more lucky, as well, that she hit some lines where you know you are not capable of hitting the ball as clean as you probably would like to.

Overall, as I said, I felt I played great. I'm closer there. That's something which matters for me. I've never went to that stage in a Grand Slam yet before. I think I'm working towards it to achieve it another time. Playing more and more these kind of players, I think Serena is the one, yeah, who you want to play, who you want to get the experience from.

That match today probably gives me so much more experience, and also the way the ball is coming to me, that's probably her best surface, as well. For me, spending every single moment on that court, getting the experience of playing her in a semifinal of a Grand Slam, that's something which you don't experience that much. I've never experienced that before.

So for me it's something, yeah, which I'm looking forward to achieving another time and maybe go one step further.

Q. When you talk about the gap in experience between you and Serena, how does that manifest itself on the court? When you say there's a difference in experience, that makes a difference, what exactly do you mean by that in terms of what happened on the court today?
JULIA GOERGES: Well, I think you saw it on the last game. I would say that's a lack of experience. If you, yeah, get the chance getting back into that match, especially breaking her with new balls, I think on that surface it's very rare, but that was actually the return game I wanted to play. I wanted to play to come back into that match.

But then somehow I lost my experience in that case because I had no experience. Well, she was there from every single point. She, yeah, showed me how to win those matches at that stage, because I think she's won 23 Grand Slams and played I don't know how many times on that court, which I haven't done.

But, yeah, I think that's all.

Q. The best match she had in her comeback that we saw was at the French Open when she played you in the third round. Now she's played another glorious match against you in the semis.
JULIA GOERGES: Thank you.

Q. How much better has she gotten in the last month? Do you sense she's just getting more and more herself?
JULIA GOERGES: Well, I don't want to talk too much about her because I think I can only take care of my performance. Well, obviously we saw that she improved every single match she's playing here. As I said, that's something which also shows that she has a lot of respect for me, coming there from the first point and really going for her shots.

That's something what I want to have in the next matches and next tournaments as well. I want to play her because I want to get better, I want to see how the things are developing for my game as well. Getting this experience, knowing how she plays, but also figuring a way out to get more and more into the match, more and more the way that I end up winning at the end.

Q. You played great, very positive, gaining momentum in the second set, then suddenly it was over. The fans were getting into it. What would you think if there was a different format; semifinals, finals that were best-of-five sets for women? It would give maybe someone like you a chance to solve some problems.
JULIA GOERGES: Well, if we would play everything best-of-five sets, I think the Grand Slam would last three weeks here. If we play men's doubles best-of-five sets, women's singles best-of-five sets, men's singles best-of-five sets, and bad weather, that's not a good combination, I think.

It's not about getting a chance more and more into the match today, I think. It wouldn't make a difference for me, as well. I think I settled quickly into that stage and the occasion I was playing in today.

For me, yeah, I enjoyed it a lot today. I really was up for a big fight, gave it all I had. As I said, the difference today was she knows how to win that match, and I had a lack of experience.

Actually, I felt great on court the way I was hitting the ball, the way I was moving, the way I was fighting. Really to get my chances to come back in that match. I think that's the thing what I can be proud of today.

Q. What if it was just the semifinals or finals? From the perspective of the fans, it was entertaining tennis and people wanted more.
JULIA GOERGES: Yeah, unfortunately I couldn't give them more. I would have loved to.

Well, I think the format we have right now with also not having a tiebreak in the third set, I think that's already something which makes it exciting. Then it's up to the players, if they get a chance to make it even more exciting by staying in that set, which I couldn't today. Hopefully I can do it next time.

Q. Not everyone gets a chance to play Serena twice in a month. What do you feel you did better and learned from the match you had with her in Paris?
JULIA GOERGES: A lot. I think it's not comparable to what I played in the French Open and here. First of all, the way I was striking the ball, I think the whole scenario... First it was a different stage at a Grand Slam. I got much more settled into the occasion because I played already on Court 1 a big match for me. I got through some really tough rounds before. Didn't have the best draw in the first round with playing Monica Puig.

I think all those circumstances I've gone through, I think they brought me into a different stage and different player, as well. I believe much more in myself.

I think for me, it's great that I've seen that I'm capable of playing in that stages at a Grand Slam. I'm looking forward to work even harder and getting to a semifinal again, maybe one step further to a final, whatever the stage will be. I think it's great to see that I'm now arrived at this stage where I was working towards to. That's something which makes me proud, but motivates me even more to work harder and, yeah, to really belong there.

Q. What has this whole experience been like for you? How different is the Julia Goerges as a tennis player who arrived here as compared to one that's going to leave here?
JULIA GOERGES: I definitely leave with a head up high, that's for sure, after the last five years here.

No, I'm pretty proud of the way I managed to adapt to the grass, accept the grass. I think today there was one ball which I really explained me how I felt probably the last five years of not making the ball where it landed right next to me, and I was not able to hit that ball because it jumped somewhere else. That really showed me that I just accepted how the situation is.

At the same time, yeah, I think I deserve that spot here. I was waiting for it a long time. Hopefully I don't need to wait that long again to reach that stage again.

Q. You've spoken quite a bit the last few weeks about accepting your game on grass, that being what has allowed you to play well. Do you think at all that applies to the larger metaphor of your career, the late resurgence, the way you've matured, changed a little bit to maybe relax into your tennis, accept that sometimes things go great, sometimes they don't go great?
JULIA GOERGES: Yes. Well, first of all, I think we can be very happy we don't have one tournament every four years, every two years, or maybe like Olympic Games. For other athletes is tougher. They have to be there right on that moment. If they are not there, the chances are gone.

For us, it's nice. I will play another tournament, have another chance to develop my game, to get better, play great players, becoming a better player. I think that's a great opportunity we are having on the tour.

So for me it's something which I also relaxed about a bit because you cannot always win a tournament. Every single match, I think 98% of the year, you go out with a loss and you have to accept it. Maybe 'loss' you can say it's a negative word, but I've took so much from my losses, and there were some really tough losses in my career.

Right now I'm sitting here as a semifinal of Wimbledon where a lot of people are dreaming of. That's something where I say, Hey, Julia, you learned so much, you developed yourself in the right direction, the way you want to live your life, being a positive person. I'm still being positive about today.

I think it will help me for the future, too.

Q. Now that you have made the semis here, how would you treat yourself?
JULIA GOERGES: Sleeping in my own bed. That's the biggest reward I think for me. I've never played such a long grass season. It's now over a month. When I come home tomorrow, it's a month. When I left for the grass season, I think I would never expected going away for grass for four weeks.

Yeah, maybe I get a Donner kebab at home when I come back home. That's a good thing to do (smiling).

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