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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL

December 31, 2018

Sascha Bajin

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Q. Sascha, how did the preseason compare to the preseason that you guys had last year?
SASCHA BAJIN: Well, we had a little bit more time, you know. We all kind of like know each other a little bit better, and so it made everything a little bit easier, like organizing wise, knowing what she liked, what she didn't. And yeah, we just simply had a little bit more time.

Last year we started a little bit later. This year I think we had really good preseason, focused a lot on strength and conditioning and a little bit of footwork, and yeah, we're here.

Q. She's looking fitter out there as she's walking around. I mean how much do you think in terms of the improvement did you see in the strength and condition?
SASCHA BAJIN: It's always tough for me to say that because I'm with her every day. Like, you know, people come and say, oh, she looks so good, you know, trimmed down. If it was someone you don't see their progress like that. I do believe, obviously I see her, she looks great, you know. But it's very hard for me to judge. I'm also like the type of guy who's never really too satisfied. But I believe she's looking good and we're heading to Australia, heading to Melbourne with good intentions for the year.

Q. And did you feel as though -- well, how long of a break did you guys have from each other, after Singapore? Just like, yo, do your thing, I'm going to go do my thing, and then what was it like when you kind of came back together and what were those conversations kind of like?
SASCHA BAJIN: Yeah, I think we had like a two-week break like where she -- where we have our little group chat. We saw that she left the group, so that gave me a signal, you know, it's time for her. But we had a long year we were stuck by each other's side. But it's all fun, you know. I like being with her. I love my team. I love what I do. So, no, it was really fun, and the first week Naomi did strength and conditioning. We didn't even play tennis. So it was all fun.

Q. And did you feel -- was there any concern from your part from a coaching standpoint of, you know, when she Leafs the chat and she kind of goes off for the two weeks, and not concerned that that's a bad thing, but just like, I don't know what her state of mind is going to be?
SASCHA BAJIN: Oh, no. She's -- no. That's all right. We need it. Both of us. She needs her days off. I need my days off. So I think last year I've never been with a player as much as I've been with her. I think I had like maybe two weeks without her the whole year. You know, that's a long year. And, you know, we really got to know each other good, and now we all know like, you know, know each other a little bit better. So that makes work a lot easier, but no, that's good and I hope she enjoyed those two weeks and I know she's looking forward to maybe the next weeks already if we do good in Melbourne. But, no, it's all in good spirit.

Q. Coming off of a year like that and the success that she did have, what does a successful 2019 season look like for you?
SASCHA BAJIN: I mean obviously like after having such a great year you want to prove -- and I know she wants to prove everybody that it wasn't like a fluke or anything. So now it's just my job is to make sure that we keep the consistency, that we broaden from the beginning of last year, that we take it over and keep it going through this year. The approach might be just a little bit different. It's always a little bit tougher to defend than to rise up. Like staying on top is a little bit harder. But there is still so much she wants to achieve, I want to achieve with her, so much we want to work on and improve on. So I just want her to really focus one day at a time, one match at a time, one tournament at a time, and then really try to get the best out of each practice, out of each day, and then I do believe it's going to be a good year regardless.

Q. How do you enjoy the new season today with team Naomi?
SASCHA BAJIN: Yeah, I really do enjoy it, you know. I think we have one of the best, if not the best, team out there. We're all very positive, hype people. We're having a lot of fun. We go to dinners together. We drove -- I drove on the other side of the road, so that was a little tricky, to the Gold Coast down two days ago. We took a little speed boat, because I still want her to like enjoy herself a little bit, which I think is very important. And that's something she wanted to do, so I'm more than happy and I'm very proud of being part of it. So very, very much enjoying it.

Q. You said about the footwork in the off season. What is the important thing for this season?
SASCHA BAJIN: Yeah. I believe that with every big hitter, like Naomi, if you look at, you know, the guys and girls who hit the biggest, they're not usually also the quickest movers around the court just because they are so physically strong that it makes it difficult for them. So that's definitely one aspect that I believe that where was the most room for improvement left and the quickest room for improvement. There is other things we want to improve on which take a little bit more time, but getting the feet right, I believe was the first approach that we needed to do in order then for her to be able to take advantage of her big shots and to make sure that, yeah, she gets there and then allows herself to hit the ball the way she wants to hit it.

Q. I know that you guys do like prop bets, you know, like when you're competing with each other, pushups, sprints, hit serves and stuff. Last year or even in the off season, what's the one that kind of was the most brutal for you and which one gave you the most satisfaction of winning and having to force her to do?
SASCHA BAJIN: Sadly, I have to be honest, I haven't won too much lately against her. I lost one, which was for me a little embarrassing, and I had to stop Jamie Murray's practice and just start dancing on the court for no reason.

Q. That's here?
SASCHA BAJIN: No. That was in Boca. They were practicing, and I lost, what was it, like we hit some cross-court rallies, and I legit just like walked on the court and didn't say anything, and they all looked at me like what is he doing, and I just started dancing.

Naomi was so embarrassed for me doing it that she was hiding behind the bushes. She didn't even want to be seen recording it. So, yeah, lost a bet, had to do it. She did it in Shibuya when she was dancing I felt like I could man up and dance on the service line in Boca, court 13. Thank you guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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