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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 26, 2019Aniek Van KootDiede De GrootMelbourne, Victoria, Australia DE GROOT-VAN KOOT/Buis-Ellerbrock 5-7, 7-6, 10-8 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Congratulations. That was an incredible match. High quality. How did you pull through that? ANIEK VAN KOOT: Well, I think we had a plan beforehand, and in the end, in the tiebreak, we really, I think we managed to tell each other, like, stick to the plan, to not do something different. But it was really tight. It could have gone both ways, but, yeah, I'm just really happy with it. Q. I think it's your fourth doubles win here, different partners. How do you compare those? What's this mean to you? ANIEK VAN KOOT: This one means -- well, it always means a lot to compete at the Australian Open. And to be able to win a Grand Slam together, together with Diede, we are going to play more doubles together this year. And, yeah, it's terrific to win it and to end it on a winning streak. Obviously Diede won her singles today, but I was, like, Oh, I really want to play well, as well. Obviously she was already on a high. I was, like, I want to join her in that feeling. Yeah, looking forward to the next tournament together, as well. Q. Are you also a new couple, planning to play the Paralympics? ANIEK VAN KOOT: I think that's not decided yet. I think we aren't playing now until right before US Open. Yeah, yeah, August. See how that goes. We train together and we train doubles together. Hopefully that goes well. But we can't say much about the Paralympics yet, because the choice is not ours. Q. Whirlwind win this morning and a really tight one this afternoon. Which one feels more satisfying? ANIEK VAN KOOT: I think singles. DIEDE DE GROOT: Yeah, yeah, I don't know how to answer that. ANIEK VAN KOOT: You can say. It's okay. DIEDE DE GROOT: I think the singles, but I think the match itself, the doubles, it was so tight and it was intense. There were long rallies and we really did it together. Even though we didn't play our best tennis, we did sort of try and work through it. So that's really -- I think it's really impressive for us, because we have only been playing with each other for such a short time. And then to already, yeah, have a good result like this, I'm really happy about that. ANIEK VAN KOOT: With our bums tightly squeezed today (smiling). Q. You had quite an intense chat with your coach after the first set. What sort of adjustments were you looking to make going into the second? ANIEK VAN KOOT: Well, just hit the ball and do not -- what did he say? DIEDE DE GROOT: Pet the ball. ANIEK VAN KOOT: Pet the ball. Don't be so nice. Please, if you're going to make a mistake, hit it out of the park. Try to aim for Margaret Court Arena, and just hit it. And maybe some swearwords (smiling). No, we really had -- yeah, because it was difficult, I think, as well with the wind. And our opponents, with all due respect, they didn't put much in the ball, as in -- DIEDE DE GROOT: Spin. ANIEK VAN KOOT: -- spin. Yeah, they don't put a lot of spin in it, which makes it difficult. Yeah, we got sucked into their game a little bit, I think. Q. Can you just explain what it felt like to defend the title? It was a pretty emphatic scoreline. Why do you think you were so dominant in that match? DIEDE DE GROOT: For the singles? Q. Yeah. DIEDE DE GROOT: I think the last few weeks I have been training on some things, and I just -- I had to believe in it. Last week we played against each other, and it was a third-set tiebreak, and it was really tough. But also mentally, because I had some match points but I didn't use them. And then now I just really wanted to just play well and enjoy it, and that's what I did. ANIEK VAN KOOT: I saw the match, as well. I think for her, for Yui, it was obvious that there was nothing -- there was nothing that she could get today. Nothing for free. No, there was nothing that -- yeah. It looked like that. Yeah, it was good. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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