	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 25, 2019

Sascha Bajin

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Naomi will play against Petra first time in this final. What do you think about the key point for beating Petra? What do you think about?
SASCHA BAJIN: Yeah, I kind of want her to approach the match like she approached Pliskova. She's also a big server. Just kind of like the opposite, because she's a lefty. Same mindset.

You know, both of them are very dangerous off the first two, three shots, but I believe once the rally keeps going, Naomi with her current state of mind and physique has the upper hand.

Q. Which match do you think is best Naomi's match so far, and could you explain why?
SASCHA BAJIN: In this tournament?

Q. Yeah, in this tournament.
SASCHA BAJIN: It's hard to say. Like, you know, I don't know. Like the Su-Wei match, she was down so much and came back. I think that took incredible effort.

It took something else, you know, then against Svitolina. She played so good.

Me, I personally like the matches where things don't go so well and she ends up winning. But you'd have to ask Naomi. I think she can rate her matches better than I can from the outside.

Q. The history of tennis is filled with young players who win a match and then they struggle with the attention and the expectations. Clearly Naomi hasn't. What is it about her that has enabled her to avoid that?
SASCHA BAJIN: Yeah, she really wants it. You know, people say they want it, but she really wants it. You know, we had an unbelievable great season last year, but after having just two weeks' break, she came back and showed up and really worked her butt off.

Yeah, she's a hard worker, and she wants to be, and that's why she's here.

Q. Do you think it helps that she seems process-oriented, that the result, it's like stay on the process and the results will take care of themselves?
SASCHA BAJIN: Yeah, I just think that, you know, also how she's been raised from home, like with her parents, how humble she is, with her team around us, with Abdul, with Cristie (phonetic), and, you know, just the way we are. I think that all of it, putting it together and then having an athlete like Naomi, I think that that maybe makes a difference.

Q. A few years ago, I'm sure you're aware, there was the advent of the super coach, the big-name coaches coming in.
SASCHA BAJIN: The what? Sorry?

Q. The super coaches, people like Lendl. Edberg was coaching Federer.
SASCHA BAJIN: Right.

Q. Now it appears to be going the other way. There's people like you, Andy Bettles with Svitolina, Vajda has gone back with Djokovic. What is your concept coming into coaching?
SASCHA BAJIN: I mean, I just know that some of the gentlemen you named, they were incredible players. I have nothing but the utmost respect for them.

I do believe it's hard for -- you know, if you're a player, you have to be very selfish and you have to be very selfish for a very long time. I believe that some players, if they do want to start coaching, they find it hard to dedicate their life, schedule, and everything for someone else.

So I think that maybe that's a difficult process for them. You know, I don't know. I'm just happy I'm being successful with Naomi, you know. I'm happy for Andy. He's a great guy. He deserves it, too. Yeah, like that. Sorry.

Q. What would you say that you bring to the game of Naomi since you work with her? What was your benefits to her game?
SASCHA BAJIN: I mean, you know, from the very beginning, she was a big hitter. I didn't have to teach her how to hit the ball or anything.

Maybe it was a little bit more like telling her there are other things out there than just hitting very hard. We worked on her angles. We worked on just a little bit more of everything. Slicing, you know. Kind of like wanted her to come in a little bit more. Just a little bit of everything.

And then the other thing was fitness where this young gentleman comes in, you know, with Abdul (pointing towards Abdul). He's out of it. Yeah. (Laughter.)

But this is where, you know, this was one of the biggest assets in her game, I believe, you know, and if a power hitter like that can move like someone who is defensive, yeah, the opponent's going to have to play really well.

Q. Just a question about obviously the matchup on Saturday in terms of Kvitova being left-handed. Naomi hasn't played a ton of lefties before. How do you prep somebody in 48 hours to kind of get used to playing a lefty but also the type of ball that Petra can hit as a lefty?
SASCHA BAJIN: Thankfully she's very good at that. She adjusts pretty well. She reads the opponent actually pretty well. Makes my job a lot easier.

We had a lefty out today just to hit a couple of serves today, just to get ready a little bit. But, yeah, thankfully she's just so good at picking this up, and hopefully it will work out tomorrow.

Q. Obviously you have been named Coach of the Year. What does it mean for you? Does it give you extra pressure and somehow takes it away from her?
SASCHA BAJIN: No. Yes, of course I feel honored and blessed, but like I always say, I don't think it's Coach of the Year. It's really our whole team that did such an amazing job last year, continuing this year.

It's a whole team effort. You need to have a player who wants to be better, who wants to do better, who wants to be open-minded and listens.

So I kind of just put some pieces together. There is no pressure. Like, you know, I'm doing my job day in, day out, try to help as much as I can, same as everybody else on the team. Yeah, that's why it's so beautiful.

Q. Naomi said the reason she lost in Brisbane was she was wanting that title so badly that she couldn't focus on each match, even though she was playing in semifinals. She learned a lot of things from Brisbane. So I was wondering, after that loss, did you talk to her and teach her some specific things?
SASCHA BAJIN: Yeah, I always think you learn, you know, you learn more from your losses than from your wins. Naomi is definitely one of those persons, as well. She said it herself. I think she said it yesterday in her press conference, as I watched it.

We had a little chat together with our team after the match where we stat down. You know, obviously she takes losses very hard, because it means a lot to her and she works really hard to keep winning and wants to win every match.

But there's not so much I have to say afterwards. It's just more, like, just kind of like emotional management, just to be there for her and tell her that it's all right and losses happen to everybody. You can't win every match that you want, that you ever play. But thankfully she learns from it a lot, and it shows here.

Q. How different is Naomi as a person and as a player now than she was in New York?
SASCHA BAJIN: Than from New York? It's only like three, four months. You don't change it (smiling).

Q. Is she different?
SASCHA BAJIN: No, she's still the same. That's the beauty about her. She's still the same girl that she was even a year ago. In my mind, at least, she didn't change.

Maybe she's a little bit more open to you guys, used to more crowd and questions, but, you know, on court, off court -- maybe on court she's more confident and stuff, yeah, just good things.

No, no, she's still the same girl.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297