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US OPEN

September 6, 2019

Sylvain Bruneau

New York, NY, USA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you talk about your history in coaching Bianca? How did you get together?
SYLVAIN BRUNEAU: Well, I was the Fed Cup captain, and I'm also in charge of women's tennis at Tennis Canada. So from a young age I got to see her play.

The first time was Nationals, Under-16 Nationals. I think she was 13. I was just watching her play because she was one of the, you know, players which had a good profile.

But very early, maybe two years later, she got selected for Fed Cup. She started to do some camps where I was in charge of those camps, and that's how we got to know each other. That's how I started working with her. It was not full time then. It was just through my capacity as Fed Cup captain or women's coach for Tennis Canada. That's how I started.

Q. She's just been amazing for months now. Do you think she can possibly do this again in the final, her first final at the biggest place against Serena? It's a huge contest. What's it going to be like? What can get her ready for something like that?
SYLVAIN BRUNEAU: Yeah, it's as tough of a command as it gets, for sure. I think that she has shown this year with her results her resiliency and all that which she can accomplish.

So for sure tomorrow is a tough task. Yeah, for sure, the toughest ask she's had this year in her young career. But she's a warrior and she's a street fighter. She strives to compete.

I strongly hope and I'm pretty confident she's going to step in the arena tomorrow, both feet in, and going at it. Obviously there is another player on the court who is going to have her say in this match, but I'm pretty sure Bianca is going to be able to go and will go in there with the right frame of mind.

Q. We know in tennis that parents are critically important for young players. Bianca said she's extremely close to her mother. Could you talk a little bit about what role her parents have played in her relationship, her mother and her father?
SYLVAIN BRUNEAU: Yeah, I mean, as far as I'm concerned, they have been great tennis parents, because they have been extremely supportive of her, very, very -- always behind her, and they very care about her, obvious. That's their daughter, so that's normal.

Even with me I felt that they have not been intrusive at all. They have been giving us a lot of space. They have been very respectful of some of the decisions. They have mentioned a few times they were maybe in disagreement or whatever, but they have been really, really good.

So it's been a really, so far, a very easy ride. I know and she's mentioned to me she's extremely close to her mom, that she shares a lot of things with her, which I think is fabulous. They are a very close family, and I think that's good, actually, for her, yes.

Q. You mentioned just a minute ago that she has the right profile or had the right profile when you first saw her. Can you expand on that, what that means?
SYLVAIN BRUNEAU: Well, I'd like to say she's kind of the full package. So if we look from an athletic standpoint, she's a great athlete. She's strong. She's fast. We see the way she covers the court. So she's got that going.

And then you look at her mental aspect. She's as tough as it gets as a competitor. She's not scared. She goes for it. The bigger the occasion, the bigger she hits, and she does well. So she's got that, as well.

Then I'm a big, big fan of her game. I think she's got a wonderful hand. She understands tennis. She sees the court. She understands the ability to, the importance to do different shots and not always the same shot over and over and over again.

That's what she said she loved to do from a very young age. She said she will get bored in practice by hitting always the same shots. So I've got to be, as a coach, I've got to be clever in practice and make sure we do different things.

So when you put all of that together, athletic, the mental, and her game style, which is a little different, obviously -- I mean, a lot of people have told me she plays tennis a bit different than most of the girls -- you put all of that together and I think you've got a great profile. You've got Bianca, yeah.

Q. Yesterday Bianca said that you should deserve more credit for teaching her how to construct points and how to analyze and understand strategies. Could you explain what kind of things you teach her?
SYLVAIN BRUNEAU: I mean, when we started to work really together, that's basically when we look at how she was playing, and I felt then -- and she was having good results when I started working with her. She was already 250 in the world and she was 17. I felt she could do more on the court. I felt she could do more than just hit the ball really early and hard and through the court, which she was doing. So we looked at a lot of the guys, what they were doing, the way they were playing tennis I think with more shape and with more spin and using the entire court.

I thought she had what it took to do it, because she sees the court really well and she loved it. So that's a little bit -- and we have been, since then, really putting a lot, a lot of emphasis on shot selection, playing the right way and that kind of things, and a lot of the coaching is from a tactical perspective, yeah.

Q. How would you describe the approach that Bianca is taking in this tournament from the mental side of the game? And how do you sort of approach the final from a mental perspective? Is it any different, or are you trying to get her to view it as just another match?
SYLVAIN BRUNEAU: Well, I mean, it's not just another match, but we will try to pretend it's just another match, for sure. I think it's important for her to go in there the same way she's been going at it since the beginning of the year.

It's like she goes there, she competes, she believes in herself, and there is no reason that tomorrow it should be any different. Obviously she has one of the -- you know, she has a legend against her on the other side of the court, but that should not change what she has control over. I think that's going to be the message.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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