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ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

January 16, 2020

Dayana Yastremska

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

D. YASTREMSKA/D. Vekic

6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. First semifinal of a Premier tournament. What's that mean to you and how do you feel about your game?
DAYANA YASTREMSKA: Good. It's nice to be in the semifinals just in the beginning of the year. Well, I'm not playing my best game, but it's still nice, because now after the preseason I try to do the things I have been practicing. I'm just getting my form.

Q. You called for your coach to come out to the court on two occasions, and both times you got crucial breaks of her serve. What did he say to you? What did you discuss when you were having the conversation with him on the court?
DAYANA YASTREMSKA: Well, I think you can just look, the repeat, and you're gonna hear everything what he said.

But I don't know. He just said I have to be a bit lower, I have to keep more discipline, just don't be really hesitating on hitting the shots.

So that's all what he said, and I just tried to do it. I think it's worked well (smiling).

Q. How have you found working with him so far here? He guided Naomi to two Grand Slam titles. What have you been working on with him?
DAYANA YASTREMSKA: On everything by little bit (smiling). I mean, there are no particular things we were working on. We were working on everything: serve, returns, forehands, backhands, tactics, on everything.

Everybody is so interested in what we were working on.

Q. Obviously you have been improving quite fast and your ranking is going up. I'm curious, how comfortable do you feel at the moment playing all these top players and being one of the best players in the world in the top 30, top 25?
DAYANA YASTREMSKA: How do I feel?

Q. Yeah.
DAYANA YASTREMSKA: Simple, normal. I don't know. The higher level you get, the higher you go. So I just feel comfortable. I mean, I don't know how to describe it.

Q. Sometimes there is an intimidation factor, but for you you seem to step on the court and it doesn't matter who you're playing.
DAYANA YASTREMSKA: No, no. I don't really care with who I'm playing. I just try to do my things and focus on myself. That's it. I'm playing with the ball, not with the opponent.

So anyways, I don't really care who is standing opposite side of me.

Q. You have done well in your first few Grand Slams. You didn't play that many, but the ones you have played you have done well, and you have already made a second week. I'm curious for you what kind of targets do you have heading into the Australian Open? Does that perhaps elevate your expectation a bit, knowing that you've done well so far in the ones that you have played?
DAYANA YASTREMSKA: Well, I have, like, a big goal for Australia, but I'm gonna try to stay really realistic and play match by match. That's all I can think about.

Q. What kind of things are you happiest with in the preseason, perhaps things that you wanted to work on and you already feel you have made progress in them?
DAYANA YASTREMSKA: Hmm. It's tough question.

I'm just really proud of myself that I could really stay 100% focused each practice that I was doing in preseason, because it wasn't easy, especially when you have, like, week free, when you're really tired physically, mentally, but you still have to keep going and work, like, each practice, because after, when you play tournaments, it's the same thing. When you get really tired you have to give it a little bit more.

I think I'm proud that I could really be able to always stay same, I could hold the same level for each practice till the end. That was the goal, to keep always same level.

Q. Where did you have the preseason? And what do you think of Sascha's philosophy as a coach?
DAYANA YASTREMSKA: Philosophy? Okay.

So the preseason was in Miberia (phonetic), Spain. Yeah, it's not so big, but it's really nice.

And philosophy of Sascha?

Q. Like, what kind of coach is he like? Is he the strict type?
DAYANA YASTREMSKA: He's different (smiling). He's really different. Sometimes he can be really fun on court.

If he see that I'm pretty tired and emotionally down, sometimes he can be really serious, and I think it's a good balance when the coach and player can find the right way with each other.

Sometimes you just have to make fun, sometimes you really have to push, and sometimes you have to get angry. I think he's doing a good job by finding this balance working with me.

Q. Your next opponent is either Sabalenka or Halep. You said on the court you wish to play Halep just because you have never played her?
DAYANA YASTREMSKA: Yes, just because I've never played with her before, and I'm really interesting to play with a player like her.

Q. What stands out to you the most when you watch Halep play?
DAYANA YASTREMSKA: I think her movement on the court. She's very fast. She feels the right position on the court where she has to be.

So that's the kind of thing I was learning from her. I'm just really curious how it's gonna look.

Q. And against Sabalenka, how do you look to that match?
DAYANA YASTREMSKA: Sabalenka, she has a similar style to me. As I said before, Donna is going to be boom, boom. So, yeah, still it's going to be interesting match against Aryna, but I hope it's going to be Halep (smiling).

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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