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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 27, 2020

Nigel Sears

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. A proud day? Her first Grand Slam quarter.
NIGEL SEARS: Yeah, absolutely delighted that she found a way to get through. I mean, it wasn't the easiest to watch. A bit of an emotional roller coaster, certainly put me through the ringer today. I'm really delighted she won it.

Q. Is it any more different from the last match?
NIGEL SEARS: No, very different types of opponents. Swiatek is a really talented young player. I know her pretty well. She beat Emma Raducanu in Junior Wimbledon the year she won Junior Wimbledon. Anett had a very tough match with her in Cincinnati last summer. Anett won, but it was difficult.

She's got a lot of variety. She's got a lot of power when she uses it. It's difficult to get much of a rhythm against her. I thought Anett, thank goodness, managed to come up with some clutch backhands in the second set, otherwise she wasn't going to win it.

Q. Anett has obviously been to the fourth round a few times. Hasn't made it further. Why do you think this time she's made that jump?
NIGEL SEARS: Well, I said before, Anett has just turned 24, but it's quite a young 24, really. I think for her, I mean, she's a very gifted player, too. Often comes up with the unexpected. But for her, it's really about the quality of her positioning and her choices that she makes. Shot selection issues.

I think even though -- I mean, she's had ten top-10 wins, whatever, she's had some very good matches, but one of the goals is to make her, try and help her to become a more consistent performer and make those better choices at the right times more often.

And I think that it's a maturing process as a match player. You can hit the ball as well as anybody, but you've got to be a really quality match player to be right at the top of the game.

Q. At the end there it got a bit tough but she had the strength to get it over the line. Are you pleased with the way she did that?
NIGEL SEARS: Do you know, funny enough, she's usually very, very good at serving matches out. There she was at 5-1 serving, double break, and I would have bet anything she was going to put the match away there, but she didn't. A little bit too passive a couple of times. That's very unusual.

But of course having suffered a couple of breaks of serve and things are back at 5-All, I mean, I'm very impressed with the way she managed to get over the line from there, for sure.

Q. Is it sometimes tougher playing a teenage opponent, as was mentioned this week when Naomi lost to Coco, is that an added pressure for players?
NIGEL SEARS: Well, it's a different mindset, isn't it? When you're playing Belinda Bencic and you're playing a top-10 player, that in many ways is a nice match to play. It's a tough match but it's a good match to play.

Playing an up-and-coming younger player who has had some pretty good results and has pushed you before, it's not -- you're not as comfortable. I think emerging players need to learn to be more comfortable in difficult situations.

That's a classic. You're absolutely right, yeah.

Q. Does that mean she'll be stronger from this or when you've lost a 5-1 lead, does that introduce doubts?
NIGEL SEARS: Well, no, I think -- put it this way: I think that in many ways, it's easier to discuss it, you know, in the right way, and there is not a lot of time before her next match, which will be the biggest match of her career so far in the quarterfinals.

So it's a great time to discuss it and learn from the situation when a player has won and when they have had, you know, it would have been a rough one to lose that if she had lost it in three sets.

I mean, I know the tournament would have been over, but she would have been checked out, be thinking about a flight home rather than being receptive to be able to tackle the issues that really matter.

Q. Do you think this is a very open tournament?
NIGEL SEARS: I think the women's tour is very open. I felt that for quite a while now. I have said quite often that I feel there is at least 35 quality players on the WTA Tour now, and any one of 20 different players could win this slam or any of the others.

I think it's never been more open. I think the depth in women's tennis has improved enormously. It's tough early rounds now in most tournaments.

That's why, you know, as commentators, everybody is saying, you know, Well, here's another upset, half a dozen seeds have gone in the first round or second round, whether it's a slam or just a tour event. Because that's what happens now. You've got a lot of dangerous players out there.

And I do think it's wide open.

Q. In the fall, just with her having to shut down her season due to illness and stuff, can you give insight into that, how difficult that was? She looked pretty good at the US Open and then things had to go on ice.
NIGEL SEARS: It's funny, isn't it? She was due to play Belinda then in the third round, night match on Armstrong, and she'd had a pretty strong year and had got up to 14 I think midyear and had some good performances.

I thought she played well on the summer swing, she'd had some good wins in Cincinnati, served for the match against Ash Barty, lost a very narrow one there. She was playing good tennis at the US Open.

Got an internal infection that got out of control very quickly. I suddenly had a phone call early in the morning that she was on her way to hospital, she ended up being hospitalized for a week in New York and then had surgery for a procedure to remove an abscess internally.

She couldn't do anything for three or four months, lost quite a lot of weight. It was hugely disappointing. And then of course she couldn't defend any of the points she had made the previous year in Wuhan. She missed the whole -- she made the final in Wuhan the year before and couldn't defend any of it. So you watch the ranking go from top 20, she's 31 at the moment.

That's okay, because at the end of this year it will be good news when she goes back out to Asia, hopefully.

Q. What's the challenges playing the Wimbledon champion next round?
NIGEL SEARS: She's a great player, Simona Halep. She has more experience, naturally. One of the best movers out there. Applies relentless pressure. Can turn any match into a really physical encounter.

No major weaknesses in her game. Certainly knows how to win big. A lot of challenges, but at the same time, again, I see that as a nicer match to play for Anett, and Anett can again be the dangerous one.

I'm really looking forward to it, and I'm particularly pleased that she's not playing tomorrow and she's going to play the day after. I know that will make a big difference, too.

Q. You said how open the women's tour is. Is there any reason why Anett shouldn't be in the picture for winning it?
NIGEL SEARS: I mean, I certainly don't think it's impossible at all, but at the same time, it's just one match at a time. Not looking any further ahead than that other than the fact it's wide open.

I think if you were going to win seven matches in a row, you've got to be really together, really focused, really disciplined all the way through. Every round presents a different challenge. And it's one thing to survive the first week and then be in the second week, and then after that it's like a different tournament because every match is a tougher one generally.

There is always the potential for that, and you have to be ready for it and you've got to prepare for each one.

But it's certainly exciting that she's in the frame, yeah.

Q. Asking something about you, you'll be back in the Rod Laver Arena? Last time you had a nasty turn a couple years back with Ana. Have you digested that completely?
NIGEL SEARS: Yeah, absolutely. No, I'm hoping that's not gonna happen again. Ana was a set and 2-1 up, I think, when it happened. We don't need that scenario.

Q. Any messages from your son-in-law?
NIGEL SEARS: I have been in touch with him, because my wife just spends quite a lot of time at their place helping with the grandkids, and had a chat with him. And, you know, you can get a rye sense of humor there. Yeah, I had some chats with him. I might have a couple more chats if she goes much deeper.

Q. Any advice?
NIGEL SEARS: He doesn't offer it. I might ask him, tell us exactly what not to do if she makes final, but we'll see.

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