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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 22, 2020

Caroline Wozniacki

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

C. WOZNIACKI/D. Yastremska

7-5, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. In the first set, what were you thinking when you went down so quickly?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Not too much. I was just, like, it's coming really fast at me. She's not making a lot of mistakes. I'm not getting depth on the ball.

I was trying to think what to do out there to change that, and, you know, she started making a little more unforced errors. I tried to, yeah, I got a little more depth on the ball, I started serving a little bit better.

You know, all of a sudden I kept getting one point after another and started getting the belief that I could get that set.

Q. Can you just think of it as the tennis or also thinking, wait a second, here I am?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I was just trying to think of it as the tennis, and then I started thinking about it as the time out there. I was, like, Well, this is going really quick. Let's try and slow it down a little bit and get a little extra time out here.

Q. First of all, allow me to thank you for all you've given to our sport.
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Thank you so much.

Q. My question is, in a tennis career there are so many different decisions that shape your path, your destiny, so to speak. If there were one or two important decisions that you have made in your career, what would they be?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Oh, I feel like there has been a lot of great decisions and more than decisions. I think sticking with my dad and that partnership I think, you know, has made me the player that I am today and has really, you know -- I don't think, I definitely wouldn't have been where I am today if it wasn't for him, because, you know, the trust that was there between us and just the journey I think was amazing.

You know, I think the choice of having great fitness coaches has really also shaped the player that I am, because I have always been the physically fit and the strongest player out there, or at least in my head. If I wasn't, I was one of them.

You know, I think that has really given me a lot over the years (smiling).

Q. It was one of those vintage Wozniacki comebacks, as people were saying. I'm curious, for you, looking back, what is the greatest comeback in a match that you have had in your storied career?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I don't know. There has been a lot of them. One that I remember would be against Kuzy at the US Open. I think it was the fourth round, late match. I don't remember if it was 2009. It could have been 2009.

That was a crazy match, because she was up quick. I think she won the first set easy, and then I won 7-6, and then something crazy in the third set.

But that was a really exciting match and a match that I played really well in.

Q. What are the emotions like for you out there when it's an atmosphere like that and everybody is cheering for you and you know that it's not going to be that many more matches?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Well, hopefully it's still going to be a lot of matches (smiling).

Q. Well, it can be five.
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Well, it feels great. The crowd is really supporting me out there and standing behind me and it's amazing. It's a tournament where I have always had crowd support, so it just feels even more special because it's even more now.

You know, it really feels -- I feel just lucky to be out there and, you know, still playing on a high level.

Q. When she was serving in the first set at 5-2, she came out, broken at Love, four straight unforced errors off her racquet. Was that one of those moments where in terms of, maybe not thinking about the second set, there is the wobble that I need in terms of feeling like she might start missing again?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Honestly, there was no real proper feeling out there today because she came out swinging, and she started making the lines and everything was going in, even balls that I don't think she knew were possible to hit it that way.

I was just thinking to myself, it surely can't continue. If it's going to continue, then there is not much I can do out there.

But, you know, then she started making errors. I was just hoping that she was going to keep doing those. Because it was really a match where, you know, is it going to go in? Is she going to keep firing? Then she's going to win it.

I also knew if I could stay with her the first two, three points after the serve and after the return, then it was getting more into my favor. So that's really what I was going to try and do out there.

Q. The second set, a lot of ways like the first, but then you're ahead. How was that near the end, that 4-5 where she's taking the trainer break...
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah, obviously she tried to break my rhythm. And at 5-4 I don't think there is anything wrong. She was running just fine. So that's a trick that she's done before, and I knew that it was coming.

But I was just trying to stay focused. I had match point. I had chances. I didn't take them. Some of them she played well; some of them I played too passively.

In the end I just tried to keep focusing, just keep grinding, keep hanging in there. And I finally made it at 6-5 for me, and that was a nice relief.

Q. Anyone named Caroline knows the great Neil Diamond song, "Sweet Caroline." Talk about it. How many times have you heard it? Have you ever met him? Does it still get to you?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I don't know if I can count how many times I have heard that song. It's a special song for me, especially here because when I won the tournament, they played the "Sweet Caroline" song. It's a great memory. It means a lot after great wins like this that it gets played.

It's a special song for me and the team and my family.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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