AUSTRALIAN OPEN

February 16, 2021

Diede De Groot

Aniek Van Koot

Press Conference

DE GROOT-VAN KOOT/Montjane-Shucker

6-4, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Talk about the match today, what it means to be Australian Open champions.

DIEDE DE GROOT: Yes, I think both of us are really happy. Especially it's our second title here, and seventh Grand Slam title in total. So we're very happy.

Yeah, they brought a very good fight in the first set. I think the second set we really showed them and ourselves what we can do, so...

ANIEK VAN KOOT: Definitely, yeah. They put up, indeed, a good fight in the first. I think we struggled a little bit. But the second set felt a bit more comfortable. I think everything went according to plan, like the way we set up beforehand, like how we wanted to play. It's really nice that it works out in a final.

Q. Your seventh title together as a team. What makes you guys work together as a combination to have that success?

ANIEK VAN KOOT: That's a good question.

DIEDE DE GROOT: I think what really helps is that we're from the same country and we can train together. Also we're just investing a lot of time to play together, to get used to each other.

We started playing with each other for the games, really to practice, to see if we could be a good doubles pairing. I think from that we just built and built. Now we're to a level where we can win Grand Slams together, so...

ANIEK VAN KOOT: Yeah, I don't have much to add to that, yeah. We train at the national center together. Our coaches get along well together, as well. We can practice and train hard next to the national center as well. But it's a good combination. It's fun. We keep learning, as well. I think every time we try to set the standard a bit higher than the previous one. So that's good.

Q. Do you think the heat played any part in your performance today? How have you coped with the weather?

ANIEK VAN KOOT: I think we knew what we were going to have today. I think the opponents, as well. There's always one really hot day in Australia every time you play the tournament. We knew what was coming.

I think when we had the quarantine, when we had the five hours a day, I think we had one day when it was 35 or 36 degrees. Our coach pushed us quite hard on that day to be able to compete on these days.

Q. After taking the 2-Love lead, getting 3-2 down, did you specifically change anything to dominate the rest of the match?

DIEDE DE GROOT: Yeah, I think there were just a little bit too many mistakes in the first few games. I think, yeah, we just managed to get the amount of mistakes down, yeah, really fight ourself into the match, or back into it.

Q. It's very tough times in the world right now. Can you outline how much training you've been able to do leading into the Grand Slam via the national center.

ANIEK VAN KOOT: I think we've been very lucky in The Netherlands that the national tennis center is still open for the professional players. We're allowed to come in every day and train, which is amazing.

Me myself, I've been training with my own coach outside in minus two, which is a pretty big difference with Australia at the moment. But still it's nice to be allowed, to be able to play. I think we can be very thankful to our own tennis foundation back in Holland that we're still able to play.

But it's tough times. I hope the vaccines are rolled out everywhere in the world and we can start going back to a slightly normal world again.