THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 9, 2021

Sascha Bajin

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Karolina said her 'dream' here at Wimbledon was to make the second week at the start of the tournament, but that you clearly felt confident she would find herself on this day. Can you talk about what the basis was for you for that confidence, what has been the key to this run so far?

SASCHA BAJIN: Yeah, I mean, in all fairness, like, I don't want to sound cocky or anything like that, but if I don't believe in my player, then I must be doing something wrong.

Every tournament we go to I kind of really not expect her to do well but we aim for big results. Maybe this time I was a little bit more vocal. I don't know why. It was after that first match against Zidansek. She was 2-5 down first set and something happened. It's very hard for me to explain. I saw something change. She got up off the chair, different look in her eyes, like a different play. It was something about her that changed.

I was like, We're going to be -- from that day I told her every day that we're going to be here two weeks later having this conversation. I'm just happy it worked out.

Q. She talked throughout this season, even last season as well, about the difficulty of getting the rhythm, struggles with confidence. She's been pretty happy with her level, but things weren't breaking the right way in tighter moments. How hard has that been to manage, separate the results from how your own player is feeling about how she's hitting the ball?

SASCHA BAJIN: It's one of the hardest things, you know. I believe confidence is something like trust. It's something you have to earn. It's something that doesn't come easily, but it can, poof, go away in a second.

I'm very happy that the trust and the confidence has been coming her way and building up with doing something good in practice over and over and over again. Then when it comes down to matches, it's not just always up to you.

She had some great opponents. She lost to Muchova. She went to the semifinals in Australia. Clearly something with Pegula, losing to the same player so many times. That was a bit of a letdown for her, for sure.

I'm happy to see that in practice things are going well and that she slowly believes in that, and it shows that what we are doing is something good and something right. It showed this week, these two weeks here.

Q. Seeing Karolina on court yesterday, she thanked you, her team, for keeping her positive. That positive mindset, have you noticed a change in her attitude over the last few weeks that made it all click? Has she told you that's a change from previous partnerships she's had with coaches?

SASCHA BAJIN: Yeah, we don't necessarily talk too much about previous partnerships that she had. The only thing I ask about previous partnerships is, What do you think was working, what do you think so much wasn't? More like technical stuff and advice. There's the same thing to tell someone in a thousand different ways.

But I want to think that I'm a pretty positive guy. I enjoy what I do. Even though we all live in a bubble, but there's no other place on earth I'd rather be than in Wimbledon, even first day, second day, doesn't matter.

I believe that this whole thing is slowly rubbing off, same as the confidence. It's something that comes over time, that she enjoys working out. Generally I do all the workouts with my athletes together. Even if the gym I like to stay in shape. It helps me.

But I'm a ride-or-die type of guy. Maybe it helps her that she sees there's someone who's suffering with me. It starts on the way over to the courts, we have an hour bus ride. I don't want her to look at the phone. We say, Okay, you and me, we both don't look at the phone. It's not really good for your equilibrium. You get a little messed up. We both just put music on and we both don't look at the phone. Even though it's like an hour long and I would rather watch some YouTube videos, about to play a semifinals. But we pull together and I hope that, yeah, that kind of makes it more fun for her.

Q. What are your thoughts on what makes Karolina unique after all of the outstanding players with whom you've worked?

SASCHA BAJIN: Yeah, they're all very different. It's more about their personality. I think a lot of that personality displays on court as well. I think Karolina, for being a former world No. 1, she's a huge name in tennis, she's incredibly humble. She has a total different on-court personality than off court, which makes my job also a lot more fun I have to say. On court she can seem kind of cold. Off court she's nonstop laughing, smiling, cracking jokes.

Yeah, I think that's a big difference. Like, she's very pleasant to be around. Not that the other ones weren't (laughter). But she's very easygoing. She's super easygoing, low maintenance, just very fun to be around.

Q. How about her development from the person you saw as someone competing against the athletes with whom you worked to the person you're working with?

SASCHA BAJIN: Sorry, say that again.

Q. Years ago you were working with some of the greats of the game as she ascended to No. 1. You saw her from an opponent's perspective. How is that different now?

SASCHA BAJIN: I mean, normally you just -- as an opponent, you always try to find errors, how can you defeat her, what isn't working, what is working. Actually, my approach in tennis, now that I coach her, I have to focus more on what is working with her. I see that that's very important to her. I think that's part of why it feeds into her confidence.

Yeah, I'm a little bit surprised with actually how much variety she has in her game, as well. I didn't know how good she is at the net because she doesn't display that very much sadly. I'm kind of pushing her for it a little bit more.

Yeah, she had like two, three aces up her sleeve that I didn't know about when I was trying to coach against her.

Q. Can you describe Karolina as a grass court player?

SASCHA BAJIN: I mean, I think finals in Wimbledon is a pretty good description of being solid on grass (smiling). If you're not comfortable on this surface, I think she wouldn't be here in the finals.

I asked her yesterday, we spoke a little bit about it, I was like, I don't understand how she hasn't done better here before. Yeah, with all her big weapons that she has, she has a big serve, she's...

(Loss of audio feed.)

Q. We can't hear you.

SASCHA BAJIN: Can you hear me now?

Q. Yes.

SASCHA BAJIN: No, I said that I believe she has a big game for grass court. She has big serves. She has good slice. She has actually also good touch. She can drop some balls very low behind the net. She has good volleys.

I always thought that her game was very well-suited for this surface. I'm just happy that it's displaying this year with me.

Q. One easy question. What have you learned about Czech mentality with Karolina?

SASCHA BAJIN: What I learn? I have to be careful now (smiling).

To say, I've learned that Czech mentality can be very stubborn, and it's okay sometimes to go through the door, not through the wall (laughter).

Q. What will be most important for Karolina for the final match do you think?

SASCHA BAJIN: I mean, most important is that she plays to win, that she believes in her weapons. She has a big serve. If a lot is on the line, people tend to get nervous and tend to get tight. I don't want her to think about not missing, not making it, but use the big weapons you have, play to win, really try to play aggressive.

Q. On the circuit Karolina is considered one of the best players not to have won a major so far. Do you feel that kind of pressure, that statistic, might have affected her in the past in terms of the pressure that puts on her? Is that something you've spoken about with her to take the edge off?

SASCHA BAJIN: For sure. I mean, like, I always said, even in Australia I felt like she wanted it so much. It's something she wanted so much. The problem becomes if you want something so much, it's just as bad as not wanting it enough. It kind of paralyzes you and it looks like you don't care, when it's the complete opposite.

So my approach to Australia was, like, We're here, we're just going to take it one match at a time, not see it as anything different. Then at the same time I do believe that I would be kind of lying to her because it is.

That's why this time I kind of really was telling her, Listen, you're going to win this, you're going to be here for two weeks. I wanted to put that in her mind every day with a tiny little input. Yeah, at least it worked (smiling).

Q. Looking ahead obviously to Ash specifically, Karolina was saying she doesn't think she's played a poor match against Ash, she's looking forward to it, world No. 1. From a tactical perspective, not asking you to reveal any secrets, what do you see from the coaching perspective that makes Ash tricky or difficult to solve on grass?

SASCHA BAJIN: Yeah, I mean, especially on grass, her slice is very effective. She has good volleys. She has this very good transitioning from baseline to volleys which makes her very dangerous. She knows how to approach and cover the court.

It's going to be tough because she puts a lot of variety in. The ball, obviously after the slice, it doesn't bounce as high as it is on hard court, making the slice here way more effective. So there's a lot of different things coming your way.

It's just going to be about managing Karolina's nerves I think in the first place. But good thing is for us, at least, Ash has also not been in a Wimbledon finals and I hope she's going to be a little bit nervous, too. We'll see tomorrow.

Q. I'm doing work on Novak Djokovic who everyone says is unbeatable over five sets. How would you advise a player to approach a match against him here at Wimbledon?

SASCHA BAJIN: Oh, man. That's like, How do you walk on water? That's a tough one.

I think especially against these guys, if you don't win the first two sets, it's all tough. Like, a good example was with Rafa in Rome. I'll just use him as an example. He was practicing. I'm not going to lie, I think the first 10 minutes he hit, like, 20 balls into the fence. But you could see it did not bother or stress him one tiny bit because he knew he was going to find his rhythm, his timing. Once he does, it's going to be over for the competition.

To have that belief and that knowledge and that self-confidence is something that comes through, you know, wins and wins and five-setters and being there and knowing how to manage your emotions, knowing how to manage your physicality. It's so brutal on the body. When to pull the trigger, when not to...

There is not one answer I could give you. If I knew, I would write a book and I'd be the richest guy tomorrow. It's a tough one.

Q. You mentioned looking at the opponent's errors and weaknesses but concentrating on your own player's strengths, positivity. With Novak, would it be to concentrate on the strengths instead of the weaknesses?

SASCHA BAJIN: If I was coaching Novak?

Q. Coaching against him.

SASCHA BAJIN: Oh, of course. Of course. I don't think Novak has many weaknesses. I always want to believe the player, especially the players I work with, you want to focus on your own strength.

But again, he's a very special, special human being, very special abilities. Because there's no big weakness, yeah, you want to start with your own strengths. You always want to look at, What can I do that's best for me? If that doesn't work, my next thought would be, What prevents me from playing my best? What doesn't help me doing that?

On the third side, you have to think, Okay, let's look what's not working for him, his backhand is not there, maybe I'm serving too much to the forehand.

Last I would trying to be analyze the opponent. I always want the first two steps focusing on my player.