WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN

August 15, 2021

Jennifer Brady

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Talk about getting your summer hard court started, how are you feeling? How is the body feeling as things kick off for you?

JENNIFER BRADY: Yeah, of course I'm super excited to start playing hard court tournaments in the U.S. The U.S. summer is one of my favorite swings of the year, just being at home, playing tournaments, especially on the hard courts.

Yeah, the body's getting there. Not a hundred percent yet. Hopefully looking forward to having a good U.S. hard court summer, being hopefully a hundred percent by US Open.

Q. In terms of the physical issues, I'm sure it's been incredibly frustrating. How long it's been taking to get to a hundred percent, have there been setbacks? Is it an injury that takes forever to heal? What's the story there?

JENNIFER BRADY: Yeah, just something that just takes a long time. It's a bit of a nagging injury. It's something that you can't really like put a boot on or crutch around and it just goes away. It takes a lot of work. It's really sensitive.

Yeah, it's not something that can just disappear on its own. Yeah, I've definitely been trying to do everything I possibly can. I mean, I'm feeling a lot better, so we'll see how it feels.

Q. Your thoughts on this tournament being back in Cincinnati after a year in New York and also the opportunity to play in front of fans, how that impacts you as a player?

JENNIFER BRADY: For sure, playing in front of fans again, I think it's something that we're all super excited, definitely looking forward to. It's been really tough going and playing in empty stadiums, just being restricted to just the hotel and the site. It starts to get draining after a while.

Seeing there's actually fans in the stands watching, even watching practices out here, it's been awesome. I'm really, really looking forward to that.

Q. What was your Olympic experience like, separate and apart from the competition, just being there, getting to put on all that Ralph Lauren Olympic gear, the whole experience?

JENNIFER BRADY: Yeah, we got so much shit -- I mean stuff (smiling). We got so much gear, it was pretty sick.

Unfortunately we were staying in a hotel, so we weren't able to stay in the village. But we were able to visit the village twice. I think that was the coolest part of it all, for sure. Hopefully if I'm on the team for Paris 2024, I'm going to beg to stay in the village.

That's the whole part of it, that's the experience, that's what you're there for. Obviously win a medal, but it's different from just another WTA event.

It kind of felt like that a little bit, just being in the hotel, being separated from everything else. But I was able to at least see other athletes. That was pretty cool.

It's definitely something that you can feel, that these people have trained their whole lives just for this one opportunity. We're so lucky as tennis players. We have an opportunity every single week to compete and try to hold up a trophy.

Yeah, it was definitely an amazing experience. Hopefully I get to experience it again.

Q. Were you aggressive on taking selfies with other athletes? Were you observing from afar? Pin swapping?

JENNIFER BRADY: Yeah, I was a little bit half-assed on all of it. I'm not like a super pin swapper. I only swapped pins with some of the tennis players on-site. Yeah, there were some people who were, like, adamant.

We went to the village. A couple of us, we were walking, I don't know, like five, six, seven minutes ahead of the others because they were back behind us swapping pins. I wasn't really interested in that. I was more soaking it in with my eyeballs, not really taking many photos with my phone. It's okay.

Bethanie was there. She was all there for the social media, for the content. I think a lot of us just used Bethanie, stole some of her photos.

Q. I've seen some photos of the changes in Cincinnati of the grounds. Can you give us a sense of what it's like to be there at the moment? How different is it than two years ago?

JENNIFER BRADY: Honestly, I don't feel like it's very different. I'm probably not the right person to ask about that. I think it's a different tennis ball. I think that's the only difference.

But, yeah, I mean, like I said before, I think it's just awesome that there's fans here and there's people watching. Hopefully we're getting back to normal soon. I don't know.

Yeah, I think it's about time that we at least have fans in the stands. Playing in front of empty stadiums is getting a bit dry, so...