AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 19, 2004

Olivia Lukaszewicz

OLIVIA LUKASZEWICZ: I couldn't say it in words, the experience. The crowd was unbelievable. And to play Justine out on centre court was an experience in itself. I thought I went out there and composed myself well, fought hard, and she was just too good on the day. It's good to see where I'm at at the moment. And I'll go home and train my heart out to get there.

OLIVIA LUKASZEWICZ: I think I definitely learned that being No. 1 is a huge, huge, huge thing for Justine. For her to come out, she knew she was playing a wildcard, and she didn't know what to expect. She played it very well and she stayed with me and she didn't let me get into the match at all, which was good for her part.

OLIVIA LUKASZEWICZ: Yeah, she hoped for a good future and wished me good luck.

OLIVIA LUKASZEWICZ: It wasn't -- yeah, in the morning it was pretty hectic. I tried to get away from it all and stay relaxed and listen to a bit of music, did my own things. Went out there, I think I composed myself really well. I wasn't too nervous. I was a little bit at the start, but the crowd helped me a lot. It wasn't too bad.

OLIVIA LUKASZEWICZ: Yeah, I think that's where I've got to work on a lot. I haven't really got that experience to know exactly what to do, and she knew everything what to do on those particular points. She played them well. I made a few errors that I probably shouldn't have pressed for so much. I thought I played pretty well out there, so...

OLIVIA LUKASZEWICZ: Yeah, I think if you're playing No. 1, I think you sort of have to do that a little bit. If you don't, she's just gonna smash you off court. I thought I didn't press too much with my shots, but definitely on the game points, I probably didn't play them as well as I could have.

OLIVIA LUKASZEWICZ: Yeah, I think it's a pretty big gap. I think it's making that first step and getting that breakthrough win and getting there amongst all those girls and seeing what they do day in and day out. I think that helps a lot. I think it's that breakthrough win that all these girls need.

OLIVIA LUKASZEWICZ: From what I've seen on the men's, no. But she definitely served it quite hard. She's a little girl, she's not as big as some of the others there. She places the ball well. I think she's worked on her second serve quite a bit, and it kicked up a little bit. I think it's improved since what I've seen last.

OLIVIA LUKASZEWICZ: Yeah, it's good. I'll definitely spend a lot of that on my tennis in the following months and try and help out my game and spend it on that.

OLIVIA LUKASZEWICZ: I think I'm gonna play a few junior tournaments and try and get into Junior French and Wimbledon this year. So I've got to make a few trips before I do that. I've got junior Aussie coming up now. So I'll prepare hard for that and try and get a few points and bump up my ranking a little bit. So I'll definitely have to make a few trips to Europe and whatever.

OLIVIA LUKASZEWICZ: I definitely enjoyed it. It was good fun. Just to see what the players are doing, just to see them hanging around is a great experience.

OLIVIA LUKASZEWICZ: Definitely going in there, and I knew, going into the match, that she wasn't going to give me anything. I'm ranked 800-something. So I knew I had to fight for every point, and if I wanted to win a point, I had to fight for it and she wasn't going to let me off for a game. I think I did that. I got a few chances to win a couple of games, but didn't execute the points well. I think she played them quite smart. And that's just experience from her side.

OLIVIA LUKASZEWICZ: Yeah, definitely. I didn't want to go out there and feel like she was giving me, 'cause I wouldn't have felt good. I think if I had earned the game, then I would have felt a lot better than her sort of half giving it away to me.