MELBOURNE SUMMER SET

January 9, 2022

Amanda Anisimova

Press Conference

A. ANISIMOVA/A. Sasnovich

7-5, 1-6, 6-4

Q. You must be thrilled that your short time in Melbourne has already resulted in a tournament win.

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Yeah, for sure. To start off the year playing my first tournament with a title, it's a really amazing feeling. I'm just so happy with my title and starting off the year on a good start. Hopefully I'll have a good season and I'm really looking forward to playing in the Australian Open.

Q. Wondering if you could talk through the match a little bit. You played such a great first set, obviously second set seemed like you were a little bit hampered, and third set talk through the comeback. How did you pull it off?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: I think Sasha was playing extremely well today, so it was a very difficult match, and I just had to grit my teeth into this one, just fight for every single point, and I went down 3-0 in the third set, but she was just playing really well, and if she were to win that match, props to her for playing well and I couldn't do anything that day, but I just kept fighting, and I'm really happy that I could stay calm and try and play better tennis. I think I started playing more aggressively, and that's what got me my win today, so I'm just extremely happy.

Q. What was the key to staying calm down Love-3 and things didn't seem to be going your way at that point. What were your telling yourself not to get too negative and keep fighting through to the finish line?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: I think starting off this year, that's just the way that I think I'll try to go about things, just playing calm and collected. I think it just saves my energy, honestly, and I like playing this way. Even though I was down 3-0, I was still enjoying the tennis because there was nothing I could do, and playing on Rod Laver, I'm still enjoying my time, and even though I'm down it doesn't really bother me. I'm just happy to be playing and to play in a final. Honestly there was nothing really to be negative about. I was just trying my hardest.

Q. You said when we spoke yesterday that you are starting the season after a really good preseason in a really positive head space as you look ahead. I'm curious, why do you find yourself in that positive head space? What has it taken for you to be there to start the season so positively?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Honestly, I don't know. No, I think I had a really good preseason, and it's the first time that I've gone through a whole preseason, which was actually quite long. It was about three months, and I did not get injured, and the training went really well. I think that brings a lot of confidence into my year.

I've had a lot of close matches against top players last year, so knowing that my game is there and just trying to pull everything together.

Also I was training with my coach Gleb, and he helped me a lot in the preseason. He was there with me. Yeah, it was honestly just a good training block, and I think finishing the year with some extra confidence knowing that I put in the work is serving me well for this year.

Q. What does it mean for you to start your season winning your first title in almost three years, playing at the level that you were able to sustain match after match after match, and then in the final being able to pull it out, a really tough match against a tough opponent? What does this title mean for you?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: I think I really enjoyed the match today. This week I've been enjoying those moments where it's very close and trying to figure out what to do and how to win. I think I enjoy the challenge.

I think that's what helped me this week because every single match was pretty tough, and yeah, just not trying to get too ahead of myself and just enjoying every single moment that I get to play. Yeah, I'm really happy with how this week went.

Q. You were saying not getting ahead of yourself and things like that. Everybody goes into the new season. Everybody has worked hard. Not everybody knows where their game is at until you guys start playing. I'm curious now with the week that you've had, does it change anything for you mentally expectation-wise, all that sort of stuff as you continue your season, especially with the Australian Open around the corner?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: For sure. I think every player goes into the new season with a different mindset. Some might be more nervous than others, some might be more confident. I think it's to each their own. For me it's just really having fun with each tournament that I get to play. I didn't get to come here last year, so that was pretty difficult.

I'm just extremely happy that I get this opportunity. I won't be playing in Sydney next week, but I'll have a good training block with Darren and my team, so I'm just looking forward to it, and hopefully I can do well in the Australian Open. If not, hopefully I'll just at least get to play.

Q. In terms of your expectations, you'll go into the AO, you've now won Melbourne so you're going to be somebody people are going to look at when the draw comes out because you'll be unseeded and pretty dangerous given the form that you've played not just this week but also what we know you can do in the past. How do you feel you'll be able to handle that? Is it going to be fun playing as an underdog in a way and kind of an unseeded spoiler sort of situation or how do you handle playing the way that you did with this victory and maybe a few more eyes on you in Melbourne?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Well, yeah, it's always difficult, I think, to go into a Grand Slam being unseeded because you can get a difficult match in the first round. Every match is going to be hard, honestly, and having this string of wins this week, I think that I'll go in with a lot of confidence, so that helps me a lot.

But yeah, I'm not worried. I've had a lot of good matches against top players last year, so I feel like everyone knows that I can play very good tennis, but it was just not as consistent as I hoped for last year.

Hopefully this year -- this week I've brought my game to a pretty good level each day in every match, and that's what I've really been trying to focus on.

Q. Is the plan for Darren to help you and stick with you in the coaching arena for the rest of -- through the Australian Open, as well?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: Well, I already talked to you about him yesterday, but we haven't talked about it yet. We're really just taking it one day at a time, and yeah, we'll come up with a plan. If he's available and free to be with me through the Australian Open, then I'd be glad to, but I know he has some TV stuff, so we'll just talk about it and we'll see, but I'm really hoping that he'll be able to.

I had a really good time with him this week, and other than being a really great coach, he's also an amazing person, so just having him in my corner has been really great.

Q. How do you plan on celebrating your second title, a very good title for you?

AMANDA ANISIMOVA: With my team today, I think that we'll celebrate a little bit here. I won't tell you too much. But yeah, we'll just have a nice dinner. We've been getting dinner almost every night. Yeah, this night I can kind of relax and I'll take a couple days off. I have to heal my blister a little bit. It's been a tough week. Yeah, I'm just looking forward to putting my feet back and just enjoying the night with my team.