AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 26, 2022

Diede De Groot

Anick Van Koot

Press Conference

VAN KOOT-DE GROOT/Kamiji-Shucker

7-5, 3-6, 10-2

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations on winning the women's wheelchair doubles championship today. Talk us through your emotions now.

DIEDE DE GROOT: Happy. Especially because we really had to work for it I think. The first set was already a big battle. Unfortunately we had a little bit too many mistakes in the second set, so we really had to up our game in the super tiebreak and we did. So happy.

ANIEK VAN KOOT: Yeah, I think that's the right thing to say. Second set was a bit disappointing sometimes here and there. The opponents gained more confidence. But I think the super tiebreak, yeah, was very nice especially from Diede. She hit that ball pretty hard.

Yeah, happy but also relieved because with a championship final, no-ad scoring, it can go quite quickly. The third set being a super tiebreak, it can change in an instant.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Talk to me about the match tiebreak. Felt like you really turned up the heat, determined to get the job done. What did you say to each other between the second set and the match tiebreak?

ANIEK VAN KOOT: Well, I think it was good for me to calm down after the second set because I was a bit high in emotions. Diede said, We're going to go for it, not make mistakes. She was very fierce, so that was good.

I tried to not make the mistakes, and Diede just put the pressure on. That really worked.

Q. Aniek, I have to congratulate you now on 20 Grand Slam doubles titles in your career. How does that feel?

ANIEK VAN KOOT: Pretty awesome. I'm pretty happy today to do it together with Diede. It also means I've been playing tennis for a long time (laughter). Yeah, I'm quite happy with it. Also to do it here in Australia, the Happy Slam. Yeah, once again to do it together with Diede, we've had a great year.

It means the world to me to have a good start to this year, as well. It's nice.

Q. Diede, Aniek mentioned it, but there were points where you were ruthless with some of your returns.

DIEDE DE GROOT: Yeah, I think for a long time in the second set we were a little bit too passive, yeah. In the third set, the super tiebreak, we really tried to put the pressure forwards again. I think mainly I said to myself, Okay, I'm just going to hit the ball very hard and I'm not going to think about what the outcome is going to be like.

I think that really helped me to sort of play the right shots.

Q. Tomorrow both of you are on court again. After this press conference do you not talk to each other?

ANIEK VAN KOOT: I think we'll celebrate a bit. I think whatever the outcome is tomorrow, I think we'll celebrate then as well a little bit because it's the end of the tournament.

Yeah, of course, tomorrow we'll both have our own preparation. It's not that we're going to go bunching. No, you just go for your own match obviously. But, no, we're good.

DIEDE DE GROOT: I think the thing for us is we're also sort of used to this situation where we play with each other and also against each other. It's not really something new. Yeah, we're good afterwards mostly (smiling). Always, always.

ANIEK VAN KOOT: Happy always (smiling).

Q. Will there be bunching after the singles final? A doubles partner brunching?

ANIEK VAN KOOT: We'll have celebrations for sure, yeah. I mean, it's a nice win today. Whatever happens tomorrow, one of us can win a title again. It's a good day anyway.

Q. Coming back from 5-3 down in the first set, switched up for the final set, what did you have to do?

ANIEK VAN KOOT: I think our game plan, we made a little bit too many loose errors here and there that weren't very quite necessary. We stepped it up and got a bit more strict to ourselves, the thing that didn't really work in the second though. That's how we got back into the first set I guess.

Q. The match tiebreak, was it a decision to try to be more aggressive?

DIEDE DE GROOT: I think we already sort of went back to our own game at the end of the second set. Even though we were 4-Love down, we still tried to get into the games and tried to get our game back. I think we already managed to do that a little bit there.

I think the step to getting back to completely our game was a little bit less big of a step then because we already tried at the end of the second.