AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 18, 2022

Alize Cornet

Press Conference

A. CORNET/V. Tomova

6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Great start to your Australian Open campaign. You must be happy with how you played today.

ALIZÉ CORNET: Yeah, of course I'm happy I won this first round. It's always tricky to play against a qualifier that has already three matches behind her and got used to the conditions. I played a solid match overall. The beginning of it was very, very tight for the first three games. I did a lot of unforced errors, but then I stepped up a little bit and am pretty happy about the way it went for me.

Q. What do you make of your next opponent, which is going to be a really tough matchup? How do you prepare for that game?

ALIZÉ CORNET: Yeah, Garbiñe, we know each other pretty well. We've played each other a few times now, and the last time was on grass last year, and I won in a tiebreaker, so it was a really tight match. She's an amazing champion. She's top 5 in the world, so I'll have to play my best tennis to beat her, that's for sure.

She played a Frenchy in the first round, so I hope that she's going to give me some clue, some more clue, even if I have enough. But it's always nice to have the feeling of another opponent, and yeah, I'm expecting to play on the big court, so that makes it exciting.

Q. Does that change going into Rod Laver Arena? And when will you speak to your French friend to get some tips?

ALIZÉ CORNET: I'm good friends with her, with Clara. We were Fed Cup mates and we get along very well, so I'm just going to ask her how she felt on the court and if she saw something particular.

About the Rod Laver, now I've played a few times on the Rod Laver, so it was a nice feeling. I kind of got used to this court. I feel really good, really comfortable on this court. I love the atmosphere, so I'm really happy if I can play on this one.

But there's also the Margaret Court and the 1573 and the John Cain. Many exciting courts that I want to step in, and we'll see. But the most important is that I stay focused on what I have to do and believe in myself for this match.