AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 28, 2023

Sam Schroder

Press Conference

S. SCHRODER/N. Vink

6-2, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Sam, big congratulations. How are you feeling today coming off court?

SAM SCHRODER: Yeah, like I said on court, it's amazing to win two years in a row. You know, I have played so many matches against Niels last year. He won a little bit more than I did last year, but in the Grand Slams we are pretty equal on the big stages.

Today was going to be another tossup between who would win. Yeah, I think I had a lot of confidence going into this match, so I felt very strong, and yeah, I just had a really great feeling about this match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Congratulations, Sam. Did you feel extra pressure as the defending champion?

SAM SCHRODER: Actually, no, not really. At least for me I didn't feel like I was, like, actively thinking about it during the match or during preparations. Of course it would be great to defend my title this year, but it's not something I was really thinking about during the matches. It was just like match for match trying to win, and then in the end we will see the result. The result was good, so I'm pretty happy with it, yeah.

Q. You started really well today. How important was that fast start for you?

SAM SCHRODER: I think it's very important for me to get a lot of confidence going into the match, starting out well, and, you know, letting myself be more comfortable on the court and being more aggressive, and hitting more winners just gives a lot of confidence.

I think especially against someone like Niels I have to make sure I'm having the upper hand in the moment, because otherwise if he's feeling very confident he will also just hit winners out of nowhere.

I tried to play a bit more aggressively at the start. Maybe it's a bit more risk, but if it turns out well, then I'm the one having all the confidence and control of match.

That worked out pretty well for me, yeah.

Q. You received the trophy from Dylan. Do you still keep in touch with him much? How good was it to see him again?

SAM SCHRODER: No, we actually don't. I think we are both pretty busy. He had a great year as Australian of the Year.

I just spoke to him on the court for a little bit now. Yeah, hopefully we'll see each other next year and keep in touch.

Q. The message you wrote on the camera at the end of the match, "Love yourself," can you explain why you wrote that?

SAM SCHRODER: Yeah. I just think as a tennis player I definitely do relate to a lot of players having like difficult moments mentally. You know, there is a lot of pressure on us to perform.

I think, you know, at the end of the day, winning or losing shouldn't be so important that you lose yourself over it. That's kind of why I wrote it, yeah.

Q. You dedicated the trophy to your first coach? Is that right?

SAM SCHRODER: Well, he wasn't my first coach. Jean (phonetic), he was an assistant to my coach. When I first started playing wheelchair tennis, he would help out in some of the early practices of mine.

But yeah, unfortunately he passed away last week, so that's why I had to, yeah, I dedicated it to him, because he definitely did help me out in the beginning a lot.

Q. Does that make the win even more special today?

SAM SCHRODER: Yeah, it does. It does. Like I said, it's incredible to win, but even more so if you have, you know, something to fight for and something to be proud of, yeah.