AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 27, 2023

Anton Dubrov

Jason Stacy

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Thanks for joining us. Obviously Aryna reaching a Grand Slam final is something you as a team have been working on for quite a while.

Anton, why do you think it's happened now and what are your thoughts on her performance so far?

ANTON DUBROV: Well, why now (smiling)? Well, tough to say. I think a lot of things happened last year for her, and I would say that right now it's her approach to herself, to the game, to everything.

She accept a lot of bad things that could happen, a lot of great things. I think just because she's understand that everything can happen, she's really like understand what is her strongest part of the game and she can control it better. So right now it's much better all together, so it's working.

THE MODERATOR: Jason?

JASON STACY: Yeah, similar to what Anton is saying, I think there is a lot of seeds we have been planting for several years now that have been slowly growing over time. The experience last year of facing a lot of humility and fear, and instead of avoiding it or trying to go around it, she went right through it, hit it face on.

I think going through that process has helped her kind of realize, Oh, the best way really actually is what everyone always says, to face your fear and go through it.

I think it's given her this more internal belief that, you know, just, okay, even if this particular game or this moment in a match is tough, it's like, Okay, just keep going and it will all come back together. Yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. She talk after the match against Bencic that she worked hard on her serve in the wintertime, and especially with the biomechanist. Can you elaborate the process on working on the serve? Obviously she has a very less double faults than last year, for example.

ANTON DUBROV: Yeah, well, it's not still perfect. It's like a long process. It's going to be, I think, till the end of the career, like a lot of things you can improve.

Yeah, last year when she faced that she actually kind of lost the motion and everything, it's like and she was kind of like afraid just to talk about it. So we know the guy who knows the guy, so biomechanic guy. So just contact him, sent few videos, just spoke about what are the key moments that actually not even close to be okay and normal for motion, and I think the greatest thing that happened that she actually been ready to work on it.

JASON STACY: Right.

ANTON DUBROV: It was like five days before Cincinnati, and she changed the whole motion, just literally the whole motion. I mean, because she is talented, like in five days she back on the court and she can serve with a new motion on this kind of stage of pressure, like she is the whole year a new motion, and again, like she has to prove herself she can play.

And wintertime, we just trying to keep going the same way, to build the same like key moments to improve them, but as I said, like it's still a lot of things you can improve. On the winter we tried our best, but I can see where we can get even more better.

So I think she got more confidence right now. At least she can serve sometimes and not scary to go there and serve. She understands, like, what is actually -- if she serve doubles she understand, like, Okay, what is the problem. She can fix by herself without trying to find answers around.

I think it came with this right motion. When you know that you can actually do it right, you're not so, like, frustrated and, I don't know, like scary about it. It's still not great, but yeah, it's much, much better, for sure.

Q. What do you think can be the key of the final against Rybakina.

ANTON DUBROV: Well, they both are pretty strong in the serve, pretty aggressive. I would say it's going to be about like who is get this, keep this focus to be more like concentrate on her own game and not trying to catch opponent on the errors. It's more about who can keep going.

Because there will be some opportunities on return, for sure, but it's about like if you're gonna do it or you're gonna wait. I think it's gonna be like this, maybe few points that might be deciding. That's what I think.

Q. How hard was last year? Had either of you ever experienced something like that in your professional careers of having to kind of also help her confront what she had to confront, manage what she had to manage, and get her head out of feeling sorry for herself and mad into what the Aryna we saw the back end of the year, which was a lot more, like you said, Jason, humble and focused on just the task?

ANTON DUBROV: I would like Jason to start, because...

JASON STACY: It was tough. I mean, there is a lot of things that play into that. I mean, you asked about our personal and professional careers. My sport was more Jiu-Jitsu and combat sports.

Yeah, pretty much every day is a struggle in humility and having to fight against something. That mentality is the same thing we always try to instill in her. Just gotta keep going.

I think probably the biggest thing that comes to mind with all what you said is all we were trying to do is help her get a better sense of control. Like Anton touched on earlier, understand why, if she missed a serve, what was happening. Having some clarity and understanding of what was going on to give her a better sense of control. And like with anything in life, the more control you feel you have, the less stress you feel, and vice versa. Less stress you feel, the more clear you can think, more better emotional control you have.

Really the whole process was we knew, myself personally, I have a few more years' experience than some of these guys, just life in general, we understood that like this isn't the end, and the best way is going to go through it. It might be tough, but we have to just get through this, and we will be okay in the end.

All we wanted at the end of this was to give her that understanding and that sense of control, so that way she wasn't out there with 50 different voices in her head and freaking out and all over the place. She could just turn down the volume of all that resistance in her head and just be able to focus on the task at hand.

We did that by giving her some clarity on what to do. Like I said, reduce the stress level which allows her to control her emotions better and be in better control of that fierceness that she has.

Yeah. There was something else I was going to say but I forget so that's okay.

ANTON DUBROV: Jason left me almost the whole year, because last year, Oh, I cannot travel to Australia, and I faced first two tournaments and it was amazing for me to sit there. Thank you very much.

JASON STACY: I owe him big time.

ANTON DUBROV: I think that's what happened last year was actually maybe it's great even a positive way also for Aryna. Like she's kind of, like, understand that one of her biggest weapons is missing, but she's still fighting with anyone.

So she understand that she's actually tough. Once she, in the end of the year, once she get this new motion of serve and this toughness before, all together is like she understand that actually she's pretty great player. She can compete no matter what's happened with her.

She can serve like 25 double faults and she's still gonna be like in the third set fighting like 5-All. What's happened I think against Gauff in Canada. That's not really great to see, to watch when someone struggle so much and you're trying to help and you cannot, but, I mean, I was really impressed, because I would say like I think 95% of players they would just like take a break for a few months just to understand, Okay, I cannot play. I have to quit.

She was like, no. Yes, she had been struggling every day, was kind of like emotions, a lot of emotions, but every day in the morning she is still doing the same routines, the same like practicing and the tournaments. So that was really impressive.

JASON STACY: Just to add, it goes without saying is the fact that what she was going through, everyone saw the whole big part of the year, but every week she just showed up knowing the world was watching, the world was talking about it, she was all over the place. She still just showed up and did the work. She showed up to matches week after week.

She did whatever we asked her to do, trusting, I'm just going to keep going, keep going. There might have been a few things, as Anton mentioned, she was afraid to even address or talk about the serve, but we got to that point, Listen, time to do something else.

ANTON DUBROV: From her side, she's not really accept a new person in the team, so for her, just to get like biomechanical guy to join the team and to help with the serve, that was a huge step. She's like, Oh, yeah, I actually have a problem. But it took like eight months, but still...

JASON STACY: It was March, I think, Indian Wells we were talking about this idea.

ANTON DUBROV: It was March.

JASON STACY: Yeah. And then, again, I owe this guy a lot. While we were still working and talking on the phone and doing stuff, he was having to sit there all by himself. It was a tough year for a lot of us. Anyway, we got through it.

Q. What was it like when Aryna found out with the rest of the world that she wasn't going to be allowed to play at Wimbledon last year? What was that two-week period like?

ANTON DUBROV: Well, for us it was like four weeks. Well, it was kind of upset for her, because she actually really loved to play in Wimbledon. It was one of her, like, favorite tournaments so far.

She played semis last year, so she was kind of, like, waiting again. I think it was her first semis in Grand Slam, so also kind of good memories.

But I think, and as she mentioned also, like she has no control on this. Few days like she was like kind of like doesn't know what to do, but then she's like, Okay, then for me these four weeks are for me to improve. That's how I'm gonna think about it.

So we spent like four weeks in Miami. It was like 35, 36 degrees, July. Wasn't really easy to practice, but it was a good four weeks, actually.

She was, again I say, she's tough. Four weeks, just every day, we're doing these things.

Q. What's it like now obviously coming out of all of that in the last 12 months to be there and be around this calmer Aryna? More focused. She's still fiery and still fighting. She hasn't set that part of herself aside. But it has been noticeable since Adelaide how much more chilled out a little bit she is and how much more controlled she is in herself. From your perspective, are the warmups different? Are the prematch vibes different, that sort of thing?

ANTON DUBROV: No. From physical side, I would say everything the same. Well, it took a lot of conversations, and I think is just was one of the key moments when she decided to trust to what we all speak about. Like, Okay, that's what we want. She's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Keep going. Yeah.

Like even during the preseason she also mentioned, yes, it's like trust the process. She's actually like accept the fact that she has to be like this. Not just accept the fact she has to be like this but she also has to do it.

I think we cannot say, Okay, that's it, we fix it and it's going to be like -- it's like life. It can change all the time. But for a moment right now, she's much better control on herself. Yes, she's much more calm, but I hope that she will accept these emotions that she's having right now and also the fact that it is gonna change like in a few days, weeks, months, and it's also fine to feel not that fine that you're feeling right now.

I think this is one is like a first step, to feel something new. The next step is to understand it's going to be like all the time, changeable, like roller coaster. And it's fine also.

JASON STACY: Just agree. I think, as Anton touched on, it's like everything in life, nothing is permanent. When you're performing, it's a constant, not really a battle. In some ways it is, but it's always evolving.

Going through the experience of last year has helped her realize a lot of the stuff we've all talked about, she knew, she can repeat the words, she didn't really own it yet. I think going through what happened last year especially, and then accepting certain situations, certain things that were happening and realizing, okay, now I think she has a better understanding of it, not just the knowledge of these things.

Again, as Anton mentioned, right now it's great. This is where we are. We are not talking about the future or the past. We are just here right now, doing what we need to do. We know there will be weeks that will be tough. Matches that she'll maybe go to some old habits on the court, off the court, personally, professionally, that's just life.

Having this experience now she can fall back on. The idea would be when she does start to slip or have a bad period, that it won't last as long for her, because she's had the previous experience to like pull from.

I think it's all part of that -- I know it sounds cheesy, I don't want to say it, "part of the process." But it's true. (Laughter.)

Q. She's 3-0 against Rybakina. I know it's a Grand Slam final and everything is different, but what can you take out of these previous matches?

ANTON DUBROV: We could say that it was really hard all the time, all the time three sets. I think it was just like one break per set almost all the time.

Right now I would say it's a new match. They played last time I think it was Wimbledon two years ago, so it's like -- I would say it's just like another life, what's happened last life. What's happened afterward, Aryna lost serve. Then she found the serve. Meanwhile, Rybakina won a slam. They are both like kind of came here from and like different directions.

So I would say that for a moment in this match, all previous matches like doesn't matter at all. Is gonna be like something really new.

I would think that, I'm not sure, maybe Rybakina will try her best like to win like Aryna like beat her before, but I would say that's in the final is gonna be like especially in the beginning all about who can manage their emotions and start better.

I wouldn't say that it's something that we can actually take from previous matches.

JASON STACY: I would just add that a big part of the approach we are really focusing on is that every match, just sort of every rally, every point, but every match for us, it's a new life. Every match has a beginning and an end. Has an end. The next one has a brand new beginning.

It's the same. It's just a new match. It's coming from all these different places and angles. It's irrelevant at the moment. Both are in the final. They're both playing well. Both there to compete. I'm sure they both really want to win.

ANTON DUBROV: Maybe (smiling).

JASON STACY: So yeah. Simple.