THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 11, 2024

Donna Vekic

Press Conference

J. PAOLINI/D. Vekic

2-6, 6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Donna, incredibly hard-fought match out there. We know you must be very disappointed. Give us your thoughts on what happened out there.

Do you want to take a minute?

DONNA VEKIC: I'm okay, thank you.

It was a tough, tough match. I believed that I could win until the end. She played some amazing tennis. All congrats to her. She definitely deserved it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. This is your fourth straight three-set match. Any fatigue at all during the match?

DONNA VEKIC: I mean, I thought I was going to die in the third set. I had so much pain in my arm, in my leg. It was not easy out there, but I will recover.

Q. Can you describe what makes her so difficult to play lately, especially today?

DONNA VEKIC: Jasmine?

Q. Yes. The challenge that she presented you.

DONNA VEKIC: I don't know. She's moving really well. She's aggressive. You gave a short ball, and yeah, you just have to keep going.

I mean, she doesn't have the best serve, but she's serving well enough. Yeah, I felt like also in the third set she was really returning well.

Q. On the point of the emotion you showed on court during the match, it seems like it spilled over, but then you brought it back and reset. What is it like to let out the tears on court and then have to get back to the match? Do you feel like it helps you?

DONNA VEKIC: I mean, sometimes it can help. My tears were not because I was... I mean, I don't know. I was more crying because I had so much pain, I didn't know how I could keep playing.

But somehow, I don't know... I'm sorry.

Q. Given what you just described about how you fought through all of that, what feeling do you have about what you did today?

DONNA VEKIC: My team tells me that I can be proud of myself. It's tough right now. It's really tough. For sure I will need to take couple of days to see everything.

Yeah, I don't know, it's tough to be positive right now. It was so close. I had a lot of chances, yeah (tearing up).

THE MODERATOR: I think we'll wrap it up there. Thank you very much.