AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 24, 2025

Anton Dubrov

Jason Stacy

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Perhaps to begin with, you could tell us what you're most proud of when it comes to Aryna and her performance here this tournament. We'll start with you, Anton.

ANTON DUBROV: The way she's dancing on TikTok.

JASON STACY: It's getting better, huh?

ANTON DUBROV: I think it's going to be almost the same as we always said about her. It's her discipline, the way she's always kind of showing off as a professional, like she's supposed to be, but she's doing it, like, trying to level up all the time.

I think in last couple of years is her focus is shift more to herself and thinking about how she can be better in any aspect and discuss with us how she can do it.

THE MODERATOR: Jason?

JASON STACY: I agree with that part. For me, the biggest thing I've noticed especially this year here at Australian Open is after each match, the feedback we're getting, what she was thinking and feeling and how everything was really focusing so much just about what she needed to do and where she was at and how she was going to build the point and sort of really thinking more about what she has control over and nothing else, not worrying about all the other parts.

Even when she felt herself slipping away a little more emotional or a little bit distracted, she was able to pull herself back in. Each round she's doing this better and better.

I think it's just, like, early days it was like looking for her to be a little bit more vulnerable, more open to go through certain things. But now I think you're starting to see a little bit more maturity, more self-awareness, which has been amazing, actually.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. This question is for Anton. In terms of her ability to take on the tactical side of the game, it feels like that has improved a lot in just hearing her discuss her matches. I'm curious, obviously a lot of that is going to come from you and the discussions you've had with her over the years. How has that journey been in terms of taking her from where she might have been in terms of how she thought about the game specifically tactically when you first started working with her to now?

ANTON DUBROV: I think in the beginning it was more about just to give her some control, because she wasn't, I would say, so developed technically, so it was kind of a limit for her. It wasn't like, okay, just go with the spin, or slice. No, it's nothing like this.

It was more about, okay, what's the best we can control. Like, let's say you can play cross-court, for example, or down the line this shot. Just do it like as simple as you can.

As more she gets some confidence that she can do it, we can level up kind of, mix it up more so she can feel how she can actually always adapt. Like depends with whom she's going to play. But if something is not going to work well, she always know she has like a plan B, a backup plan, so she can always come back to what she can feel much better.

As we got like practice more and more, I can develop better so she is right now have much more tools she can use on the court.

So also, we're trying to change her game that she can adapt, she can use much more tactical things against the opponent and not trying to overheat it all the time, but she can managing in the energy and also use sometimes opponent's power. So it's not going to drive you crazy and she going to lose her energy physically and emotionally.

In the beginning, again, it was from really simple things. Maybe it was more physical, as it should be. But as she's getting better, she's managing them much better.

So it was from simple all the time, like the small steps.

Q. In terms of, like, what are you seeing now that is making Aryna so difficult to beat that maybe you weren't seeing before?

ANTON DUBROV: I would say for me would be that she's more (indiscernible), she can keep the same pressure on the opponent all the time. And she understand, like, if she will not play her best game, that she still has chances just because she going to be solid on the court without trying to play, like, a Russian roulette, like it's everything or nothing.

No, she still understand that even in the bad days, she have a lot of things she can do on the court, and she know that it's going to hurt opponent a lot, and she's going to have her chances.

Because back in the days, it was more about she was chasing the perfect game, and if it wasn't perfect, that's it, I'm done. Like opponent play unbelievable, weather, I'm playing terrible, blah, blah blah.

Right now she can adapt and shift to something else and put the same pressure on the opponent all the time. The opponents, they know that they're going to face Aryna, and she can change all the time. So they understand they have also be on the same level all the time.

I think these top players, they are, like, why they're top is because the pressure, they just keep it there all the time.

Q. Jason, one thing Madison said last night was that she really admires the way Aryna just keeps being aggressive. Like, even when things aren't going so well, it doesn't seem to affect her mindset and approach. Like, yes, she'll do different things, but it doesn't knock her back. I'm sort of curious, is that something you had to work with her or she had to work on herself to develop to not just, like, crawl under a rock or start playing completely differently, or is that something that was just always there?

JASON STACY: I would say it's sort of all the above and none of that. She's always had this sort of personality behind her. She likes to play this way. She wants to hit big. She wants to be aggressive.

I think the biggest thing, if I were to look bigger picture, it was something we worked on, but it was more working on how to help her become, first, more self-aware and how to manage those emotions, and to know when and how to have that intensity cranked way up versus when she needs to kind of settle herself down and draw back into herself.

I think you take that part, and then the other part is just her knowledge and ability, like technically and tactically, so having that as a resource. That's gotten better and better and more aware of how tennis works and what she's able to do.

But a lot of it was her ability, one, that's who she is. That's what she wants to be. That's how she wants to be seen. That's how she likes to play. She's learning how to be more free herself on the court, but now with better skill set. Does that make sense?

We've attacked that from many different angles, from improving her skills and the understanding of the game, a bit of maturity, a bit of self-awareness on how to manage her emotions.

It's always been inside of her, like I said. She didn't always have control of her emotions. It was just thousand miles an hour or zero. There was not much in between. Whatever that was, it wasn't in her control.

So it was definitely something we worked on. But innately, though, that was something that's always been inside of her. It's just more about how to find the right pieces so that way we can be like this instead of, you know, big up and downs. We have nice and smooth, a bit more control, a bit more steady with that.

You see it on the court all the time now where she can be relentless, you know, but she can crank it way up when she needs to and settle in and be more steady when the time is right, yeah.

Q. Anton, I'm curious, how do you see tomorrow's match?

ANTON DUBROV: Going to be fast (laughing), from both forehands. I think it's going to be really depends who is going to take kind of advantage in first. I would say it's pretty similar to maybe the way Aryna played her first final against Rybakina because Madison serve really well. The first shot she can accelerate really fast. So it's more about how you can take away from her these first two shots and take this control.

The same I think from Madison. Also going to be on return. It's just who is going to try to dominate to find this right amount of the power so they can control it, not overhit it, because it's going to be fast.

I think it's all going to start with the way how they going to manage the emotions on the court and who is going to more thinking about themself and what they should do.

Q. It's rare for Aryna to step on the court and not be the most powerful person on the court, and even she said yesterday, she's, like, Yeah, when Madison is on, Aryna can feel overpowered. So in terms of prepping her mindset for seeing maybe a few winners zing by her, kind of what do you think that discussion will be like to make sure she doesn't not panic, but kind of get rattled?

ANTON DUBROV: I understand.

Few girls can hit really hard. So Aryna face them before. She understands tennis not about, okay, who is hitting faster. It's great if you have this kind of weapon, but it's how you can use it.

Actually sometimes if you able to adapt and play by using opponent power, it's even better because you are wasting almost like... You just have to work real well with your legs, but it don't have to be, like, overhitting and take this kind of risk.

So I think it's more about to understand others also can play really fast. That's great. So we have to adapt, use their power, and find our moment, our time where we can control, like we can dominate on the court. Just don't try to do it all the time.

JASON STACY: Can I add a little bit to that?

I would say the other thing to remember, the whole focus is, her having a sense of control and clarity on what she needs to do, and she's focused on what she's coming to do. We're not worried about what the other person can do.

There will be a few tactics that Anton and Aryna will discuss with her about strategy and some tactics, but at the end of the day she's a big hitter, she's not, she's long rally. It doesn't matter.

We'll have a specific tactic to work on. She's going to go there knowing the game plan, having the ability now to adapt a little bit as that goes, but she's focused on what she can do, what she has to do, and that's all that's going to matter.

She's going to show up just ready to go, so...

Q. You guys have done this a number of times now in the last year and a half. What does her day look like today? It's kind of a long time from the moment she won last night all the way until 7:30. It's a lot of hours to fill.

JASON STACY: True.

Q. I'm curious, what do you like to see her doing on a day like today and then how does it go tomorrow? I'm sure you've gone to school on this.

ANTON DUBROV: Nothing crazy. I will say just, like, we're not expecting to be something, like, unbelievable today. Just more about, okay, we just need to, again, find control in the practice. So just some simple drills to do. Again, just go through all the motions.

Again, we just want to, I would say, fit together like emotions with physical part. So what we have to try to do today in the practice is to find this kind of balance even on the practice.

We don't need to do something new or, like, I don't know, unbelievable. It's just, okay, we'll play, feel great, let's go home, get some food.

JASON STACY: We're literally doing everything the exact same except for some small details on who we're going to play and how the last match went. So how much recharging we have to do, how much emotion there was in the match previously, what's coming up.

As Anton said, we're managing our environment to make sure we're managing the energy as best as we can, the physical and mental side. But the routines are the same. Small few details will vary as far as maybe how the practice goes. There might be some specific things that they'll work through.

Now she's doing some recovery, some treatment. She's going to go back to the hotel. I'll have her throw her legs up and do some breathing exercises. She'll have a salt bath, have a nice dinner, relax away from everybody, and just wake up tomorrow and do it again.

There's nothing really changing. Just some small little details here and there, but the flow is pretty much the same.

Q. Is there any particular favorite meal, superstitious meal?

JASON STACY: I don't think so.

Q. Any particular movie she likes to watch or anything like that?

ANTON DUBROV: You mean just during the tournament or, like...

Q. Before a final.

ANTON DUBROV: We're not facing finals like something else. Final is just another match. Whatever she's going to do before the first match, I don't know. Any other tournament, and match here before the final, the same.

Because the thing is, like, you have to be kind of... You don't need to show up and do something unbelievable. First you have to start with yourself.

JASON STACY: Fundamentals.

ANTON DUBROV: Just basic stuff, nothing crazy.

JASON STACY: Have you guys seen us from the start of a tournament until the end of a tournament? Are we acting different, talking different? Are we behaving differently? I'm so nervous. No, I'm joking (laughing).

I think that's the important part, to answer a lot of those questions you've been saying, how is she able to do this, what's so different, is we're all just who we are. It doesn't change whether we're in the first round, the final, if it's a smaller tournament, a Grand Slam.

We have to have that same sort of attitude of we keep working on the things we know that work and enjoy our time at the same time, making sure that we're all managing our energy and ourselves personally, as well, so we can perform our best.

Nothing really changes. We are who we are, and just another day.

Q. How did she get through the Pavlyuchenkova match?

JASON STACY: Yeah, Anton?

ANTON DUBROV: How did we get through?

Q. How did she get through it?

ANTON DUBROV: Tough.

JASON STACY: Successfully.

ANTON DUBROV: Successfully (laughing).

JASON STACY: Tricky.

ANTON DUBROV: It was tricky. Pavlyuchenkova started to playing really well after she broke Aryna in the second set. Just found much better rhythm.

I think the thing that Aryna changed, just started to play with kind of focus on herself. Just like, Okay, I cannot control the way how she's going to play, so I just need to get back with the pressure I used to do before.

So what she started to do was get this fire inside herself, and just every ball for her was like kind of as a match point. Just everything just put this pressure, pressure, every point there. Then opportunities just show up.

That was the thing difference. It was like, Okay, I'm not going to wait right now for something going to happen. I'm just going to try to control. If not going to happen right now, next ball, next one. She was just refocussed. Okay, I just need to put this pressure.

JASON STACY: That was great. I was talking about that level of awareness and maturity, it's getting better and better. And don't forget the wind. It was like the wind and the girl is playing well, all this stuff. All these things that you easily could get distracted by or frustrated with. As Anton said, she just withdrew into herself and figured, Okay, what can I do in this situation?

That level of maturity, we're getting there. We're getting there. It's pretty cool, actually.

Q. In terms of we start to run the stats if she obviously wins tomorrow, that's four Grand Slams. A lot of the numbers start to become first since some of the GOATs, some of the greats in the game. As she begins to build, you know, those conversations will continue to kind of start happening in terms of what her place will be by the end of her career on those numbers, on the leaderboard. Do you ever talk about it? Is she aware of it? Does she care?

ANTON DUBROV: No. We all understand. She understand the company is, like, okay, not bad. Just few people did it in the history.

But these stats is great, but the only time we're going to look on them is after she's going to finish her career. So this is the only time when we're going to do it.

Otherwise, it's like so much, like, just energy she's going to use for this. It can be some goals for you maybe, but you cannot just, Okay, I want to have, say, 12 slams. Then you won 12. Then you're, Okay, again, something.

Okay, so I think it's what we talk with her before at times, the only control we have is like how you can develop as a player, how you can be better. Everything else, stats, results, everything else we just have a look after.

Let's say Saturday or Sunday final. On Monday we're going to have a look, okay, how it was.

JASON STACY: What worked? What needs work? It's funny because all these firsts and stuff, I think most of them we find out from you guys. Someone goes, Hey, did you know this? No, what does that mean?

Sometimes we make fun of them. It's like, Oh, Aryna is the first person to wear a pink shoelace on the 13th of the day on a sunrise over here that she did this, you know these kind of things.

Sometimes we make light of it too so it takes that weight off, but enough weight there to keep her moving. I don't know. I think it's interesting.

Q. The way Iga was playing the last couple of weeks, I think everybody expected her to be there tomorrow. What were you guys thinking? I know that you say Aryna doesn't worry about yourself, worry about yourself, but it would only be natural the way she was steam-rolling through the tournament for her to have that in her mind and have that come up occasionally, What tools do I need if we get to that point? Was this a factor there? Then was there a little bit of resetting that had to happen after last night? Maddie is a surprise.

ANTON DUBROV: I think most of the people, yes, expected that Iga going to win. And I think this was actually one of the reasons why it was like that's what's so hard for her to keep the level all the match.

But, I don't know, when we thinking about the next opponent, we were talking about just today. So we never, like, expecting, like, Okay, we need to think about what's going to be like, say, in the final.

No, it's like we have few things, let's say, that we have to practice just thinking about, Okay, if we're going to play against some particular girls, so we have to be ready to do the things.

But the thing is, like, yesterday, for example, we thought about it might be Iga, it might be Madison, but now we're, okay, we have to be ready for this, for this now. Let's see in the morning what it's going to be, and just on the practice we're going to focus what we have to do and nothing else.

Because, again, this is like Jason was yesterday watching the match, and he was, like, Oh, with whom we're going to play? It's drowning you. You go to sleep.

JASON STACY: Too much.

ANTON DUBROV: You go, finally. Just so much energy just waiting with no control. You are, like, Okay, why? There's no reason. It's like you have zero control here.

JASON STACY: That's right. Yeah, and it's funny because I never watch the tennis. I never watch. For some reason I was watching. I'm, like, Dammit, why am I doing this? I know it's happening right now.

It's the same. Like he said, we show up the next morning. Okay, what do we have to do? All right, let's go to work. You have to walk in the door and not know what to expect and be ready to adapt as you go. I love it.