US OPEN

August 26, 2003

Jelena Dokic

JELENA DOKIC: Yeah. It was a little bit difficult at the beginning, but she played well. I think she seemed to be hitting everything, and she really went for everything. Made it a little bit difficult. But I played well. I mean, I did well to pull out the first set. You know, I was happy with the game.

JELENA DOKIC: I think my mind is more on the court. I think I feel better physically. I've worked a lot on my fitness. You know, my movement is much better, and that helps with the hitting. I just feel much more comfortable now than I did a few months ago. I've worked very hard. It's coming back a little bit.

JELENA DOKIC: We still have very good players. I mean, we have the No. 1, the No. 2 or No. 3 in the world. It's unfortunate that they're not here. But, you know, it will still be, you know, a really good US Open. And, you know, it's unfortunate, but that's the way it is.

JELENA DOKIC: For some people, yeah. But, I mean, we've seen that they can be beaten. The two Belgians are ahead of the Williams sisters at the moment. You know, I think we see a lot more people getting closer to them. We're seeing a little bit of a change, that maybe they can be beaten - not easily. But, you know, for some people, maybe it's a relief.

JELENA DOKIC: I don't mind. I would like to play them. But, you know, like I said, it's unfortunate they're not in the tournament, that you don't have some of the best players here.

JELENA DOKIC: I mean, I want to do well here, first of all. You know, I'll take it a match at a time. Like I said, I don't have any goals particularly with results. I just want to start playing better, get my form back to where I was No. 4 in the world. I would like to, you know, play like I did. You know, I think it's coming back slowly. I think the first six months, you know, I struggled. This is normal. But I think it's coming back.

JELENA DOKIC: You know, it was not frustrating. I prepared myself to it. If I have a bad year, if I'm not in form, like I saw at the beginning, it's a little bit frustrating, but I knew I just had to keep on training and working hard, and hopefully it would come back. You have to stay calm during those situations because, you know, I used to win 60, 70 matches a year. When you're not doing so well, you can get down and it can get your confidence down. But usually mentally I'm okay with these things and I just deal with them.

JELENA DOKIC: I mean, at the beginning I didn't do so well the first few tournaments. I kind of saw that, you know, if I do lose some matches, I have to stay calm, I have to not worry about that. I have to just try to go on. Of course, when you play semis or finals every week like I did before, now you don't do so well, you know, it's a new territory for me. You know, I think I'm getting better.

JELENA DOKIC: I mean, every Grand Slam is different. But, you know, this one's a little bit crazier, I think. The city and everything. But it's a nice feeling. I won the Juniors here. I've been here -- out of all the Grand Slams, I think I've been here the most. I really like this Grand Slam. I think they've gotten better and better every year with the facilities, security, everything. The court I played on today, extra stand. They're working really hard, they've improved a lot. It's one of the biggest Grand Slams, probably the biggest Grand Slam. You know, it's nice to play here. Every single one has different things, different feelings to it. You know, I like them all. This one -- everything is a little faster, much more people and everything.

JELENA DOKIC: I haven't decided. I'm thinking about it, for sure. And, uhm, I will make a decision next few weeks what I will do. Right now I'm both ways, but I will see how I feel. It's unfortunate to miss a Grand Slam, for sure. But, you know, I will still think about it. I don't think it just depends on whether I want to go back or not. I think the schedule is really full and it's a little bit heavy to come back after a month and go back and play straightaway to Australia. I will take all that into consideration and I will see.

JELENA DOKIC: I think so. I don't know what the reaction would be. I don't know what the feeling is. But I had a lot of support when I was there, me, myself. With all the other things that happened, you know, I don't want to get into that. But I had a lot of support. I mean, the crowds were great to me. I had a lot of fans. The biggest support I get was there. I would like to go back and have that again. But we'll see.

JELENA DOKIC: Here, then I go Bali, Shanghai, then I go to Europe.

JELENA DOKIC: I'm not sure. Just depends how I do. If I do well here or another tournament, I'll probably take one or two out, just depends. It's still a lot of traveling. But I will see. Just depends on how well I do.

JELENA DOKIC: If I do decide to play Australia, I definitely will not play tournaments after that or so much before. I know this. I have thought about this. And if I don't play Australia, I will play more tournaments after that Grand Slam. But for sure you can schedule it better. So I'm working on that. I mean, after this Grand Slam, I will decide.

JELENA DOKIC: I talk to my coach, my manager, of course. I will listen to what they think. You know, I don't think I should decide myself. There should be some other people involved, definitely all the people that are close to me, my family and everyone, so yeah.

JELENA DOKIC: I think people should stop looking for a babe. I think they should be looking at tennis players first. I know all the media people want to have someone to write about. You know, there are plenty of other good-looking girls other than Anna out there. I mean, sure you can write about her, that's no problem. But, you know, you can write about both. I think we're here for the tennis. If we do get a good-looking girl, sure, you can write about that. It's no problem. I think we should stick to the tennis here. You know, just depends. I mean, Anna hasn't played for a long time. I think tennis is definitely looking for someone else, and has a lot of better tennis players, some good-looking girls. You know, everyone's definitely found some other tennis players out there other than her.

JELENA DOKIC: No. I mean, I think there's no reason to get irritated. It's a normal thing. It's not just tennis anymore; it's much more than that. It's gone more into shorter skirts, who looks good, who doesn't look good. I think we all expect that.

JELENA DOKIC: Oh, I don't think so. I think it's basically just the tennis. I think everyone wants to win out there. Everything else, if you have it, it comes along with it. If you can look good at the same time, it's great. That's a bonus. But I think all of us just try to, you know, compete against each other and beat each other on the court.

JELENA DOKIC: Like I said, I'm more for the tennis part. You know, I think the tour has grown. I think they've used that a little bit, and it's helped. There's much more attention on women's tennis because of that. We have so many different personalities and different players that show different things. I think in a way you can use this. You shouldn't overexpose this. You know, you should also have a look at some of the athleticism and power we have on the tour, not just the looks. I think it should be combined a little bit.