AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 26, 2005

Nathalie Dechy

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

NATHALIE DECHY: I think the thing was my fighting spirit. And I just -- yeah, I just trust myself from the beginning to the end even if it was really tough. And it was just a real battle. But I never, never gave up. I was like keep thinking positive and go for it and go for it, and it worked at the end.

NATHALIE DECHY: It feels great. That was really tough battle. So I'm like -- after the match, I couldn't realize. But I'm really, really proud of what I did and I want to keep going for sure.

NATHALIE DECHY: Yeah. Yes, I think you feel really disappointed because you just think that nobody care too much about this match, and it's still a quarterfinal Grand Slam. I know like the other match was much more entertaining for the Australian and for the tournament, but that wasn't scheduled very nicely.

NATHALIE DECHY: It was one of the first time I was doing that, having a -- taking a break. I think it's really tough to go back on court after. You really think that you're better inside and you don't want to go back out there. It was tough for me, too. Like really I struggle even more the heat after the break. It was tough before, but it was even tougher after, I think. So it was not easy.

NATHALIE DECHY: I played -- she's No. 1 in the world. I play her in Sydney last week and I was already playing well, did a great match, lose against her. So I think from two weeks ago I improved. And it's such a great lady and such a great champion that I'm really happy to play against her in semifinal.

NATHALIE DECHY: I think I can because I'm playing much, much better than two weeks ago, and already two weeks ago it was like tough two sets. Yeah, she won it in two sets. I have few occasions. I haven't think about it too much yet, but I will go for it.

NATHALIE DECHY: Yeah, I think I'm -- I will recover really well. I did some -- already I start recovering. I did a lot of walk, stretching, and I'm going to have I think a three-hours massage tonight. Our physio is here from the French Federation, so he already start working with me. It's gonna be -- I feel much, much better already than when I came out of court. I know she had a tough one, too, even if she had a little bit of shadow on court and I didn't. But I'm going to recover well for sure.

NATHALIE DECHY: It's -- yeah, but it's also when you get at the end of the tournament, it's normal to feel a little bit tired. The good thing is I'm not painful from anywhere. I feel 100% on my body, so that's the good thing. I know that I just have to recover from this match, so that's already pretty easy compared to like if you have a kind of pain. So that's pretty good.

NATHALIE DECHY: I think the same way as I did on the previous rounds. Like I really enjoy myself out there. I just playing some really good match, doing what I like to do, and it's gonna be the same tomorrow. I mean, it's wonderful to have this kind of emotion, and I want to keep going.