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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 15, 2007

Amelie Mauresmo

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How would you summarize your first game?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Okay. No, it was some good moments and some moments especially at the end to finish off the match where my mind went out a little bit, and I thought I lost some intensity, some aggressivity, and in the end where I probably should have closed it out a little bit quicker, but that's the way it is. It's the first match, the first round here.
You know, a few things, especially the serve, to work on for the next match and probably some rhythm a little bit. But overall I thought it was a good first match.

Q. First match as a defending champion. Was there a feeling that you were back where something special happened?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Not really. You know, I think the tension, a little tension is normal, what you're supposed to have, I think, before a Grand Slam, and especially a first round where you don't really know where you are and you want to really try to find a rhythm.
No, no added pressure or whatever. It was good. I felt pretty happy to go on the court and to play first today and to be able to -- yeah, right from the first day, go on court and defend a title.

Q. What can you say about Perry's game? She's the second ranked American at this point.
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: She can do many different things. You know, she's capable, as we saw, coming in, serve and volley during the point. She has a good volley, and overall a good hand. She likes to slice the backhand, also, which we don't see very often in the women's games anymore.
No, I think she probably needs to gain a little bit in -- a little bit of power or taking the ball a little bit earlier sometimes to be able to make the difference.
Yeah, very talented I would have to say, good hand.

Q. You had a 50 percent strike rate on your challenges. That's not too bad. Firstly, are you happy with the system that's in place with the line calls?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: I am happy. We got used to it a little bit now in the other tournaments, and I think it's good that it's in place here. Maybe next time put it on Vodafone, as well. But I think it's good. It's good for everybody, for the players, for the umpires. You know, sometimes they make mistakes or we make mistakes, and it's very easy to correct. And for the crowd, as well, I think it's pretty good because they get involved into the decisions, the match. No, I think it's good . I like it.

Q. You challenged very quickly. It's something that very quickly has become second nature to play?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Maybe not second nature because I think I need to use it maybe in different moments in a match. Maybe I didn't choose the right moment. So yeah, I need to get used to it a little bit more.
Yeah, it's something we've had for almost a year now because it started in Miami last year, so yeah, we kind of got used to it.

Q. On the issue of the calendar a little bit again this year and maybe moving this tournament back. What are your thoughts on that?
AMÉLIE MAURESMO: Well, it's either moving this tournament back a little bit or shortening the season a little bit. That's always -- I'm on the Tour for about ten years, and I've had that question for about ten years (laughter). So I'm a little bit tired to talk about that because really nothing has changed and nothing -- there is still some hope, I think, on the ATP and WTA side to do things to probably shorten the season. That's what's most likely to happen because I don't think the organizers here want to move the tournament because it's holiday here, it's summer.
But yeah, many things have been said about that. We've been complaining for about ten years, and it's still the same. And we still come here and we still play tennis, try to do our best.

End of FastScripts

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