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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 21, 2007

Shahar Peer

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. This is your third Grand Slam fourth round. Was that your best win of your career?
SHAHAR PEER: By a result, of course. I never beat -- I beat two times top 10 player, but not top five. First time for me to reach the quarterfinal. I was playing good today. I just went there and gave everything, played my game. I'm happy the way I played.

Q. What did you like about your game today? Any particular aspect of your game?
SHAHAR PEER: I mean, I started very bad serving. By the match was going more and more. I served very well. I had over 70% first serve in the second set. Very effective. I was very aggressive. Three weeks ago I lost from a rain delay when I was leading 6-4, 5-1. Finally the rain didn't affect anything on my game. I just went there and took my points.

Q. Had you talked to Dudi Sela with his experience in the rain against Marat Safin?
SHAHAR PEER: Unfortunately I was there watching in the box. I mean, we just learned from it. Like I said, three weeks ago, it happened to me. I hope he will learn about it. It was unlucky. Next time I hope he will go out there like Safin did and go and take his chances.

Q. What did it boil down to today? Was it about you playing exceptionally well or did she play well below her part?
SHAHAR PEER: I don't know, I never played Svetlana. She's a very, very good player. Maybe she didn't play her best. You should ask her.
I look only on my game. I'm happy the way I played. At the beginning I thought maybe she's injured or something. She was looking at her coach a lot. That took my concentration a little bit off. But then I was concentrating more and more. I just played well.

Q. You're set to face Serena or Jelena. Any thoughts on that?
SHAHAR PEER: I mean, they're both very, very good players. Jelena is playing very good the last half year. Serena, she's a great champion. She won so many Grand Slams. You never know who's going to win.
But I'm just going to go out there like today and give everything I have. I have nothing to lose.

Q. Do you remember when you played Serena a couple of years ago?
SHAHAR PEER: Yeah. My ranking was then 140. I'm coming in a different ranking and a different game. I'm playing better. It was only my first year on the tour. If I will have to face her, I think I'm playing better now.

Q. How much does the small but very noisy band of Israeli supporters means to you?
SHAHAR PEER: It means a lot. When I warm up, they're in the Vodafone at 10:00, they were already there cheering for me. They were waiting the whole match. Even against Golovin, my first round, they're there every point. Doesn't matter if I'm match point down, leading or losing, they're always there. It's really nice. I hope they will come the rest of the matches.

Q. What sort of support are you getting back home? You've made some front and back page headlines. In touch with people there?
SHAHAR PEER: I don't know if the front page because I don't see the newspaper. I don't like to look in the Internet because I prefer to be concentrate in the tournament. But I know it's crazy there. Especially today they put it at 4:00 in the morning in Israeli channel, they showed the match. I heard a lot of people watched it. Probably it will get crazy more and more.

Q. 2006 last year, you had a terrific year. Won a few titles. Any significant change you've made to your game?
SHAHAR PEER: Actually, I changed all my coaches, my fitness coach, my tennis coach, and I add also Jose Higueras. I have a new team now. I still have my own psychology. I think it was only my second year last year, and I improved a lot. But now I think I stepped up and improved my game. I'm more aggressive. I'm improving more and more my serve and try to come in when I can. I think everything is slowly, slowly getting better and better.

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