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WIMBLEDON

July 7, 2007

Anna Fitzpatrick

LONDON, ENGLAND

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Anna Fitzpatrick.

Q. What has your Wimbledon adventure been like?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: Haven't really thought about it till right now, to be honest. Really good. I'm pleased with my performance in every match really.
Obviously I'm really disappointed about losing today. It's been a good tournament, especially it being my last junior tournament. Yeah, it's good. I can take a lot of confidence from it.

Q. 6-5 in the first, you looked to be establishing control almost.
ANNA FITZPATRICK: Yeah, I did. I went down right at the start of the first set. Managed to turn it around. But she played some good tennis, too. It was a tough match. To be fair to her, she played pretty good.

Q. She was starting to lose her temper there as well, wasn't she?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: Yeah. She's known to be a little bit of a head case.

Q. What happened at the beginning? You dropped your serve twice.
ANNA FITZPATRICK: I think maybe I was just a little bit nervous. I wasn't too bad. But, yeah, just a little bit. Only takes a little bit of nerves for something like that to happen.
But then as soon as I got into it, I broke her back, and then I was all right.

Q. One period of treatment at the end of the first set. Was it the shoulder?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: Yeah. Yesterday in my second singles I fell and landed on my shoulder strange. I don't know. Well, it felt like it dislocated, but I'm sure it didn't.
I saw the physio yesterday, last night. She just kind of relaxed it, massaged it a bit. She told me today it would be a lot stiffer in the morning than it was. I went to see her before my match, and then she was helping me on court again.

Q. How did it feel to be the last British survivor in the singles of any sort?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: Great (smiling). It doesn't really bother me, to be honest. I'm an individual, whatever country I was from. Yeah, it's great for the country obviously. But just for me, it's all personal and individual, I think.

Q. Did you exceed your expectations this Wimbledon?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: I wouldn't say I exceeded my expectation. I didn't come into the tournament with expectation. I just came in with the plan to put my game style on the court.
I knew it could hurt a lot of players, yeah. They're the best juniors in the world, I know it could hurt them. I just came with that idea and thought I'll see what I can do.

Q. What about this nickname of yours? Do you get fed up with it?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: It's fun. It makes me laugh. On court, I don't know if anybody heard my brothers shouting again today. They sat just behind my chair, so they were heckling a bit again.
But, no, it makes it enjoyable as well. If I'm tight, it helps me relax, so it's good.

Q. What was he shouting?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: Well, today he was using Deirdre a lot. Not so offensive. Just a normal name today. And he said Big Nuts a couple times as well.

Q. What's his name?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: I've got three older brothers. The one that's most into it is called Chris.

Q. Do you have names for him?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: I started to call him Stan a while ago. Well, he traveled to Czech Republic with me to play a tournament. He's quite thin, as well. He just stood in the room with his top off.
I went, Wow, you're really thin. You look like Flash Stanley. So I started calling him Stan from then onwards. But that kind of died away.

Q. What are your plans now for the rest of the year?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: Well, all seniors. I think I'm going to America. I've got Felixstowe 25,000 next week, then three tournaments in Canada, then maybe Russia for a couple, then we're going to do quite a long stint in the States, I think.

Q. How have you been affected by the revolution at the LTA?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: Not at all. It's been great. I've been using it as a base just the last three or four weeks during the grass court season. But other than the LTA funding us a little bit, I'm not involved with the LTA.
Obviously, I'm in contact with like Nigel Sears, head of women's tennis, and Carl Maes. But I mean, traveling, I leave all the contacts to the coaches, to be honest.

Q. Is it helping you, you're doing it on your own?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: Yeah. For me, in my situation, I think -- I mean, the best environment for me to develop as player at the moment, traveling with the team that I'm traveling with and with the players that I travel with.
I think that's the best. At the moment, that's the best thing for me.

Q. Is Fed Cup a realistic target for you next year?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: Yeah. I don't see why not if I keep developing my game, putting my game on court, then yeah. I'm not sure who's in the team.
Yeah, I think -- I'm sure I'll be up for selection.

Q. When do you return home to rain-splashed Sheffield?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: Not for quite a long time, I guess. I won't be home for at least a month. So after Canada. I guess it depends how we do in Canada.
I think the last tournament is a 50,000. So maybe if I did well in that then I wouldn't go home before going to Russia. Maybe if I was out early on I might go home just before Russia. I'm not sure yet.

Q. Do you realize how bad it has been?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: I have heard a lot of stories and seen a few pictures on the news, but I haven't been back so I haven't actually seen it myself.

Q. None of your family, friends or relatives have been affected?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: No. Very near me, one boy died just like two minutes from my house. But no one that I know has been involved I don't think

Q. You didn't know him?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: No. I know some people that knew him quite well. I personally didn't know him, no.

Q. How did that affect you?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: I haven't let it bother me, to be honest. It's horrible. It's weird thinking that really near my house is completely flooded, people have been injured and getting stranded overnight and stuff.
But I'm completely -- it doesn't involve me at all. I haven't let it bother me.

Q. Have you finished all your studies now?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: I finished GCSEs. I did six more when I was the right age. I started to do A levels, but I traveled to Australia and I was there for four months when I was 16, just in first year of A levels.
So I started to do A levels. Then when I was there I found it too hard to carry them on on my own, so I had to stop them when I was there. I didn't finish A levels.

Q. Tennis is your career?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: Yeah, definitely.

Q. What is your ambition?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: To be a Grand Slam champion, senior Grand Slam champion.

Q. You kept on playing big groundstrokes right to the end. That's the way you're always going to play?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: Yeah, I play my best tennis when I'm being aggressive from the back, when I move up the court. If I stop doing that, she could just walk all over me. So I'm not going to change my game.

Q. Some poor calls out there.
ANNA FITZPATRICK: I mean, as soon as you see the point's done, you got to start thinking about the next point. You are going to get dodgey calls, bad calls, but also you -- I mean, it's for both of us. It happens both ways. You just deal with it, get on with the next point.

Q. Do you have anybody you model or look to in senior tennis you look to?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: I like Justine Henin. I also like Michaella Krajicek. I like the way she's trying to play. She tries to play the same sort of way as me. In women's, I'll say I like them.
I used to like Pat Rafter when he played, as well. I liked him at the net.

Q. Not because of how he looked?
ANNA FITZPATRICK: Been through this with my coach. I think it probably was as well.

End of FastScripts

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