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U.S. OPEN

September 2, 2007

Ana Ivanovic

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You ran into a lot of very tough serving out there from Venus. How much do you think that contributed to your inability to play your own game with her?
ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, definitely she's a great player, and serve was one of key things today because she was serving really well.
On the other hand, I wasn't getting as many free points on my serve as I was hoping for. That put a lot of pressure on myself. I tried also to stay closer in when she was serving, tried to put more pressure and be more aggressive, but she just was serving great today.

Q. Were you nervous out there at all today?
ANA IVANOVIC: No. No. Maybe a little bit before the match, but once I was out there not really. I knew I had to be aggressive from the first moment on, and I had some chances in the beginning of the match. But she played well.
And also all of a sudden the wind picked up and it was kind of also windy. So it was hard to judge the timing and, yeah, I find it a little bit hard.

Q. In the second set, was there a point in which you wondered, Is she ever going have to hit a second serve?
ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, definitely. She was serving extremely well, and a lot of good positioning of the ball. It was just, yeah, hard. And as I said, I had chances in that first game. When I got broken, I had a chance to hold and I didn't use. After first set when I was set break, I was thinking to myself, okay, the key point is to try to hold my serve as much as I can, and then try to look for chances to break her. It just didn't work that well. I got broken a couple times.

Q. Everyone knows her reputation as being a player that can track most balls down because of her reach. Were there times today that she even amazed you with balls that she got?
ANA IVANOVIC: Well, today we didn't have many long rallies. That was something I was hoping to get more into the rally, because she's very aggressive and she doesn't give you many chances. She plays very fast. So I was trying to maybe even slow down a bit, and try to get into rhythm and try to make longer rallies. That was just not happening today. Every time I had feeling every time I tried to slow down, she would step in and hit even harder.
So it was very hard for they me to control, and that's what you have to do in order to beat her.

Q. Was she even louder today than she had been in the other three times you played each other?
ANA IVANOVIC: No. I didn't really, yeah, pay attention to that much.

Q. This is two losses to Venus in Grand Slams this year, is there a danger of becoming psychologically affected by playing her?
ANA IVANOVIC: No. Percentage-wise I have to beat her sometime. She's a very tough player. It was bad luck for me, also in a draw to play her so early here. Just kind of things you can't control.
The positive thing is that I'm ranked 5, and I still see myself improving in different parts of my game, especially serve. That's very motivating to know that I can still improve. There is room for that. Next time I have a better chance.

Q. What elements of the game do you want to work on improving?
ANA IVANOVIC: Definitely my serve. It's becoming better, but just not consistent enough. I have a couple of good serves, but I'm just not getting as many free points as I wish and as I could get. Because I'm quite tall, so my serve can be one of the most dangerous parts of my game and definitely needs still improvement.
As I said, that's very motivating to know that I still have the room to improve, and I have to work hard for it. Now I have some time off, so hopefully it'll improve.

Q. Your slice serve in the deuce court, you got a couple aces today, one ace. We are used to seeing you hit that serve better.
ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah. Just I try to get a little bit pace off it. Just to place it more and it work well. But it was, also, I could have maybe used that serve much more. Also go to her body a little bit more today, which I didn't do. I was definitely trying -- as I said, I was hoping to get more free points off it, so I tried to force it sometimes too much, and that wasn't working today.

Q. From what you saw, does she have a good chance of winning this?
ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, definitely. She's the type of player that plays better each match, and as the tournament progress she is raising her level. She is definitely playing some good tennis and has a good chance. It's tough part of the draw, but I'm sure she can do good.

Q. Now you're probably going to be in the end-of-the-year Championships. How do you pace yourself and your schedule between now and November?
ANA IVANOVIC: Yes, definitely. I'm very excited to make the Championships. It's still I think not sure, so I'm very excited about that. Now I'm going to have some time off and then play Luxembourg and Stuttgart, have a week off and then Zurich. And then hopefully if I qualify I will have two weeks of preparation for Master Championships.

Q. Are you aware of the onslaught of the seeds since yesterday?
ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, yesterday was amazing day. It just happens like this sometimes and there is always these young upcoming players hungry for success and they play some good tennis. Yesterday they showed that.

Q. Speaking of those players yesterday: Szavay Azarenka, Paszek, they're just a little behind you in age. How well do you know them, because they all seem to be good friends?
ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah. Szavay I know since we were both 13, so for a very long time.

Q. And Radwanska.
ANA IVANOVIC: Yes. And Paszek, I know her for quite sometime now. I think we played two years ago in Linz when she was a wildcard and we met then and kind of kept in touch. They're all very nice girls and I'm happy to see them doing well and I think they have a bright future.

Q. Which of those four do you think will go the farthest?
ANA IVANOVIC: It's very hard to say. They're all different. Paszek has very powerful game, which today is very important. Szavay is a very good fighter.

Q. Did you have a coach today with you?
ANA IVANOVIC: Sven was here. He was helping me. We talked before the match a lot. Yeah, he tried to help me. It was nice.

Q. How have you spoke to him since match?
ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, we spoke a bit after the match. Obviously it was very hard for me. I was a little bit disappointing that I lost. But on the other hand, it's important to learn how to make your losses not your defeat.

Q. Looking back at the last three Slams: A final at the French Open, semifinal at Wimbledon, not so great here. Can you sum up your experiences at Grand Slams so far this year?
ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah. Every year here I play one round further. Couple year's time I might win this. No, I'm definitely excited. This is the highest I've been ranked so far, so I'm definitely getting some experience and that's what I need in order to make one more step of reaching my goal to be No. 1.
It's the hardest step so far but those all the little matches and stage you have to get through to reach that. I feel in a good way and I feel positive about my game, my fitness level.
As I said, there is still some things I have to improve, such as my serve, but I definitely see myself in a positive way.

Q. Do you get a feeling that there's a little extra excitement or electricity when Venus is playing?
ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah. When we walked on the court it was amazing how much support she got. But I think that's just normal. She's from States, yeah, so a lot of supporters here.
But it was enjoyable time for me to play against her here and also last year against Serena.

End of FastScripts

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