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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 18, 2008

Casey Dellacqua

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What's it like to be Australia's No. 1 woman tennis player?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, uhm, it feels amazing. Obviously, I'm in a great caliber of girls, and with Alicia and Samantha and Pratty. To be No. 1, to lead Australia is amazing.
Yeah, it feels great.

Q. Was there something pretournament you had your eyes on before the tournament?
CASEY DELLACQUA: No, not really for the No. 1 spot. Yeah, obviously personally, to get my ranking up. That was the goal, and I'm obviously doing that.
But, yeah, I'm not so competitive within Australian ranks I guess because we all try to stick together and push each other along. We all want to see each other doing well.

Q. Take us through what that actually means to you?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Winning? Yeah, it means so much. I mean, since I was forever a young girl, I mean, you just dream of playing matches like that. I was just -- I settled really well tonight. I just felt like I had nothing to lose.
And, yeah, I just felt like I was really calm. Yeah, it just paid off. It was good.

Q. What about at 3-1 in that last set?
CASEY DELLACQUA: I got a little bit flat and I actually did start to feel a little bit tired, probably more mentally. I just felt -- after every match I've been so...
Felt I got a little bit flat. Change of ends I got my second wind and got back up. Yeah, and then closed it out 7-5. So, yeah, it was good.

Q. Do you think you wanted to work on your victory wave a little bit?
CASEY DELLACQUA: I don't know what to do. I really don't. I just did whatever came naturally. But, yeah, it was just -- it was amazing. And the whole crowd, the feeling, it was just so bizarre. It was an amazing feeling because I could feel the whole crowd.
I could feel Rod Laver almost like vibrating because the crowd was so loud. It was just awesome.

Q. You played Jelena in Bali last year and you had 4-Love in the first set. You must go in with a fair bit of confidence knowing she's not playing her best either.
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, I played Jelena before. We had a close match in Bali. Even in the second set it was quite close.
Yeah, I've been watching her over the last couple of days. Not knowing that I obviously eventually come up against her. But I've been watching her play. Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting out there on Sunday and just, again, going for it.
I mean, I've got nothing to lose once again. I'm in such a good position in that respect. I've just beaten two top-20 players. Yeah, that's -- I guess my aim was to start I guess beating some top-50 players. Now I've just done two top-20 players, so for me it's huge.

Q. Like Amélie, do you feel she might be a bit vulnerable? Injury problems, that sort of stuff.
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, I obviously knew that going into the match. Even in the last set when she was serving, I was Love-40 down, I thought, oh, she might throw in a double if I can put a little bit of pressure on her, and she eventually did. She cracked that last game.

Q. With Jelena, too, do you feel the same sort of feeling with her?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Oh, with Jelena. I guess, Jelena's probably had a few more matches under her belt now. I've seen her improve every match. Definitely not going to underestimate how good Jelena will be on Sunday, that's for sure.

Q. You've had a little bit of time now. What's the overriding emotion for you right now late on Friday night? What are you feeling?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Uhm, just pure excitement. Yeah, I can't really explain it. It's just real exciting for me. It's something that I've been working so hard. Over the last year, I can't -- I keep thinking back to times where I was running on the treadmill early in the morning or going and doing strength sessions when I wasn't feeling that great.
It's all just paying off now. I've done all the hard yards. To know that I've done the hard work, and it hasn't come easy, it just makes it so much more rewarding.

Q. Have you managed to speak to the family? They're sort of shoehorned into the supporters' box in there.
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, I haven't seen anyone yet actually. I've only seen my coaches and a couple of people that are under here. But all my family I haven't actually caught up with yet.
But I'm sure they'll be pretty excited.

Q. What's the plan now for the next two days? You put yourself under wraps today, had an early training session, and then didn't really reappear until 6:00. What is the theory for the next couple of days?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, I think it will be quite similar. I've had a lot of matches. All my matches have gone to three sets. Even the doubles yesterday was quite tight. I've actually got mixed doubles tomorrow. So I'm going to just probably tomorrow come in, warm up for the mixed with Rob Smeets, get out there, play our mixed doubles, then probably get back, get an early night, and then just prepare as best I can physically and mentally for Sunday.

Q. Do you have to pop into the Nike store again?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, well, I've put my other outfits in to be washed, so I'm sure they'll do.

Q. Prematch, was there anything in Mauresmo's game that you wanted to concentrate on where you thought you might be able to get the edge?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, I was wanting to attack her forehand because I know with her backhand, she likes her backhand line. She's obviously got her backhand slice, which I think holds her game together a lot. I wanted to attack her forehand.
I think 3-1 in the third set I kind of started to play her backhand. I went off the game plan a little bit, and then I was able to get back into that. I think that, worked quite well.
Then attack every second serve, every opportunity I got, just to be aggressive. Yeah, I think off the baseline I really played quite well. I hit my backhand quite well today. My forehand was pretty solid.
So, yeah, that was kind of the plan.

Q. That last change of ends of the match, when you came back on the court, the crowd behind you, the weight of the expectation, does that almost get too much at that stage? You come to the big game, the crowd, 15,000 behind you, how do you cope with that?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, I didn't really think of it as expectation. I just was like, This whole crowd is behind me. All I want to do is win. I think it just gets you through. You never have that feeling anywhere else in the world.
So to walk out on that last change of ends and then just hear the crowd erupt, knowing that they're all behind me, you can't get a better feeling than that.
And, yeah, I didn't take it as expectation, I just took it as pure they're right behind me, c'mon, let's try, win this match, and let's just go for it.

Q. Did you just find that out tonight, though? Some players can cringe under that kind of spotlight, and others enjoy it. You seemed to enjoy it tonight. Did you know you were going to react like that?
CASEY DELLACQUA: No, I don't think you do. I don't think you know how you're going to react until you're put in that position. I think I almost thrive in a situation like that, when I've got a lot of support behind me. That's the situation I've been in all year with the whole AIS crew, the whole Tennis Australia behind me. I've really thrived in that environment.
So, yeah, I don't think you really understand. I think you have to go through this experience to understand how you're going to take it and how you're going to feel emotionally and physically, however.
But, yeah, tonight I think I handled it really well. I've matured a lot over the years and I think I've just put myself in a position, a mind frame that you've just got to go for it. I put myself in a winning position again tonight and I wasn't going to hold back.

Q. Does that also make you feel that tonight is the start of something, wherever that leads, as opposed to sort of the end of a journey for you?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Absolutely. For me, this is clearly just the start, and hopefully more to come. This is the first time I've been past the first round in an Australian Open. Now I'm in the fourth round.
So for me, yeah, I've got huge gains to make. I can still make gains in my game. Physically I can still make heaps of improvement. So for me it's just a start. It's such a positive I guess position to be in to know that, yeah, I still got things to work on.
But things are on their way and I really am making gains in my career.

Q. You how does it sit with you now to be carrying the hopes of your nation?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, I like it. It's good. Yeah, it's an amazing feeling. And I hope I just -- I just want to continue to do myself and Australia proud. Every time I walk out on the court, I'm putting in a hundred percent.
So, yeah, I mean, if the wins keep coming, it's great. I'm obviously just going to keep putting in a hundred percent.
But, yeah, it's great for Australian women's tennis. And we are all -- we're all on the right track and we all are doing the right things and it's paying off with myself, and hopefully with a lot of the other girls.

Q. Does it change how you see yourself as a player, what you believe you can achieve?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, I think it kind of does a little bit. At the beginning, you know, I guess I really only had goals to be a top 50 player, like to finish the year around 50. I think I'll probably already be that now.
So maybe I have to be -- set my goals a little bit higher so I achieve a lot more this year. I don't think that's such a bad thing.
But, yeah, I obviously only set goals to be around 50, to finish the year 50. So now I've beaten two top 20 players, and maybe I need to set those goals a little bit higher.

Q. Does this success you're having now make you feel better as a person, you worked so hard for it, now you're getting the benefits?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, absolutely. Obviously with myself, it's common knowledge that I have been -- I've been through a lot of hard times and I've been -- things have been said and that. But I've always taken it on board and taken it as positive criticism. Even though it might hurt at the time, you just take it on board. That's what I've done.
I have worked really, really hard over the last couple of years. I've done the training. I've done mental things to make myself feel comfortable out there, to make myself feel confident. Obviously having wins like that tonight, for me, for my confidence, for me as a person, yeah, it makes me feel really proud to be who I am and out there playing and doing well for myself and for Australia.

Q. Do you sense in the last stages of the match that you might have had a bit of a mental edge? She was throwing in a few double-faults and seemed a little bit nervous. Did you feel you were getting on top?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, I could tell that she was struggling. I definitely don't -- I thought she was struggling a little bit. And I know that even the last match and the match before that, when it comes to the crunch I've been really good at position, so I had a lot of confidence knowing that if it did come to a 7-5 in the third, like it did tonight, that I had the confidence to know that I would get through the match.
I guess maybe that's what helped me through, because I was feeling a little bit tired there towards the end of the third set.

Q. What's Jelena's weakness?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, I haven't -- I guess I'll go through it with my coaches in detail about her game. But, yeah, I mean, obviously she's a great mover. She moves around the court unbelievably well.
I think if I can stick to my game plan and be aggressive and do the things that I do well, then, yeah, you never know.

End of FastScripts

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