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WIMBLEDON

June 27, 2008

Casey Dellacqua

LONDON, ENGLAND

N. VAIDISOVA/C. Dellacqua
6-2, 6-4

Q. A bit of a letdown after sort of two hard-fought matches?
CASEY DELLACQUA: No, it wasn't a letdown. I didn't feel like I played my best today, and I felt like Nicole played actually really quite well. I felt like she served well.
I was really, really, really nervous, and I think that I'm kind of -- I kind of let that get to me a little bit in the beginning of the first set.
But yeah, I mean, to be honest I haven't felt like I played my best tennis the whole tournament, but I've really toughed out the last two matches. And then today, obviously playing a high-quality player you don't get away with not playing your best tennis, and I think that's what happened.

Q. Why the nerves? Because of this stage of the tournament?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, it's interesting, because I've played a lot of big matches now. Even last night I was kind of really nervous. I couldn't kind of talk. I think because it's third round of Wimbledon -- I mean, Australian Open is different from French Open. They're all different.
For me this was Wimbledon and it was third round. Before the match, I mean, I practiced well and warmed up well. I was just really, really nervous there in the first set, and I just kind of let it get the better of me.
I didn't relax, and that doesn't allow me to play my best tennis, so...

Q. What did you learn out there? What do you take away from it?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, I think I can learn a lot from it. Just purely next time I'm in a situation next year, say I come in, third round in Wimbledon, I have to kind of, I guess, except the fact that I am going to be nervous a little bit more.
I have to find ways to cope with that, whether it's doing something the night before or doing something just to deal with that a little bit better than I did today.
But in terms of that and in terms of my game, think I've got a lot to learn.

Q. Will you potentially seek someone, speak to someone about coping with your nerves and deal with it that way?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, maybe that's something I need to look at. Just talking about, yeah, different ways of coping.
Yeah, I don't know. I've never done a lot of that before, so maybe that's something. Yeah, I just kind of got a little -- I don't know. It's just third round of Wimbledon. I was just nervous.
I think in other matches I've relaxed a little bit. And I felt quite relaxed out there once I got into it a little bit, but in general didn't feel fantastic.

Q. She seemed to be going for everything and they landed in today, whereas against Sam she had some kind of hot and cold patches.
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah. I mean, I was expecting her to make a few more errors. I've watched a lot of her matches in the last couple weeks, and I felt like today she played quite well. She hit huge first serves, and it's pretty tough on grass, even if you do make the return to get that -- to get control of the point if she's serving big first serves.
So, yeah, I mean, yeah, she was pretty good. I kind of felt like the rain delay kind of helped her a little bit, because I was kind of starting to get into it. It was 30-All, and I was kind of getting a hit on her returns.
I was kind of getting more and more into the match. But she came out, played a good service game, and the match was over.

Q. The rain helped you at the French?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, it did. I came out against Nathalie Dechy and was on fire. It can work different ways. I was kind of thinking about that when I was about to go out. I had this situation at French and I dealt with it quite well.
Nicole came out, yeah, and as I said, played a good service game, hit some good first serves. It's pretty tough to get a hit on that if she is serving well.

Q. You seemed to get annoyed with yourself when you lost that first point. Was that so sort of build yourself up to get to that point?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, because I knew how crucial it was. I knew at 30-All. I mean, I made the return, but then I dumped that ball in the net. I was just really frustrated because it was such an important -- and then even though I lost that game, I said, Look, at least make her serve it out.
I was happy that I won my serve, but then she hit some great first serves in and played some good points, so the match was over.

Q. How are you feeling about the US Open?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Great. I've actually got the Olympics, I guess, to look forward to before US Open and then the US Open, so I've got a lot of tennis still ahead of me. This whole year it's been great.
I mean, I lost the first round at Wimbledon last year, so I'm not sure what my ranking might go to.

Q. 39, I think.
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, that would be great. I mean, I'm exceeding my goal in terms of ranking. Yeah, US Open was kind of last year where I kind of started my rise in a sense. I won my first round there.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting back on the hard court. Haven't played on hard court for a while, so that will be good.
Yeah, the Olympics will be exciting. It will be good to represent Australia at the Olympics and then got the US to look forward to.

Q. Do you know if you'll play doubles at the Olympics?
CASEY DELLACQUA: I haven't received confirmation if I will be playing doubles or not, yet. But fingers crossed, hopefully Alicia and I will be playing doubles. I really hope we do.

Q. After doubles here, what's your plan in terms of the next couple of weeks before the US and start playing hard court tournaments?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, I'm heading back to Australia after here, after I finish playing. I have a little bit of time in Perth, but then also doing some training in Melbourne.
I'm going to play a couple hard court tournaments in LA and Montreal and then I will head straight to the Olympics and then we go straight back to New York for the US Open. It's nonstop. It's a busy time, so I've got to make sure I keep healthy, keep injury free and keep mentally fresh.
Yeah, as I said the other day, I'll probably finish my schedule a little bit earlier, which will allow me to get the bulk of my preseason training in at the end of the year.
If I can get through the next three or four months and look forward to the preseason, I think the rest of the year should be good.

Q. Are you at all worried about playing in China with the pollution and the heat? There's been a bit of concern by the sports people.
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, I've heard a few different athletes in different sports are doing different things to cope with that. I think with tennis we've got a lot of tournaments in China anyway, so I think we'll be okay.
But, yeah, I've heard a lot of other sports are doing different things. But I think we should be all right.

Q. Are you going to keep working with Nicole Pratt?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, currently I think we're going to continue working together. It's been great for me. She's taught me so much in just a matter of months about my game, about where I can get my game, what I need to do to get there.
Yeah, we've been through the process in the last couple months and my results have been fantastic. I feel really motivated, and she's really positive.
Yeah, I really hope that we can continue working together, because it's been fantastic.

Q. Is she provided by TA? What's the arrangement there?
CASEY DELLACQUA: No. Nicole is employed by AIS, Tennis Australia to work with me, so Brent Larkham, obviously our head coach, has spoken with Nicole to work with me, because I didn't really have a coach at the beginning of the year, or someone to travel with.
Yeah, I'm really grateful. Obviously the AIS program for me has been fantastic. I joined last year after the Australian Open, and since then, they've provided me with support and pretty much everything I could need.
Yeah, and helping me out and allowing me to work with Nicole was just another benefit, and I appreciate it a lot.

End of FastScripts

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