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WIMBLEDON

June 30, 2008

Alla Kudryavtseva

LONDON, ENGLAND

N. PETROVA/A. Kudryavtseva
6-1, 6-4

Q. This is not to the game today. I just want to hear, what did the Russian tennis school mean for your career?
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: Russian tennis what?

Q. The school.
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: The school? Everything. Come on, I've been practicing in Russia until like two years ago, so yeah, everything I learned, mostly, about the strokes, about the technique, is Russian.

Q. When did you start?
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: I started when I was eight -- well, I started when I was five, but then I quit when I was five after like two practices (laughter).

Q. Why?
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: Why? I just didn't like it.
And then I started again when I was eight because I just didn't want to sit at home. I thought it was too boring. I had too much energy. So I said, hey, remember I played this stupid game? I want to go play again.
Then I really got into it and then I really got competitive. Well, at first I wasn't playing -- you know how some girls, they're good in kids, then they're good in juniors, then they're good in pros; well, I wasn't very good in under-12 or under-14. I was pretty bad. So then in under-18 I was pretty decent.

Q. What makes it so special, the school?
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: The school so special?

Q. Yeah.
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: Well, I think it has to do something with the personality, the girls' personality, first of all, and how we try very hard and we compete really well. We listen to what coaches say, and we don't -- now I think it's a little different, but when I started and when most of the girls who are now in the top 30, it wasn't really about communicating with the coach, it was just -- you know, the coach tells you what to do and you do it.
At this level I'm playing right now, it's not such a good idea. But at the beginning I think that's how it should be. Coach tells you this is how you should hit the forehand and this is how you should hit the backhand, and you don't argue, you don't say, no, I think I have to hit the other way.

Q. If a month or two ago after a really tough practice, someone came up to you and said, "Don't worry, you'll reach the fourth round at the All England Club," what would you say to them?
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: My coach kept telling me this all the time. Not specific, not fourth round, but he kept telling me, "It will be fine, it will be okay." I was like, "Oh, you're just being nice to me." But I kept doing what I was doing, and I kept trying, and I'm going to keep trying more and more and work harder and harder.
Now I know how it feels, now I know what a good feeling it is and how the media likes me (laughter).

Q. Why do you think the media likes you?
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: Likes me? How they put all my mistakes on the first lines of the newspapers. I didn't really -- I didn't think it's going to be such a huge deal. They just made -- it's like everywhere, and people still ask me those kind of questions, and I'm like, let's get over it, let's talk about tennis.

Q. Well, you say that, but your press conference, your first one, was so fresh and alive, and it showed so much --
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: Are you saying it's not fresh and alive now?

Q. Yes, that's what I'm saying. Well, the other day you seemed -- if I could say, you seemed so much more --
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: Preserved?

Q. In control. Were you told to chill out, to not comment so much?
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: Well, not really. I just -- well, I just thought about it a little bit, and you know -- well, actually I have this feeling -- I'm sorry, guys, I'm going to be now open again. But I said it one way, and I just saw in the newspapers and everywhere, on the internet, they just turned it around.
I was making a joke. I thought it would be funny because what extra motivation you need to beat such a good player on the Centre Court? No, it's a dream, you know, you just want to be there and you just want to beat any player you get, you know?
But when he asked about extra motivation, I thought, well, if I just say, well, it's only tennis and everything, it will be quite boring. So I decided to freshen it up, and look what happened. You know, I was on the front lines of all the newspapers, and that wasn't my goal.

Q. But don't you think most people understood that you were just joking, that you were just being very funny?
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: Well, you know, if they would have put something like, "I don't like her outfit, ha-ha," it would have been better, because some people did understand, some people did not, some people still discuss it. Well, me too, I still discuss it.
I just think it wasn't really -- they didn't really put it the way I said it. I just thought I had a different story to say, and then the guys just turned it around and put it another way, make me a bad one. I don't want to be a bad one.

Q. Have you had a nickname?
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: Nickname?

Q. Yes.
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: Well, not really. My coach calls me Redhead when he is like -- when I'm freaking out.

Q. I ask because there are a lot of long names now which makes it difficult for the commentators.
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: No.

Q. I was wondering, is there a short form of your name or a nickname?
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: I think not yet. Another couple good tournaments maybe I'll get one. But I think not yet.

Q. How are you going to use this for a springboard? What are your hopes? Do you think you can get to a final weekend of a Slam pretty soon, or do you have ranking goals? What are your thoughts?
ALLA KUDRYAVTSEVA: I hope I can do well at US Open. You know, I hope next time I'm going to be a lot later in the tournament, I can save my motivation a little better and be motivated a little more for the final round because today I didn't feel really pumped up for the match. I felt kind of slow and that nothing was going my way. So I just hope next time I will be ready for it mentally.
I just really think physically I was fine, but mentally I think I was a little drained. I'll work on it and we'll see what happens.

End of FastScripts

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