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ROGERS CUP PRESENTED BY NATIONAL BANK

July 31, 2008

Ana Ivanovic

MONTREAL, QUEBEC

T. PASZEK/A. Ivanovic
6-2, 1-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Was it hard for you to play because of your right thumb?
ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, it was very frustrating because I didn't know how it's going to pull up. I was in pain through whole match. The pain wasn't so sharp as I felt so weak in my right arm, couldn't hold my racquet on the forehand side.
It was very frustrating in the first set. I was really down by it, you know, really felt like I couldn't do nothing. And then in a break after the first set, I thought to myself, You know what, you still can serve and play your backhand, so just imagine you have terrible forehand and you try to put ball in as you can, try to look for your backhand.
You know, it worked well for a while. But I guess it wasn't too hard to figure out what she had to do. In the third set, she started playing much more to my forehand. It was just so frustrating that I couldn't control the racquet in my hand. I couldn't feel nothing.
Yeah, it was very frustrating. I tried to fight as much as I could. I really wanted to win this match. But obviously she's, as well, a very good player. You know, she figured it out.

Q. What exactly is wrong with the thumb?
ANA IVANOVIC: Well, I don't know, about 10 days ago I started to get pain here and I couldn't hold my racquet at all in my hand. I thought it was just a little inflammation, so I was trying some antiinflammatories. And I didn't practice for four, five days. We were traveling and we were getting here.
After four days I went on the court here first day and I still couldn't hold my racquet. So we went straightaway to do MRI. It didn't show anything basically. No tear, nothing. So I was really happy and relieved. So I had two days completely off, still on Voltaren, trying to get inflammation down. It's in a specific place and I couldn't get inflammation out of there.
I started to feel better and I could practice and go through it, but not as much as I wanted to. So, yeah, we did tape. It helped a little bit. Yesterday also I felt a little bit, but not so weak. Like today I really felt weak in my hand, that I couldn't really hold my racquet firm. And that was obviously very frustrating.

Q. Sometimes you get an MRI and they find nothing, then it becomes a mystery that can almost be more frustrating than an MRI showing something.
ANA IVANOVIC: Well, I spoke to many doctors, and they all said it just takes time for inflammation to get out. That's the most frustrating thing. Because especially I felt, you know, so good. I had a great preparation, and I feel physically very, very fit. And that's something that frustrates me that I couldn't perform as pain-free as I wanted to.
Now obviously I'm a little bit scared, too, because MRI shows nothing, but I still have pain. You know, they say it's gonna go away, but it's there for already 10 days. So I'm gonna try and see the doctor now and try to get it out.

Q. Will that change your schedule or too early to know?
ANA IVANOVIC: Well, the only thing is that I was planning to go straight to Beijing. But now I might go back to Europe to see the doctor.

Q. Does this put Beijing in jeopardy at all?
ANA IVANOVIC: Well, I really hope not. Because, like I said, the MRI didn't show anything. Just the inflammation. It takes time. Yeah, obviously, you know, I still have to see. But I really, really want to be fit to play Beijing. And that's why I'm thinking going back to see the doctor because I don't want to go through what I went through here, you know, just waking up each day and thinking, you know, Am I going to be able to play today?

Q. A lot of key players on the tour are injured. What's going on?
ANA IVANOVIC: Well, you know, it's also a very hard part of the year. Especially Wimbledon and French Open being so close. You try to peak for a Grand Slams, the biggest tournaments of the year. Obviously you put your body through a lot of stress. And each match, it's very, very stressful for a body, especially the way game is developing, players coming stronger, more powerful game. Obviously that's something that you have to try and prevent.
That's exactly why I spoke with my coaches and we had these vacations after Wimbledon and taking some time off the court and trying to recover. But I guess I was missing game too much and I was practicing too hard (smiling).

Q. What are your thoughts on the possibility of losing the top ranking?
ANA IVANOVIC: You know what, it's definitely very, very disappointing. Not really much the fact that I might lose it; just the fact that I couldn't perform the best I could here without the pain. And then, you know, if you lose it, hey, you know, the other girl was better. But just the fact that I couldn't perform as well as I wanted, that's even more frustrating.

Q. Where did you buy your shirt (referring to shirt with "I 'adidas logo' Montreal")?
ANA IVANOVIC: Actually, I got it today from the fan. Isn't it nice? I like it (laughter). She asked me to wear it for practice. I thought, you know what, I might wear it for press. I like it.

Q. Did you wear it in practice?
ANA IVANOVIC: No, no, I didn't, because I wanted to wear it now. I didn't want to get it sweaty. It's too nice.

Q. How disappointing is it for you to not repeat what you did in MontrÃ©al two years ago?
ANA IVANOVIC: That's very, very disappointing, especially that I felt I had lot of support from the crowd today. You know, even when I was 4-Love down, I really tried to fight back and to look for anything, you know, positive and to get energy from the crowd and to get back into a match and try to, you know, hang around here for a little bit longer. So it was very tough for me to leave the court. It was very emotional after the match.
You know what, that's the game. That's tennis. In two years I'm gonna come back here and try to be eager to win again. Hopefully, you know, I'll still have the good support.

Q. Yesterday you didn't want to use the thumb as an excuse for how you played. Was it worse tonight than it was in the prior match or the same?
ANA IVANOVIC: Pain-wise it was about the same. I still have same amount of pain. But just today I felt much weaker, that I couldn't really hold my racquet. That wasn't that much the case yesterday.
Yeah, you know it's nothing serious and you know you can handle the pain, but just the weakness is what was bothering me.

Q. Jelena Jankovic announced that it's unfortunate Sharapova will not play in the Olympics. Can you comment on this?
ANA IVANOVIC: She won't play Olympics? I didn't know that. It must be very disappointing because for many players I think they put Olympics even higher than a Grand Slam. So I guess that's a very, very disappointing fact.

Q. Do you put the Olympics higher than the Grand Slam tournament?
ANA IVANOVIC: It's definitely very important event, especially you get chance to play once in four years. You play this year, and who knows in four years if you would be, you know, able to play it.
So it's definitely very high on my list.

Q. Jasna Sekaric will carry the Serbian flag in the open ceremony of the Olympics. Wasn't it surprising for you that she would bear it, not Djokovic and maybe you?
ANA IVANOVIC: No, not at all. I think she deserves it. She won a medal last Olympics and Olympics before that. She achieved a lot for our country. She's also, you know, very experienced. It's her, I don't know, third, fourth Olympics. I think she deserves it, to bear the flag.
I had chance to meet her a couple of days actually ago when we were welcomed by our president, the whole Olympic team. She seems like a very nice lady, so I'm very proud she will carry our flag.

End of FastScripts

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