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PILOT PEN TENNIS PRESENTED BY SCHICK

August 21, 2008

Alize Cornet

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT

A. CORNET/D. Hantuchova
3-6, 6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. How is your leg after the match?
ALIZE CORNET: Right now I'm feeling it. I just feel the pain. Don't know what exactly I get. You know, it comes and goes. I know that maybe tomorrow I could play. I know that maybe tomorrow it will be painful.
I don't know, you know. I will just try to recover my best and try to take care about my leg and we will see.

Q. How were you able to do this, injured?
ALIZE CORNET: You know, it was the first time that I call a physio on the court. Maybe the first time in my career. Usually I don't do that. But I was really bad on the court. I feel a big pain.
Finally he tells me just to recover, you know, just to think about what I was doing on the court. I just thought that I had to be more aggressive. So finally this time was really good for my game. Maybe Daniela, you know, maybe she get out a little bit of the match. But it was not the goal, for sure.

Q. What does it mean to you to win a match against the No. 2 seed?
ALIZE CORNET: You know, I didn't play my best level today. I just tried to keep fighting all the match, try to do my best. But it's good because I win this match without playing my best level. So it means that I can do better. Finally, Daniela, she's a really, really good player.
I mean, if I can play better tomorrow, I can go in final. So it's the goal for sure.

Q. Is this your first semi on a hard court?
ALIZE CORNET: Of hard court? Yeah, I think so.

Q. How do you feel on the surface?
ALIZE CORNET: Yeah, like I said yesterday, I had a really good season on clay because I reach final and semifinal, Charleston, Amelia Island. So I play really good on this surface. Before going on the hard season, you know, I was not so confident. I was thinking, Maybe I'm only a clay player, you know. So I was not confident.
As I play in Olympic Games, I play really good match. So I said to myself, C'mon, maybe you can play good on this surface so you have to be confident, to trust yourself. And finally I'm in semi here. That's so good. I think the hard court can be really good for my game.

Q. Was there a point during the injury timeout where you thought you might not be able to continue to play in the match?
ALIZE CORNET: Yeah, I was thinking about that because it was really painful, especially in the second set. But, you know, I never retire from a match because of pain like this. I didn't even think about that. I just want to play till the end and try to keep fighting till the end.
You know, it's horrible to retire from a match. Even if the US Open is just after and you have to recover to be ready, I can't do that. I cannot. It's too hard.

Q. Where is the injury?
ALIZE CORNET: It's just the leg here.
THE MODERATOR: It's her quad muscle.
ALIZE CORNET: Oh, my God, I'm so red. Maybe too much ice.

Q. Seemed like in the second set you struggled with your serve. Was that because of the injury?
ALIZE CORNET: Yeah, because I cannot push, you know, with my leg, so it didn't help me with my serve. I made only serve in the net. I cannot push. After with the tape was better. But my serve was not so good today, even with the tape.
Usually I have a better serve than today. I hope tomorrow I will recover because I really need my serve.

Q. The third set, you came out and won the first couple games. Did that give you confidence to finish her off?
ALIZE CORNET: Yeah, because the three first games of the third set was terrible for Daniela. She just made so many mistake. For me it was really good to start the third set at 3-0. I mean, it was really good. So after I just had to keep going.
At 4-1, she started to play better. Finally at 4-All I just tried to stay focused, just tried to play every point like the last one. Finally it work. I'm really proud of what I did today.

Q. When you held at 4-3 before the trainer came out, do you think if that game didn't go your way, maybe the outcome would have been different?
ALIZE CORNET: I don't know. It was really important to win this game. The seventh game of a set is really important. It was really tough to win this one.
You know, what's happen in this game, I would call the physio. 4-3 down, it will be another story. You never know what's happen in a match.
I think I would keep going and try to do my best. But, yeah, at 4-3, serve for Daniela, it would be tough for sure.

Q. Do you know specifically how you hurt the quad? Did you hurt it today?
ALIZE CORNET: No, it's coming and goes. I often had this kind of pain. I don't know exactly what to do because sometimes I can wake up one morning and it disappear. So just have to wait. Just try to put ice, to have massage, maybe tomorrow I will be at 100%. It can be worst [sic], for sure. It's just a little pain and it goes soon I hope.

Q. What are the keys for your match against Wozniacki in the semifinals?
ALIZE CORNET: The keys? I think I will talk with my coach about that because Caroline, she's a very good player. It's funny because we know each other since we were 11. We played our first match together when we were 11 on the international competition. So, you know, we know both of them really good.
And I think, you know, mentally it will be very, very important to play at 100% because I know that she want to be in final for sure and I want to be in final. We are the same age. So there is a little bit rivality [sic]. Maybe I will try to just play my game like usually, use my topspin and forehand, try to run everywhere. That's why I hope my leg will be okay.

End of FastScripts

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