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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 23, 2009

Jelena Jankovic

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

J. JANKOVIC/A. Sugiyama
6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What were your thoughts on the match today? 6-4. 6-4 scoreline.
JELENA JANKOVIC: Today was a tough match. I thought I competed much better than in my previous two rounds.
Ai is a tough opponent. She doesn't really give me any free points. She fights very well and is a very solid player. I had to work for every point. Just happy to get through this kind of match.

Q. She was getting some treatment during the match. Does that put you off at all?
JELENA JANKOVIC: No, not really. Because I was just focusing on myself. At that time when she took that break, time-out, and received the treatment, I was just thinking about what I had to do in order to finish up that set and what was my game plan and how I need to continue. It didn't put me off at all.

Q. You were taking off your shoes and just slipping with the heat, was it?
JELENA JANKOVIC: Yeah, it was very warm out there. The court is so hot, and also the soles of my shoes are very hot as well. It's normal for it to be -- I feel like I'm on fire, you know.
So every time I had a chance, I took my shoes off to cool off. That's basically it.

Q. So the air conditioners haven't arrived for your shoes yet?
JELENA JANKOVIC: Maybe in ten years time they'll make that.

Q. Novak has spoken about the pressure of defending his Grand Slam. Do you speak to him about the pressure? You have a lot pressure, too. Have you chatted with him at all?
JELENA JANKOVIC: No, not really. When we chat, we don't chat about tennis. I'm just a person, when I finish my tennis obligations, I don't really talk about tennis.
As soon as I finish my match, I talk to my coach, my team, what I have done wrong, what I have done right, so in order to improve the next day and do my homework for my next match. That's all.
After that, I just talk about other things and enjoy my life.

Q. Does the departure of Venus Williams from the draw and Maria Sharapova not being here this year suggest to you this is a real big chance for you to win a Grand Slam?
JELENA JANKOVIC: There are still so many tough opponents, great players in the draw. I just want to play one match at a time. I don't think about who is or is not playing. I just look ahead at my next opponent, and that's it.

Q. Did you see any of Venus' match?
JELENA JANKOVIC: Yeah, I saw it last night. It was really an exciting match. I thought that Carla Suarez played so well, and I was really impressed by how well she handled the pressure and how well she competed against a top player. It was a huge win for her.

Q. As Venus says, Everybody is good out there. You just got to watch out.
JELENA JANKOVIC: Yeah, everybody knows how to hold a racquet. It's nothing new. Everybody wants to come out and perform at their best and win. Nobody is going out there just to get a few games and leave the court. Everybody wants to really go after you. They want the best. Nobody is afraid of anybody.
It's just -- that's the interesting part about the sport. It's a great competition. So many great, talented players out there.
For the fans as well, they can enjoy it, because it's unpredictable who is going to win.

Q. Have you been made aware of the incident following Novak's game?
JELENA JANKOVIC: Not really, because I was playing after him. I heard about it, you know, that there was some fighting or something between the fans. I think overall it's great that the fans come and support us.
But I think the most important thing is that they should respect each other, the fans and our opponents. The crowd should be quite fair and just go out there and enjoy the match.

Q. Does it disappoint you that the Serbians were involved. It's never nice to see a fight or anything like that, so what can I do? I hope there won't be any of that for the rest of the tournament.

End of FastScripts

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