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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 20, 2009

Amelie Mauresmo

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

A. MAURESMO/O. Govortsova
6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Seems like a comfortable match for you today.
AMÃ‰LIE MAURESMO: Yeah, first of all, conditions were a little bit tough, I think especially with the wind. I'm not even thinking about the hot conditions. But the wind was -- I felt it was hard to produce some high level of tennis.
But I'm just happy that I went through this first match. Some good things; some not-so-good things also today. But it's just the first match. I'm just happy with the win, yeah.

Q. When the conditions are like that, does it make you sharpen your focus a little bit more?
AMÃ‰LIE MAURESMO: Yeah, you really need to hang in there, to stay focused, to not let the frustration get to you because you're missing things that you're not supposed to. Sometimes it's not some great tennis. But you have to do everything that it takes to just go through the day and go through the match. That's what I did today. I was physically good. That also was a concern for me in the last few days. It's been going well today on the court on that part.
So, yeah, you really got to stay focused out there.

Q. What are your motivation levels for this year, AmÃ©lie?
AMÃ‰LIE MAURESMO: I changed coach at the end of last year and try to really, yeah, get a new momentum or fresh motivation, start something new. I felt with LoÃ¯c we really went all the way and we did everything we had to do together. I felt it would be good to start with someone new, so that's what I did.
So the motivation is quite high. We did some good work this winter during the off-season. I felt that I can still play at some high levels. Yeah, that's the motivation for this year, being able to play some great matches at a high level.

Q. You had a lot of frustrations last year. You weren't able to get back into the top. Would you be able to accept that, at the end of this season if you were still not top 10?
AMÃ‰LIE MAURESMO: I'm not really focusing on the ranking so much. I am aware that you have to play a lot to be able to see your ranking go up. It's not really the goal for this year. The goal is to focus on the big events - of course the Grand Slams - but also to try to win a tournament again, which I haven't done for a couple years.
Not really concerned about the ranking actually. If it goes up, that's great. That's very good. It shows that I'm playing good; that I'm consistent. But I'm really looking at some level of play more than ranking.

Q. How is your fitness? How is the thigh?
AMÃ‰LIE MAURESMO: Well, it's good. As I said, I was very comfortable on the leg today. Throughout the last couple days, I could feel that it was really good, that I could move around just the way I wanted. That's a good satisfaction.

Q. What do you know about Elena Baltacha?
AMÃ‰LIE MAURESMO: I don't know much about her. I've never played against her. Never really even seen her play. So I guess I will just have to focus on really what I have to do and be strong on my weapons, yeah, be determined to play my game and to make sure I stay in there.

Q. Can't remember the last time you played a British player.
AMÃ‰LIE MAURESMO: Was it Sam Smith?

Q. May well have been.
AMÃ‰LIE MAURESMO: Could have been. I think that's probably it, yeah. Oh, no, I played Amanda Jones.

Q. James.
AMÃ‰LIE MAURESMO: In Eastbourne, she had a wild card in the first round. I played against her. I guess that's a few years ago.

Q. How dangerous is a player that's come through qualifying and then scored a good first-round win?
AMÃ‰LIE MAURESMO: Always you really have to be careful and you really have to take things very seriously from the beginning of the match. I know how it feels to be in this situation. I know you need to have the adrenaline coming up. You're on a roll; you want to keep going. Yeah, I'm taking things very seriously here.

End of FastScripts

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