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FEDCUP FIRST ROUND: ARGENTINA v USA

February 8, 2009

Melanie Oudin

SURPRISE, ARIZONA

M. OUDIN/B. Jozami
2-6, 6-1, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: First question for Melanie.

Q. After the first set, how did you feel? In the second set you really came alive. How did you regroup?
MELANIE OUDIN: Well, I think I started off a little nervous in the beginning again. But I was like right there with her in all of the games in the first set. I just ended up like losing the key points.
But, I don't know, in the second I came out like a lot stronger. I mean, I was going for my shots more and I was just trying to stay patient, waiting for the right ball, like making her play a lot more balls. Then she started missing some. It started getting a lot closer and I believed I could beat her.
So it got a lot better in the second.

Q. Was there a point where you really felt it was the turning point of the match, either in the second set? In the third set, did you feel in control?
MELANIE OUDIN: I got down 2-0 in the third. I think that after I got -- when I got up 3-2, when I got that dropshot, I think that was the key turning point in it because she had done a lot of good shots and I started playing better after I got down 2-0. When I got that shot, I don't know, I was like really pumped up and I started getting the momentum, and I think she like slowed down a little bit. So that, like, helped.

Q. How did you feel about that rain delay?
MELANIE OUDIN: I mean, definitely I wasn't happy about it because I had the momentum in the second. For sure, I mean, 4-0, deuce, then I lost that point.
But after I played a good game at 4-1. Thankfully I was already up 4-0, so I could play a couple loose points in the beginning.

Q. How does this feel? It was kind of all on your shoulders. How did you keep that out of your mind or avoid that horrible pressure that must have been there?
MELANIE OUDIN: Well, I think that going into the match I was thinking about it a little bit too much, and that's why I don't think I started off as well as I could have.
But after the first set, I knew I could beat her. I knew I could play better than that. Yeah, there definitely was a lot of pressure out there because if I would have lost, we would have lost.
Yeah, but I was really happy with the way I finished it.

Q. Mary Joe said she doesn't even need to tell you to fight, that you're such a fighter. Is that something you pride yourself on?
MELANIE OUDIN: Yes, that's one of my huge things is my mentality on the court. I never think that, like, any point is different. Even if I'm down 6-0, 5-0, I'm still going to be running down every single ball and fighting as hard as I can. I think that's definitely one of my strengths.

Q. For those of us who haven't seen you play before, explain your emotional approach to the game. I was trying to make out what you were yelling. Is that just something you do to keep yourself up?
MELANIE OUDIN: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get really pumped up when I'm like winning, or if I'm down, trying to get myself pumped up, get going again.
Yeah, I usually yell like 'c'mon, right here,' something like that.

Q. Given your age and the experience factor and thrown into a Fed Cup environment with either win or be eliminated, what's going through your mind there?
MELANIE OUDIN: Well, before the match, I mean, I definitely had a lot of pressure 'cause I knew if I lost then we would lose. I mean, no one can say there was no pressure there. There definitely was. I was definitely thinking about it.
But once I got out there, it was just another match. I wasn't trying to think about that or anything else. Just I'm playing another match against another girl. Just hoping to win, like I normally do, so...

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