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WIMBLEDON

June 25, 2009

Elena Baltacha

LONDON, ENGLAND

K. FLIPKENS/E. Baltacha
7-5, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Good start. 3-1 up in the first, you looked to be in control. What happened after that?
ELENA BALTACHA: Yeah, I started well. I broke her very early on. And, you know, I just could not -- for some reason today, I just could not keep it going. She made it a little bit difficult for me with the slice and just the different variety that she was doing today. And she served very big.
I've played her twice before. She's never played like that against me. But, you know, I knew it was gonna be one of these tricky matches, because it was very winnable. It was a great opportunity for me.
Uhm, but I knew I had to perform well, because obviously she'd beat a seed and she was playing well and she was moving up in the rankings. So I knew it was going to be a tough match.
And do you know, that's kind of the thing about tennis, that you can have such a good preparation, great three, four weeks of great results, great performances, and then you have that one day where it's just -- it's not quite there.
And really that's what happened after 3-1. I didn't particularly serve too good, where she was serving well. And then I just started missing more and just couldn't quite just sustain, you know, the quality today.

Q. Are you surprised the match was on Court 4? Would you have expected a show court?
ELENA BALTACHA: You know, a couple people have said that to me. They said, It would have been nice if you were on a bigger court. To be honest, it didn't faze me at all. For me, it didn't matter. It didn't matter. Any court, yeah. I wasn't upset or I didn't think anything of it.

Q. Were you completely fit? When you went for your toilet break and came back...
ELENA BALTACHA: No, I was just bursting for the toilet because I drank so much. It was quite a long set. I was just really dying to get off, to be honest.
No, then I came back. No, I was fine when I came back.

Q. Where does this rank in terms of disappointing defeats for you?
ELENA BALTACHA: It is disappointing. But I have said in my interviews before that, you know, whatever happens this week, it's not kind of, Oh, my God, this has happened, this is the end. It's not quite like that. I think whatever would have happened this week, I know that I am going to progress and move forwards.
It's like two steps forward and one step back, isn't it? That's the way it is in tennis. And it was a great opportunity for me today. If you look at all the second-round draws, this was the best one. It's just a shame that I couldn't deliver today.

Q. Your comments about not being bothered whether it was on a show court or not, did you sense there was a lack of partisan atmosphere on court? There were a lot of people that wanted to see it but couldn't get on court.
ELENA BALTACHA: No, the atmosphere was great. I never have any issues with the atmosphere at Wimbledon, never. I always get such fantastic support, whatever the court, whether it's Court 1, whether it's a court at the back. I've never, ever struggled with that.
I think however much the fans are important, I think it's -- when you're out there, you're by yourself. I mean, you know, I'm used to playing -- when I play abroad, I'm used to not having any support, apart from maybe my coach and someone who is there with me.
You always have to look inside yourself to try to get what you want out of the it. Of course, if you have a very big crowd out there to support you, that makes it even more fantastic.

Q. You said you just couldn't keep it going today. Do you mean that mentally after the effort of beating Alona Bondarenko, or was it physical, as well?
ELENA BALTACHA: You know, do you know what, it wasn't mental or physical. It was just really I just couldn't quite -- I mean, I was trying to do a couple of different things, you know. I mean, when I played Alona, my forehand at the beginning wasn't working, the first set. I was kind of overpressing it. Just wasn't feeling it.
And I worked out what was going on, how I have to get it better, and it did. By the end of the match, my forehand was pretty much one of my weapons.
But just today, I just couldn't -- it was a little bit windy. I was just a little bit off. I couldn't quite get the timing. I didn't quite have kind of good feeling, you know, of the ball and the racquet. There was just something that was slightly off today.

Q. Just Andy left now. He said the other day British tennis is in a pretty sorry state and must do better. Do you agree?
ELENA BALTACHA: I think I can only speak on the women's behalf, because I don't really know what's going on with the guys. But I think if you look at the bigger picture, if you look at how the girls have actually done through the year -- because I think a lot of people get so obsessed with this one week of the year.
I think for a lot of people, they think that everything revolves around Wimbledon. Where Wimbledon is very special and it's great to do well here, but that is just one week of the year for us. If nothing happens at Wimbledon, then it's not like, you know, the end of the world.
We play 30 to 35 other tournaments. And if you look at how the girls have been performing through the year, you'll see there are four or five of us who are fighting for the top hundred spot, who are not far away from that spot.
Also, I mean, if you look at how the girls have improved, all their rankings have gone up.
At the moment, you know, it's the most exciting part of women's tennis right now 'cause we haven't had that in a lot of years.

Q. For the public out there, there's nothing really for them to be excited about other than Andy. You don't agree?
ELENA BALTACHA: No, I don't agree. That's a shame. You know, Andy's obviously, what is he in the world, 4 or 5? Obviously, Andy, he's picked to win this tournament, to win Wimbledon. You know, good luck to him.
But I think for the public, I think you've got to look at the bigger picture. You've got to see what we've achieved. We have done far better than we have in any of the other years.

Q. British tennis is healthy and it's not in a sorry state?
ELENA BALTACHA: It's not in a sorry state at all.

Q. Do you not think the British press and the British public expect way too much? Andy is seeded in the top five, so he should be getting as far as they're expecting. As for the girls, apart from Anne, nobody was ranked to get direct entry. How can girls that are only ranked between 1 and 300 in the world, how can they be expected to win Wimbledon anyway?
ELENA BALTACHA: I do agree with you, because I think everyone goes really crazy over the one week. I think the public and everyone kind of expects someone to do so fantastic, otherwise you're deemed as a failure.
I think that's a shame, because I don't think enough people actually look at and follow tennis throughout the whole year and actually see what we're doing.
But, you know, because I have played Wimbledon quite a few times, I know what to expect. You know, a lot of the other girls do, as well. We know what comes with that. You've got to just ride it really and do the best that you can through that.

Q. I'm from a country where tennis is in a poor state, in Belgium. We only have one player in the draw left. What makes Kirsten Flipkens so annoying to play against?
ELENA BALTACHA: You know, she's very talented. She's got great hands. And, you know, she's improved a lot since I played her. The last time I played her was last year. She's got a big serve. For someone who is that small, she's got a very big serve.
She's unusual. She takes the pace off, then she'll hit one hard. And she's very quick, as well. So it makes it a little bit awkward to play against her.

Q. This was a great opportunity to move into the top 100. Does it worry you when you had a really great chance, your game wasn't there, it was a little bit off? Does that worry you?
ELENA BALTACHA: No, not at all. Not at all. I take the positives from this week. I beat someone who is 33, 32 in the world first round. I've performed consistently through the year. You know, I quallied in Australia. Paris I made last round quallies. I never won a match in Paris before until this year. Obviously here I won a round. I beat someone. It was my best win.
So, no, I'm not worried. As long as I keep my body healthy, keep it strong, keep looking after it, then I really believe I'm going to move forwards. It's like I said, two steps forward, one step back. That's what it is.

Q. Was it harder to prepare, because on paper you had a very good chance of winning this game?
ELENA BALTACHA: Yeah, on paper. But, you know, no one's gonna be easy playing at Wimbledon. And, you know, yeah, of course it's a shame. But, you know, I'm gonna move on from that and keep improving and keep looking forwards and keep getting better.

Q. Was there any extra pressure from being the last girl standing among the British girls?
ELENA BALTACHA: No, no, not really. Not really. I was just, you know, so chuffed that I got through the first round. And obviously I had a good opportunity today. I didn't even think of that at all, to be honest.

Q. The sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe suggested that there should be maybe be some funding cuts to British tennis because of what he said was a poor performance. What's your reaction to that?
ELENA BALTACHA: I think that's a bit harsh really. Again, I might sound like a parrot. But, again, you've got to see what we've done through the whole year. And I think if you judge it purely on Wimbledon, I think that's quite sad really.
I think, again, if you look at what we've actually done through the year, I don't think that anyone's budget should get cut for that. Just because the girls lost in a tight two sets or a tight three sets, you've got to look at what has actually been going on for the whole year.

Q. By the same token, athletics, other sports, are judged by what they do in the Olympics once every four years. Is it not a case that when the nation's focus is on the tennis, the people have to step up to the plate?
ELENA BALTACHA: Yeah, but the Olympics happens every four years, doesn't it? Wimbledon comes around every year. You know, and I think athletics is in a very -- you know, it's not as televised and it's not as, you know, as much as football, as much as tennis.
You know, I mean, you could even say the same thing about tennis is an Olympic sport. You know, it's slightly different for them, I think, rather than tennis. I mean, I don't think -- going back again, I don't think that we should be judged on purely this one week.

Q. You keep saying just one week, but I thought Wimbledon was a two-week tournament. Isn't this the problem, that we never get into the second week? British public loves tennis. We can't keep saying it's okay to do okay in the first week. How long do we have to wait before we get a British champion?
ELENA BALTACHA: I don't know. You've got to look at Andy for this week. Hopefully Andy's gonna do it. You know, the thing is, okay, we can only give our best, okay? And as long as all of us are trying, I mean, what else can you expect from us?

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