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WIMBLEDON

June 26, 2009

Daniela Hantuchova

LONDON, ENGLAND

D. HANTUCHOVA/A. Sugiyama
6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Do you feel bad beating your doubles partner today?
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: Yeah, definitely. It's never a nice feeling, you know, having to play Sugi because she's one of my best friends. We've got such a great history together. She's a great person.
So winning or losing I knew always it was going to be a strange feeling for me. So I just tried to, you know, think -- take it as another tennis match, and not to think that she was on the other side.

Q. She seemed to be quite comfortable, had a break in the first set, and then you reeled off five games. What was the change there, do you think?
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: Yeah, I mean, you know, she's a great player, especially on grass. I knew that going into the match. And I knew I had to be really focused and play very well tactically, which I did.
At the beginning I felt like, you know, maybe I was giving her too much rhythm, and I just tried to maybe step a little bit back and try different things, you know, move her around the court and change it up because, you know, when you hit it to her, she's one of the best hitters on the tour.
So I knew it was important to, you know, do different things during the match.

Q. Must be very satisfying for you to get through to the second week. You have good memories of this place. How pleased are you?
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: Yeah, definitely feels great. I mean, you know, being in the second week, it's obviously always a fantastic feeling. I'm really gonna enjoy now the weekend and really looking forward for the Monday's match.

Q. Not an easy game the next round.
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: Yeah, you know, again, I'm just taking it one match at a time here, and so far it's been good. Obviously it's gonna be a tough one. But, you know, I'm ready and I'm really looking forward to it.

Q. Do you have any thoughts on how Serena is playing?
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: I haven't really seen her this year. But, you know, obviously playing her quite some time before, I know exactly what to expect. You know, she's a great competitor and great player. So it's gonna be obviously a tough match.
But, you know, I've been playing well, so we'll see.

Q. She said she thought you were a smooth player. She would have to bring out her toughest game to take you on.
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: Yeah, I mean, I think I have to do the same if I want to beat her. I have to bring my best game. It's gonna be interesting who's gonna be able to do that.
She's one of the best players in history, obviously a grand champion. But, like I said, I feel I have my chance, and we'll see.

Q. What's happened to your voice? Do you have a cold?
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: Yeah, I've been fighting a flu for the last few days. Before was more, you know, inside. Now it's coming out to the voice. Feel strange speaking like this (smiling).

Q. You have to face Sugiyama again to team up in the doubles. Are you going to say sorry when you meet her?
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: Yeah, I already said sorry after the match. You know, it was quite funny before the match. We were warming up at the same place. We just had to make sure we were not going to sit on the same bench.

Q. We know Serena is an incredible champion. She brings a certain intensity or attitude out there. Do you have any thoughts about her presence on court?
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: Well, that's why she's one of the greatest, because of her attitude. She always fights, you know, whether she's down or up. She always gives her best.
Even matches sometimes she could have lost very easily, she always kept fighting and find a way how to get back in the matches. That's what makes her so strong.

Q. That's part of the problem when playing her?
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: I'm not saying it's a problem. It's just the way she is.

Q. It was quite noticeable watching the match today, there's been a lot of talking about grunting, squealing. Both of you hit the ball, don't make any noise at all. What is your take on the current situation?
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: Well, I don't think I had any chances to make any noise anyway today with my voice like this. It was kind of cool because, you know, I had to just focus on my shots and not to waste any energy feeling like this.
But, uhm, you know, I think me and Sugi are the players from maybe the older generation where we taught always playing the fair play, it's the way to play.
You know, making an extra sound to disrupt the opponents and the game, I don't think it's nice. But I felt today, you know, in the match, because we know so well each other, that we had some really nice rallies because we knew already before where to move and stuff.
So today's game I really enjoyed. And I always enjoy playing Sugi.

Q. Do you think it's gone too far? Do you think something needs to be done?
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: I don't know. I mean, there's nothing I can do about it, so I don't even think about it.

Q. This week Fabrice Santoro played his last match at Wimbledon.
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: Really?

Q. He's playing doubles, but we're not expecting to see him back in singles. I was wondering if you could take us back to 2005 when you won together.
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: Oh, gosh.

Q. Any special memory from that time? Can you tell us anything about him as a player and as a man?
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: For me, was such unbelievable experience. I mean, just being on the same side of the court with him, it was incredible. He's such a genius on the court. I think anybody that played against him would say that.
The stuff he was able to do with the racquet, you know, the rallies he made, I think they gonna make the history in tennis. So I'm sure everybody's gonna miss him.
For me was, I mean, so much fun, and especially playing in France with him. It was unbelievable. We had such a great support from the crowds. I was so proud to win the title with him.
So I'm sure I'm gonna miss him, as well. He's been so great for the game. Especially, you know, today's tennis, it's so much about power, physically strong players. But he was able to show that, you know, it's not all about that. You know, he was able to bring something different to the game.

Q. He pulls off shots you wonder how he did it.
DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: Sometimes when we were playing, I was like, Okay, we lost the point. Suddenly the next thing I see the ball is coming back to our opponent. He was a genius really.

End of FastScripts

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