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ROGERS CUP

August 18, 2009

Aleksandra Wozniak

TORONTO, ONTARIO

A. KLEYBANOVA/A. Wozniak
6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It seems that every time you'd get momentum in the match you would give it back right away. Do you have any reasons why you think that might be?
ALEKSANDRA WOZNIAK: Yeah, in the first set I was really close. You know, I had chances to win the first set, but it was always tight. She plays really an aggressive ball, and it was hard for me to change the direction like I wanted.
I should have mixed up more, change up the pace and everything. I think she just stepped up in the easy short balls that I was giving her sometimes. She was taking advantage, because the first one to control the first one would win the first point.
So definitely there was more crucial moments where, you know, one or the other had to take advantage of it, so she definitely took the advantage. You know, yeah, it wasn't my best tennis today, but it's always good, you know, to play at home.

Q. What was more nerve-wracking? Today's match or yesterday's doubles match?
ALEKSANDRA WOZNIAK: Well, it's my fourth year on the tour now, and I'm getting to deal better with my emotions, trying to have them under control and my thoughts. I didn't feel -- yesterday I was really excited. Same today when I stepped on the court and I was hearing the fans cheering. It's a great feeling.
So I wasn't nervous, you know. I was just -- just a little bit errors here and there, and she took really control of the match instead of me stepping up my game.

Q. Always pressure playing in front of your home crowd, your home crowd obviously being Canadian. Seems like the Rogers Cup is putting a lot more effort in terms of promoting you, putting on the magazine covers. I think you were named after a grandstand court today. Is there added pressure, or how do you feel and respond to that? Do you feel there are more expectations?
ALEKSANDRA WOZNIAK: Definitely to all that, promoting Tennis Canada and the tournament -- for me it's, you know, I'm really, like, happy about that, because it gives me extra motivation to go really into the tournament feeling confident. It's really nice, because you just get to play at home, you know, the Rogers Cup, Montreal and Toronto.
It's really nice to being promoted well. We're seeing so much support, you know, from all around Canada.

Q. How disappointed are you? You came in here with some pretty high hopes, I imagine. And to go out in the first round is tough?
ALEKSANDRA WOZNIAK: Yeah, definitely. It's disappointing for sure, you know. But we compete each tournament.
For sure this tournament is the most -- the one that I want to win so bad, you know. But hopefully one day it's going to be mine, and you know, but definitely we really want to do well in front of our home crowd.
They support us so much. All the Canadians and our families are here, our sponsors. We definitely want to go far through the tournament. You know, so we put more pressure on ourselves.
But yeah, I'm disappointed, but I have to look ahead, you know. I was 21 in the world a couple weeks ago, and there are so many big tournaments out there I can do really well and I gotta just have a good attitude and keep on, you know, going forward.

Q. Regardless of today's results, what are the goals for finishing the year? Is the top 20 still...
ALEKSANDRA WOZNIAK: Yeah, of course it takes one big tournament and poof, you're right there again, you know. So I'm keeping my hopes up, and I'm really working hard and just right now focusing on the process, you know, getting -- improving a lot of things. The results are going to follow.
But definitely, if it doesn't happen this year top 20, then I keep on trying, and you know, the big goal is top 10 one day and win a Grand Slam. Every little girl, you know, dream of that. That's my big -- I want to have a long, healthy career.

Q. What do you do the rest of the week? Are you in doubles?
ALEKSANDRA WOZNIAK: I'm going to play doubles in maybe a half hour.

Q. Just how good is her serve?
ALEKSANDRA WOZNIAK: Definitely she serves big, you know. You never know. She does this movement where she hides -- you don't know where she's going to go T, wide, or to the body.
It's really tough to read. I tried to step in and take it, you know, right away off the bounce, but it's not easy, you know.
So you've got to keep on, you know, getting adjusted during the match and try to hit it back deep, or else if you hit it short, you know she's going to attack to control the point because that's how her game is. She plays really aggressive.

Q. Could you talk a little bit about the schedule that you guys have? I mean, you're playing pretty much every week in different parts of the world. You lost in your first-round match today. Does tiredness come into it at all? It's pretty tough to play every single week and be at the top of your game all the time.
ALEKSANDRA WOZNIAK: Definitely. You know, we play every week this year. It's big tournaments, big competition. You get top 20 off the first round sometimes the girls, and lately I've been playing. You've got to keep on fighting.
For sure it's not easy to be traveling the world so much and everything, but that's part of our job and we enjoy it. It gets tiring for sure, but that's when you've got to step out and take a break and just, you know, when you're ready to go back to practice. You know, you're there because you love tennis and you have goals. For sure you're going to keep on working harder. Well, that's how I am.

Q. The fact that there are now so many good Canadian players at least in the top 200, how do you feel that bodes for the Canadian team in Fed Cup? In other words, do you feel it's a realistic goal that Canadian could be in World Group II as they were in I believe 2007?
ALEKSANDRA WOZNIAK: Yeah, I mean, I've been on the Fed Cup since I'm 15 or 16, and each Fed Cup, you know, we've got to the World Group. I believe strongly that Canada -- that's where we belong, that we belong with the best ones out there, with the best countries, and back into the World Group. So we're going to work really hard to get back there and make our country proud.

End of FastScripts

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