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SONY ERICSSON OPEN

March 25, 2010

Elena Baltacha

MIAMI, FLORIDA

Y. WICKMAYER/E. Baltacha
6-1, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You started to get back into it in the second set, which was better. But she seemed unbelievably good a lot of the time. What were your feelings?
ELENA BALTACHA: Yeah, I think from the first point, from the very first ball she played fantastic. She really played unbelievable today.
I think the positives -- I felt like pretty much through the whole -- not the whole match, but I think most of the match I felt like I did stay with her, I was good enough to stay with her.
But, I mean, some of her shots were just -- I didn't even see them coming, really. They were just winners.
But, you know, the second set, yeah, you know, it did get much better. But it was tough, you know. It's tough when someone's kind of pinging them left, right, and center.
But I think that on the whole, the positive was I did manage to stay with her. That was the most important thing for me.
I discussed the tactics with Nino before going into the match, and I was just trying to stay with her. I felt I managed to do that, and, you know, the whole week have just been positive coming from last week.
Qualified again, beat someone better than me, better ranking than me, and got myself into another, you know, position where I played another big gun.
Overall, I think it's very positive.

Q. Could you have done anything different?
ELENA BALTACHA: In today's match?

Q. Yes.
ELENA BALTACHA: You know, I don't think I would have played the match differently if I had a go, no. I think she did play very well. I think if I threw anything different at her, you know, I think she probably would have reacted in the same way.
So I think just -- I think her performance was just unbelievable.

Q. Do you still feel you're on an upward curve this year? The results would suggest that you are.
ELENA BALTACHA: Oh, yeah, without a doubt. If you look at my season, so far it's been unbelievable. You know, only because I lost today doesn't mean that it's all going downhill.
You know, out of two weeks, I've qualified in primary events; took out the No. 10 in the world last week.
This week qualified again; took out someone with a better ranking than me, you know, and put up a fight against Wickmayer. So it's not bad.

Q. You must have been asked this dozens of times, do you set yourself targets, or rankings or goals, or how do you look ahead?
ELENA BALTACHA: Yeah, of course I want to break 50. That's my next big goal.
I don't want to get ahead of myself. I always try and look at it as baby steps. And just on a week-to-week basis just to try and keep my head down, keep focusing, keep improving, keep gating better, turn up for every tournament, deliver the best tennis I can, and hopefully pick up the points and move up the rankings.

Q. You're clearly coming into your prime at 26. I know you've had a long and winding road to get here, but do you think there's going to be a shift in the women's game like we've seen in the men's, the players peaking later physically than they have been?
ELENA BALTACHA: Do you know, I think everyone peaks at different times. I know women tend to develop much later. But, you know, you have players who are like 16. And you look at someone like Hingis who was unbelievable from a young age. I think everyone has their time and everyone peaks in different times, really.
I think if you look at the women's tennis in England, it's very positive. I mean, you've got me and Anne up there; Katie just out of the top 100; and then you've got the next crop of players coming through, Heather and Laura. So it's very encouraging and very exciting.

Q. What I meant was, I mean, Hingis, as you said, was very good at even 14, 15, 16. You don't seem to be seeing that now. Is it because you need this sort of physical strength to live with people like Wickmayer and the way someone like that can hit the ball?
ELENA BALTACHA: Yeah, I mean, Wickmayer is pretty young herself, isn't she?

Q. I think she's 20.
ELENA BALTACHA: She's 20? So she's young. Yeah, to be honest, I can't really answer that question because I think everyone peaks at different times.
I mean, you're gonna get someone like Wickmayer. Obviously she's 20, and she's, you know, obviously gonna get better and better.
And then, you know, you look at myself, 27. It's taking me a little while to kind of push through. But, yeah, like I said, I mean, it's different for everyone.

Q. Have you seen any changes in the way that the women's game is covered in the last sort of seven years? I was talking to a player the other day who was complaining about Anna Kournikova syndrome starting off the whole skewing of placement on courts towards women who are more attractive than not. I wondered to all extent if you've felt that as a tennis player?
ELENA BALTACHA: You know, to be honest, I don't -- I don't care, to be honest. I turn up for tournaments. I get on with it.
I'm very lucky I have Yonex. Good sponsor. They give me clothes. I play with their racquets. That's it.
You know, I turn up on court. I work hard. I don't care who's wearing what, who's got the latest thing on.
For me, it's all about taking care of business, and that's it. That's as far as I'm concerned.
That's it, really. I don't -- I don't look around, so...

Q. You've talked a lot about Nino in recent months. Is his main contribution motivation? If not, what are the other things?
ELENA BALTACHA: Basically, you know, the biggest thing that has really changed my tennis ever since I've started working with Nino two years ago was -- the biggest thing is the programming, the scheduling.
I mean, Nino manages my program a year in advance. So he prioritizes like obviously the strength work that I'm doing, obviously around the tournaments that I'm gonna be playing, when I have to do strength work, when I have to do aerobic work, injury prevention, you know, all that kind of stuff.
We know what we do a year in advance, and it's just that kind of management, the amount of detail he's put into my whole programming that I never had before. That has really made such a big difference for me, especially managing my body, trying to keep healthy and fit.
I think that is why -- you know, all credit to Nino. That is why I'm managing to turn up to play tournaments week in and week out, which I never did that before.

Q. You still have to take loads of pills and all that sort of stuff?
ELENA BALTACHA: With my liver condition I take 10 pills a day, and that's just the way it is, really. You know, that's the way it is. I manage with it. You know, I deal with it.
It's quite funny that you mention that, because, you know, I don't really even think about I have a liver condition until someone kind of brings it up.

Q. I'm sorry.
ELENA BALTACHA: No, no, it's fine.
But it's a habit now, so I wake up, take a couple tablets, and I'm well. You know, I can train, I can have a normal life.
So as long as I just look after myself and get monitored, then, you know, everything's good.

Q. What are you going to do between now and the French?
ELENA BALTACHA: Um, I've actually changed my schedule now. I'm gonna -- because I wasn't sure whether I wanted to play on the clay leading up to Paris.
But now we've decided that I'm gonna -- my next tournament is gonna be 100k in South Africa in, I think, two weeks or three weeks.
Then from there, we're gonna go to Rome; I'm gonna be in quallies in Rome, Madrid I think in qualifying, Strasbourg, and then Paris.
So it's pretty much gonna be a complete clay season.

End of FastScripts

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