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DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS WOMEN

February 17, 2011

Samantha Stosur

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

S. STOSUR/P. Schnyder
6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What are your thoughts on that?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, happy with today's match again. A little bit more tricky than yesterday obviously. But, yeah, it started getting a bit tight in that second set. I had a lead and then lost it, so to be able to break back straightaway and be able to finish it off is pleasing.

Q. She's a tricky player, isn't she?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, she is tricky. She's got the capability of hitting some unbelievable shots, and then she'll go through a game and hit a couple in the back fence and one in the bottom of the net.
So it's one of those things you got to be on your game, I guess, and keep as steady level as possible the whole way through and kind of wait for her to go up and down, and obviously when the you get the opportunities go for it.

Q. You seemed to pick your moments quite well when you needed to go for a shot. You seemingly picked her off at will. It looked quite comfortable from where I was.
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, well, I tried to, I guess -- I knew how I wanted to set up the points. If I could do that two or three times in a rally, then I thought I could get the ball to attack on.
Thankfully, it worked out. I was able to set up it and get myself out of the trouble a few times. Like I said, then she might hit an unforced errors or something in a game and then you get a lead, and then you've really got to be able to be ready and take those opportunities.

Q. There was the blip in the second set when you had a fair few chances to break at 4-2 up. You then were broken yourself. You must be pleased with the way you recovered.
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, absolutely. I knew that that was an opportunity to get a pretty good lead in that second, and a bit disappointed I wasn't able to break then and get 5-2.
She, again, came up with some pretty good shots breakpoint down, and then maybe played a bit of a sloppy start of that service game to lose it. But then switched back on and got the break and was able to serve it out.

Q. When you look at the two sets, obviously your serve seemed to be working pretty well and you were hitting a lot of the forehand winners. In assessing what you were most happy with today, what would you say?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, my first serve I don't think was as good as I would have liked and my percentage was that great. But I guess when I wasn't getting hurt on my second serves, maybe it you allowed me to keep going for it and all that.
So I was happy with the serve. It was quite bouncy out there today. Pretty warm, I think probably a bit warmer than yesterday and the balls were getting up high. So gave me maybe a chance to use a bit more spin and work the points.
Yeah, I was quite happy with the way I played.

Q. Your first-serve percentage for the first set, sorry to bring it up, but it was 36.
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, I didn't think it was good. (Smiling.)

Q. Obviously when get into the quarterfinals, I presume that's a statistic you're going to need to get up to 50%, 60%.
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, I mean, if you can get definitely over 50%, if not 60%, then usually makes life a lot easier.
But like I said, she wasn't, yeah, stepping in on my second serve and making me pay for missing those first ones. So I could kind of keep going for it and try to find it.
Hopefully it was a bit better than 36 in that second set. It's definitely something I need to get better at if I want to do better the next round.

Q. From here on in, it's going to get increasingly harder whoever you face, whether it's Kanepi or Jankovic. How do you feel in yourself?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: I'm feeling good. No complaints. Feel healthy and I'm playing well. Hitting the ball well. I guess to be in the quarters feeling like this is good thing.
I know it's going to be a tough match either way in my next round, so I'll definitely have to be using all the energy I've got to try and get through that one.

Q. Just a question a little bit unrelated to the match. Just one of the issues I'm looking at it is the calendar and if people are getting enough rest. As someone who's been around for a little while, how would you assess things? The WTA rolled out the Roadmap.
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yep.

Q. But other people say even though you have more time off than the men, you still need more time. What are your thoughts on that? Do you think it's something that needs a second look?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: I don't know. I think it's 5,000% better than what to used to be. I think now we've got a good amount of time for the off-season to actually take a break, go on holidays, go home, whatever you want to do, and still have three or four weeks to train and prepare for the year. So I think that's a pretty decent amount of time.
I mean, throughout the year I manage to take weeks off and take a break and get some rest and still be able to play tournaments. So I guess it's all up to the individuals to actually work out a schedule that works for them and maybe not try and chase the points or chase the money or whatever it is that makes people want to play every single week.
At the end of the day, it's your choice to play this week, next week, week after that. But you can take a break, too.

Q. It sounds like that is an issue. It is a choice, but there's also probably -- whether it be pressure from wherever, there's pressure to chase the points and the money. Have you, over time, gone from chasing the points to not chasing the points to not chasing, or has that always been your philosophy, to pace yourself?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Um, to be honest, even when I was ranked 100, 200, I never looked at the points I thought and thought, Oh, I have to play next week and I have to make the final or otherwise I'm going to drop. I've never been one to look at the rankings like that.
I think at the end of the day you should be doing what's right for you. I'm not playing next week. A lot of people can't believe that, but it was time for me to have what I thought would have a break in my schedule and prepare for the summer.
So it's one of those things. It's maybe a bit of a risk if you don't do well, but I would like to think that I can kind of back myself. And if I want to play well at the tournaments that I entered, then I want to give myself the best chance.

Q. Just one last one on that note. Do you think younger players coming up, there is that kind of pressure that maybe the older players don't face?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: I think, yeah, coming up it's a little bit more tricky. It's harder to make a good schedule. And when you get to 20 in the world, 30 in the world, it's not that difficult. You know you're going to make those tournaments on the tour, and you don't have to be looking at the ITF calendar, WTA calendar.
So I can appreciate that when you're 100, 200, borderline, quallies, Grand Slams, and all that, a lot of thought does have to go into it to pick what tournaments you're going to play and where you're going to get in.
But I think the higher you get that actually becomes an easier process.

Q. Do you have you got a base in the Florida like a lot of the other Aussies have done?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah. I've been there for five years or so now.

Q. Makes it easier.
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, if I don't have a couple weeks to go back to Australia, I usually don't bother. As much as I would love to go back, it's a pretty long way for just a few days.

Q. Because it moves to the U.S.?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah. So it's a good opportunity for me to take a break and then start training again.

End of FastScripts

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