AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 21, 2004

Alicia Molik

ALICIA MOLIK: I don't think it was a huge change. I thought that I let sort of Daniela more or less sort of get the lead on me. She was getting a lot of balls in. She wasn't making too many errors at that stage. I felt like I was hitting my backhand really well and really forgot that I had a forehand. Just really wasn't looking for my forehand, wasn't looking to be aggressive on it. In saying that as well, there was an unlucky game, too. It was 4-1, but I didn't feel like it was a convincing 4-1, if that makes sense.

ALICIA MOLIK: Yeah, we play each other enough to know each other's games. It was a matter of time. I was falling down a bit. I didn't hit the panic stations or anything. I knew what I had to do. I was comfortable out there. Yeah, it wasn't difficult to figure out. It was just a matter of getting out there and executing.

ALICIA MOLIK: Actually, to be honest, it's funny you said that, Hopman Cup didn't even flash through my mind. I thought it may, but it didn't. Two weeks ago was an unlucky situation. There wasn't much I could do about it. I don't regret the decision I made. It was the right decision and probably the reason why I'm here and why I won tonight.

ALICIA MOLIK: No, absolutely not. You know, I'm doing as much as I can for it, getting a heap of massage, stretching a lot, icing a lot, doing all the right things, doing as much as I can for it. It's been feeling great. It's actually been getting a lot better. No, it's been feeling fine.

ALICIA MOLIK: I don't know a lot, to be honest. I don't think we've played before. We grew up playing Juniors a little bit together. Reasonably familiar with her game. But I don't know a hell of a lot. But I think it's a match that I intend to go out with the same mindset as my first round and my second round, really worry about myself, worry about my own game. If I can do that, things pretty much fall into place. So not get too caught up in what's going on down the other end and just be really switched on out there.

ALICIA MOLIK: I think I made the third round here once before, a few years ago.

ALICIA MOLIK: A few years ago. I think (smiling). You've got a media guide. Maybe you ought to look that up. I can't remember, to be honest.

ALICIA MOLIK: You know, everyone changes at different times. She was Top 10 for a long time. And, you know, it's -- the level of women's tennis, obviously, is raised. To stay there for a year is great. To try and stay for two and three years, it's really difficult. You're always the hunted, you know. She's ranked higher than me, so, you know, she's always a favorite. You know, I feel like, yeah, definitely, maybe there's a bit of pressure. I'm not sure. But, you know, she's been working on her game. She's been working on a lot of things. It's only natural that people's rankings go up and down, up and down. I'm sure in her time she'll be back to where she was, you know, six months ago.