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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 19, 2012Jelena DokicMELBOURNE, VICTORIA M. BARTOLI/J. Dokic THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Must be a little frustrating. Feel like you take a couple of steps forward and then a couple steps back. How did you see it? JELENA DOKIC: Yeah, I mean, it was better than Sydney. Yeah, it's still tough. It's only my fifth match of the year. Last four months of last year I didn't even play. So, yeah, it's still a work in progress. It will still take some time. It's not going to be easy just to come out at a Grand Slam and play a top‑10 player and perform the way that you want to perform. It will still take some time. I'm happy with the improvement that I'm making. I just need to keep on working and play as many matches as I can. Q. I suppose you didn't shake off that 2009 quarterfinal? JELENA DOKIC: Yeah, I mean, it's a different time now. Yeah, you've got to move forward. Yeah, I mean, but I like to play here. Yeah, you know, unfortunately I'm not in that form, as I was then. Even 2009, coming into the tournament, I had a lot of matches. I had around 20 or 30 matches. So it's a little bit different. Yeah, just got to go on. Got to move on and go to the next tournament and keep on working. Right now, you know, I just need to play matches and play as many tournaments as I can in a row, just try to get the hang of playing matches again, which is something that I'm missing. I'm still not playing in matches as well as I would like to and as well as I am in practice, so... Q. The other day when you were in here you talked about staying positive, chilling out. Can you still stay positive after tonight? JELENA DOKIC: Yeah, of course you can. I mean, it's not the end of the world. At the end of the day, it's just a tennis match. Yeah, but even saying that, you have to move on. It's done. You look forward to tomorrow. Just every day you've got to work towards improving something and getting better and better and better and it will come. Yeah, it's never easy to take a loss. It's always hard. You're disappointed. But, you know, for me it doesn't take that long and I move on. You have to think about your next tournament. Q. The nerves weren't a factor at all for you? JELENA DOKIC: Not as much as Sydney. You just want to play well and perform well here, especially on Rod Laver. It's always going to be a factor, especially if you're not feeling like so confident and haven't had as many matches. Of course, it's always going to creep in a little bit. But, yeah, it's okay. It's done now. It's over. I'm going to look forward. I'm looking forward to whatever's next on my schedule. Q. Where are you heading off to next? JELENA DOKIC: I'm going back to Europe for a little bit. Then I don't know. Fed Cup, I haven't heard anything. Yeah, then all the tournaments after that. If I get into Paris and a couple other ones after that. Q. What do you feel let you down tonight? JELENA DOKIC: Probably my serve, because it was pretty hard to play not even so much my second serve or double‑faults but my first serve, because it was such a low percentage. I was kind of on the back foot not being able to get a lot of first serves in. It put a lot of pressure on my serve. Then, of course, it was a lot harder to break her, because she did have a couple of easy games. She served well when she needed to, which is something that I didn't do. That's kind of where it started. Yeah, just my first‑serve percentage because then when I wasn't able to get that first serve in, it put a lot of pressure on my second serve, and that's when I did a couple double‑faults. I just wasn't really putting those first serves in. Q. Off the topic of tonight's match, how much did tennis play a role in helping you find your place as an Australian when you first came? JELENA DOKIC: First came when? Q. First came to Australia. JELENA DOKIC: Well, I mean, I came as a 10‑year‑old, so I don't know how much you know then. Or 9‑year‑old. It's a little bit difficult to, yeah, comment on that because I was so little. Q. But later on when you started playing, turned professional, was that a major factor in feeling at home here in Australia? JELENA DOKIC: Yeah, but I don't feel Australian because I play tennis here. You know, I feel Australian because I grew up here and I lived here. Yeah, I don't think tennis alone has anything to do with it. Yeah, I think, you know, even if I wasn't playing tennis, I don't mean when I was really little, but later on when I came back to Australia, would have came back. Tennis necessarily doesn't have anything to do with being Australian. I mean, I'm proud to be Australian. Just because I'm in the sport and it's so high profile, it gets a lot of attention. But, yeah, I mean, look, I love Australia. I grew up here. I love to play for Australia, so... Q. Do you have any sort of feelings towards the way some of the Greek supporters and Serbian supporters get a little overenthusiastic during the tennis? JELENA DOKIC: Well, look, I haven't been involved in any one of those matches, so I don't know how loud it gets or anything. But, look, every country's out here supporting their players. That's normal. Australians get very loud. Also especially on those outside courts, like the Margaret Court Arena, which I've played on last year and this year. Also the Greeks have always been really, really loud. So that's special, that's different. But, yeah, look, at the end of the day it's a sport. Everybody supports the players they love to watch, especially when they play for their country. Especially if you only have one or two players representing, like a lot of the countries do... I think it's great. It's fantastic for the sport. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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