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BNP PARIBAS OPENMarch 11, 2012Victoria AzarenkaINDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA V. AZARENKA/S. Kuznetsova THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You haven't played her in a while, but you did have a 1‑4 record against her. This match, was it completely different? VICTORIA AZARENKA: Honestly, I don't remember any other matches besides Miami, the last one I think that we played, and it was a really long time ago. But, I mean, I know Sveta pretty well. We have practiced quite a few times, and I know she's a great player. You know, she has so much experience. She's been a Grand Slam winner, so I knew she's gonna be dangerous. I really had to step it up from my last match. I'm glad I could perform much better than I did in my first match and show some good tennis. So I'm really pleased with that. Q. Have you thought of possibly having an unbeaten season? VICTORIA AZARENKA: (Smiling.) It's a long season. Q. You laugh, but in 1983, Martina Navratilova was 86‑1; in 1989 Steffi Graf was 86‑2. Just think, you could be the first one possibly to avoid defeat. VICTORIA AZARENKA: Way to put pressure, huh? (Laughter.) I don't know. I don't think way so much ahead. As I said, it's very long season. Of course it would be a great achievement to achieve that. But it's so far along, I just try to focus on every single match there is. I mean, what was about 25 years ago, you know, I mean, those amazing players, it's really hard to duplicate. So I'm just trying to make it my own way, and we'll see how far I can go. Q. You know that they were amazing players. VICTORIA AZARENKA: Oh, yeah, they were‑‑ they are legends. Q. It's also possible to note that the depth of women's tennis wasn't what it was then as it is now, so do you think if you would put up a comparable record it would be a greater accomplishment? VICTORIA AZARENKA: Um, I don't know. I didn't play in that times, so it's difficult for me to judge. I'm here now, and I can only judge by my own experience and by my own achievements. But, you know, what these women achieved, it's just amazing. I mean, I have to give all the biggest credit to them. Q. Can you talk about playing this week how you're enjoying the tournament at Indian Wells in general? VICTORIA AZARENKA: Well, my first match didn't enjoy it too much. It was difficult. But it was a great, you know, first test in the beginning of the tournament. The tournament runs really well, you know. We are really lucky to have such amazing hospitality, and the crowd is great. It's so many people coming to watch, which is always very motivating. I'm really looking forward to actually coming back every year here. And, you know, to step out again on the center court, it's an amazing feeling. Q. You said your first match was not great, but do you think the match kind of brings the best out of you to help you to play better the next round? VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, I would say it gives a lot of confidence‑‑ I don't like the word "confidence" too much because I feel it's overrated. But it really helps you to see that you have been test out and you really have to dig deep to win the match when you are not playing your best. So that really makes it count, you know, in the end of the day. Q. You were saying that you think that confidence is overrated. You said that before. Can you talk about that a little bit? Because I think from a lot of us we are used to players saying that confidence is everything for them. VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, I mean, confidence is just something imaginary, what people, I guess, feel or they think they feel. It's just, I guess, that boost of energy that gives you maybe extra motivation to play. For me, it's just doesn't matter how confident you are if you don't put up the work, if you don't make ‑‑ and if you're not disciplined enough, you know, it's just not gonna help you win matches, your confidence, right? You have to put a lot of hard work into it, pay so much attention to all the details, how you do things, and that's it. What's the most important for me is routine, the discipline, that, you know, giving it all every day. Confidence, I guess, okay, confidence I have then. Q. Do you think belief is a better word? VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, I would say that it's a better word. It's something that's in your hands and you can control. I think that's a better‑suited word for me. Q. What word would you use to replace confidence? But you've already given us the answer. VICTORIA AZARENKA: I guess the reporters have better, you know, way to say it than the players. Q. If there have been instances where you were doing everything correctly, where you had the discipline and you didn't win the match, something went wrong, internally what do you attribute that to? VICTORIA AZARENKA: Nothing. Just, you know, first of all, I always give credit to my opponent. If I did everything right and my opponent beat me, I mean, what can I do? She was just better than me this day. For me, it's important to not have any regrets when I step out of the court, and results will take care of itself. If you did your best, what else could you do? Q. Can you talk about some of the development and a lot of the hard work you have been putting into ‑ and you've always been one of the hard workers off the court anyway ‑ but can you talk about kind of your development, what's changed? What have you kind of been able to be more professional about maybe more so now than you were before? VICTORIA AZARENKA: You know, everybody keep asking me this question maybe hoping for some magical answer that I'm gonna give. But honestly, there's nothing really special that I do. It's just something that I found for myself that suits me better, you know. My warmup routine, my training. Maybe for somebody, you know, other player, it would just be completely ‑‑ it sucks, you know. But for me it works. As I said, for me it's very important to have no regrets. It kinda helps me to approach matches differently and training differently that I'm here to, you know, do the best job as possible, you know. And results, they will just take care of itself. You cannot jump ahead and think about what's gonna happen before you actually put in work, so that's the most important for me. Q. So we have our world No. 1 and No. 2 playing doubles together this week. Everybody talk about rivalry between you two. Is that possible that you pick up information between each other, like what does she like to do on the court? VICTORIA AZARENKA: Oh, you mean like scouting? Q. No, no, no, no. We are not professional players, so maybe it's a stupid question. But is that possible, to get something helpful to your singles when you play each other? VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, I ask her, Hey, which shot you just don't like? And she tells me, Hey, I don't like this shot, so when you play next time against me, do that. No, of course not. (Smiling) We're just there to try to win our doubles. Of course it's completely differently game than singles. We're just there to try to do our best and to have fun. It was the first time, you know, we played on the court, and it was actually pretty fun. I enjoyed it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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