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WIMBLEDONJune 27, 2012Samantha StosurLONDON, ENGLAND A. RUS/S. Stosur THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How frustrating is it to feel the momentum shifting that many times? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, it's a fight. Tennis can always go like that, but I think today things went my way, her way, my way, her way. It was very, very quick. So, yeah, it was hard to I guess keep that going. After you win a set 6‑Love you think you definitely have the momentum, then all of a sudden you're quickly down in the third. That's the way it goes. Q. The second match point you played the point of the match. SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, well, I mean, serving at 5‑4, I had 40‑15; I hit a good serve down the T; she hit a great return back; I missed a slice into the top of the tape the next point to go deuce. Yeah, there's pressure on again. I didn't do the wrong things to lose that service game. Then, again, four points very quickly went by and the match was finished. Q. Do you start to hate grass or did you hate grass already? SAMANTHA STOSUR: This year I hated it a little bit less than the previous years. It's just disappointing because you want to do well here. It's a great tournament. I still love playing here at Wimbledon, but obviously it hasn't been my very best tournament. Q. Simon has said women shouldn't be paid the same as men. Wondering what you think of that? SAMANTHA STOSUR: I actually hadn't heard any of that. No, I think everyone's going to have their opinion. For some reason it comes up every single year. Men think this, women think that, and then you've got people in between. I think it's a debate that's never gonna finish. I think we deserve it. I think people come out and watch us play because they want to watch us play. I think there are a bunch of men's matches that go five that are pretty boring to watch, as well. It's not like a best‑of‑five match is better than a best‑of‑three, I don't think. Q. The example he gave was Rome became a joint tournament, and he remembered a women's final where 20 spectators showed up. You wouldn't say that's a fair reflection? SAMANTHA STOSUR: I'm sure it's not because 20 people showed up for one final. Again, it's an opinion that some people are going to have and others aren't going to agree. Q. Do you think it's offensive, though? SAMANTHA STOSUR: I think it's a little bit unfair. Like I said, I think people come out and they want to watch a women's match or they want to watch a men's match. If it's a hour and a half match, great; if it's a five‑hour match, great. I don't think the duration means it's better. You want good quality. Like I said, not all men's matches are fun to watch either. Of course there are some women's matches that go pretty short, too. That's where we're at. I don't think it's necessary to play best‑of‑five. Q. Was there a particular thing in Arantxa's game today that gave you the most trouble? SAMANTHA STOSUR: No, I don't think there was anything standout that I couldn't do. I think at times I struggled to return serve well. I missed a few too many at certain times. But then again, throughout that second set I thought I was playing well with hitting the ball clean and doing what I needed to do. Then the third set it was, again, a little bit back and forth. I don't think there was any particular thing that really got me bothered or then that I was doing terribly wrong either. Q. It's been a disappointing tournament for Australian players. Any particular reason, or just one of those situations with draws and players not playing their best? SAMANTHA STOSUR: I mean, obvious it's a pretty woeful performance by all of us, but it's not through lack of trying or not wanting to be here or anything like that. I think it's just one of those things that's happened. I think you have to look at something on a whole, for a longer period of time than just one event, to say that we're in this dire straits kind of mode right now. So I think of course it can be better. Myself and all the other players that I'm sure we can speak for wish we had a better tournament. Q. Do you think there's players coming through in Australia, or are you worried about the future at all? SAMANTHA STOSUR: No. I mean, again, I don't think you can look at something from one tournament and think, Oh, my God, we have to change everything. There's definitely players coming up. It's always going to take time. I think sometimes you have to stick to a plan for a long period, even if you go through a few lulls to see if it's really working. I think if you chop and change and are always trying to look for that secret answer, you're not necessarily going to find it either. I think things just take times. Q. But personally, having won three sets this year, which is three more than last year, what can you take away as something you learned from this experience? SAMANTHA STOSUR: I think overall I'm happier with the way it's gone this year. Still disappointed. I think it can and probably should be better. At least this time I feel like I came out and gave myself a chance to win and felt a little more clear with what I wanted to do and tried to stick to those plans rather than going down a few games and panicking and thinking it's all gone. There's certainly things I can take away from it. Maybe one positive is that the Olympics are coming up and I've got more time to get better on this surface. Next year comes around, you do it again. Q. Between now and the Olympics, what are your plans? SAMANTHA STOSUR: I'm playing doubles with Casey. I guess we'll wait and see how we go with that. Hopefully we'll be here for a little while. Take a week off, come back here, and start training a little while. Q. Arantxa already enjoys her reputation for knocking out giants. How would you characterize that? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Well, yeah, I think she's a good player, got some good potential. I'm not too sure of most of her results previously. I think she's got a pretty good game. As far as I know, she's pretty young. I guess time will tell to see how good she becomes. Q. How conscious were you of that ugly stat about the Australian men that was floating around yesterday? Did that have any impact on you? Did you feel extra pressure to carry the Australian flag? SAMANTHA STOSUR: No, not because of that at all. You know, I wanted to do well because I wanted to do well. Obviously I know that the guys didn't do very well and all that. But each match I think all of us want to go out there and do as best we can for our country and also for ourself. I would have liked to have taken it at least one more further. Q. I know you're involved with creating more courts around Australia, particularly clay. Is there a particular with surfaces in Australia, not enough clay courts? SAMANTHA STOSUR: I think it's a good thing if we get more. I think there definitely are more being put in. There's a bunch now we're testing out to see which one is the one they're going to build more. Once that's sorted out, that's going to be positive. We have the Australian Open surface through a lot of clubs, it's good. You can't play on a synthetic grass surface, not play any tournament tournaments on it, and think you're going to develop players. I think that is something that is definitely improving. Like I said before, it's just something that is going to take time. Q. Talking to Australian players about why this happened this year. The Olympics being back here, is that something you're worried about? SAMANTHA STOSUR: No, I haven't spoken to anyone else. We haven't sat around and moped around and said, Well, we did really bad this year. Again, I can't answer any more than what I've just said. I'm looking forward to playing with Casey and we're going to do our best in the doubles and see how that goes. Again, for the Olympics, we all take great pride in playing for our country and being part of that. Hopefully we'll be able to turn it around for that event. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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