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U.S. OPENSeptember 2, 2012Laura RobsonNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK S. STOSUR/L. Robson THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You come off court feeling disappointed or satisfied with the performance that was quite strong at the end? LAURA ROBSON: Definitely disappointed. I felt like I didn't play as well as I did in my last three matches. You know, I just hit too many unforced errors. Sam is someone who sort of makes you feel like you're playing bad because she hits it with so much spin, so it's hard to get her serve back sometimes. But it's been a good tournament for me. Q. Very different in that way to anyone you played before? LAURA ROBSON: Yeah, I mean, her serve, uhm, it's really special. I've never played anyone with a serve like hers before, so it does take you a couple of games to get used to. I just felt like I had a lot of opportunities that I didn't take. Q. Moving forward after the great week you have had, what can you take from this to push on? LAURA ROBSON: I can definitely take the fact that, you know, I'm up there with the top girls in terms of level. I had two really, really great wins and a tough one today. Going into my next tournaments, I can take a lot of confidence into them and, you know, try to play as well as I did here. Q. Is the fact that you produced this consistency in performance proved to yourself that you really can compete with these girls? LAURA ROBSON: Yeah, absolutely. I said the other day that I felt like the level has always been there; it's just been putting it into the matches and managing to keep it for the whole match. I did it for three matches really. So, uhm, it's been a good tournament for me, but I am disappointed for today. Q. Now that you're out of the tournament, have you had a chance to digest that you will always be remembered as the person who played Kim Clijsters in her last singles match? LAURA ROBSON: Uhm, no, I haven't really thought about it. You know, in a way I'm happy that I managed to win my next match because, yeah, beating Kim and then losing straightaway probably wouldn't have been the best. Uhm, she's definitely, you know, one of the greatest players in the last few years. She's always been a role model to all the younger girls on tour, so it's very sad to see her go. I watched her last interview yesterday on the Tennis Channel and I was getting quite emotional. Q. What especially in the way you played the last three or four days have you been most pleased with? LAURA ROBSON: Uhm, I felt like against Clijsters and also against Li Na I held my nerve pretty well. Serving out against Li Na was extremely tough, but I only needed one match point. Against Clijsters as well I had two match points which didn't go my way, but I managed to hold it together and really force her to make a few more errors. Q. Do you feel like you'll be looked at a bit differently in the locker room after these wins? LAURA ROBSON: I don't think so, no. (Smiling.) Q. You said unforced errors today. You also appeared not to be hanging back on anything. You were swinging through all of your shots. Do you count those as errors or just as an unsuccessful winner? LAURA ROBSON: No, an error is an error, for sure. Uhm, a few times today I just tried to go for it a little bit too early in the rally where I really could have just, you know, kept hitting it to her backhand just one or two times more and waited for a better opportunity in the rally. But it was difficult because she was going around her forehand a lot and, you know, really opening up the court with her spinny groundstrokes, so it was tough. Q. Now that you've had these big wins, do you think you're ready for more than this in the future? Do you see yourself in second weeks of slams? LAURA ROBSON: It's another One Direction reference. (Laughter.) Yeah, it was definitely great playing out there today. The crowd really got behind me when I saved match points, uhm, in the second. I would love to continue playing in stadiums like that with a crowd like that, but I have to get my ranking up a bit more and, uhm, keep working hard to get there. Q. Where is it next? LAURA ROBSON: I'm going to be going over to Asia and play a 220 over there in Guangzhou, and then Tokyo, Beijing, and Osaka. Q. When you watched that Kim interview last night, were you crying? LAURA ROBSON: Well, not crying, but, yeah, it was definitely an emotional interview. Rennae Stubbs, who was asking some of the questions, she was very upset. I think she was more upset than Kim. Q. The Asian leg for you, is the key reaching the level you achieved here on the regular tour to prove to yourself week in and week out you can get there? LAURA ROBSON: Yeah, I have to continue working hard until then and try and keep the level up in those four tournaments that I have done here. You know, I'll go into Guangzhou and Tokyo with a lot of confidence. I think the courts in Asia will suit me quite well because they're generally quite fast. Uhm, yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. Q. Do you get any downtime or straight into tournaments again? LAURA ROBSON: I think I'll go home and train for a week before I go out to Asia. But I think I've got tomorrow off to do some shopping. Q. Have you been aware of the levels of support you've had, especially from people back home who have been willing you on through this adventure? LAURA ROBSON: I've had loads of messages of support over the last few days. My phone has been running out of battery every few hours because there's been so many messages coming through. And especially on Twitter I've had loads of support. This morning actually there was like a camera crew outside my hotel, which was a little bit freaky. I got really excited because I thought they were waiting for someone who was actually famous. Q. This shopping expedition, anything in particular you're looking for? LAURA ROBSON: I find if you go out with an open mind, you find a lot more. Q. Is there a particular serve of Sam's that you'd never seen before and really caused you more issues than others, like the kicker out wide on the advantage side, for instance? LAURA ROBSON: Well, I thought today she managed to mix it up really well. In other matches that I've seen her play she tends to go for the wide serve on the ad side a lot. Today she really mixed it up to my backhand. The few times where she did hit it, you know, a second serve, a kick to my forehand, I wasn't really ready for it and it's definitely hard to control that shot. Q.  What did you do when you realized the camera crew was for you? LAURA ROBSON: I didn't know what to do. I've never had that before, obviously. Uhm, yeah, I didn't really think they were for me at all until they started following me to the car. I was a little bit freaked out actually. Q. Could you have expected when you arrived here in New York that you'd beat two Grand Slam champions to earn that right to shop? LAURA ROBSON: No, yeah, I don't know. I just came into the tournament and, yeah, I felt pretty good going into my first‑round match. But I really wasn't looking past the first round. After Clijsters, I thought it was a great win, but I needed to back it up; that's what I did. But today has been a little bit disappointing, so I'm going to drown my sorrows in some shopping. Q. Do you have a ranking target where you want to be at the end of the year? LAURA ROBSON: Not really. I think the results will come as long as I keep working hard, so I'm not going to put a figure on it. Q.  Have you worked out what this will do to your ranking? Have you been calculating a little bit? LAURA ROBSON: No. Generally you guys are the ones that tell me. Q. With your new coach, what will your training base be away from tournaments? LAURA ROBSON: I'm not actually that sure yet. We haven't done any training weeks for the moment, so we'll see how it goes. But, uhm, I'm sure a fair few weeks will still be at home. If he needs to go see his daughter or something like that, then I'm more than happy to travel to Croatia. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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