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U.S. OPENAugust 31, 2012Laura RobsonNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK L. ROBSON/N. Li THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. When you saw the draw and saw Clijsters in the second round possibly and Li Na in the third round possibly, did you go in feeling that your game was ready to meet this quality of an opponent, or is this a surprise to you at the moment? LAURA ROBSON: When the draw first came out I wasn't really looking past the first round. And then, you know, when I heard that I was playing Li Na after I played Kim, I didn't really think anything. I just knew that it was going to be an extremely tough match, which it was, and that she's a great player. So I knew I had to play well; that's what I did. Q. Have you been building to this, though? Did you see this coming? You've being knocked out in the first round in all previous Grand Slams, and now you're in the fourth. LAURA ROBSON: Thanks for reminding me. Well, yeah, I have just worked hard over the last few weeks and I feel like I'm playing very good. You know, I have had lots of tough matches against some very experienced opponents, so, you know, the way that I see it, it was time to start winning a few of them, yeah. Q. Do you regard this as your best surface then? LAURA ROBSON: I think I would prefer to play a few more grass tournaments, but hard court suits me okay. Q. Is it a question of now on trusting your talent? This is got you the results, keep playing your shots and playing with freedom. LAURA ROBSON: Well, yeah. You know, my game is based on being aggressive, and if I don't play that way then I probably wouldn't be doing very well. So, you know, I just try to go for all my shots. And even today my first serve percentage wasn't great, but I knew I had to keep going for it, because she was definitely taking advantage of my second serve. So I had to keep going for it, and that's what I did. Q. You talked the other day about the loss to Sharapova at the Olympics. I was wondering in the short term if you look back at that match as a turning point for you mentally where you felt like you were close to winning and then you were on the cusp of really, you know, beating some of the top players. LAURA ROBSON: Yeah, in that match I definitely felt like I should have won the first set. It was extremely close, and then I just made a few silly mistakes and just didn't move my feet as much as I should have. So what I have been working on since then is making sure that I do move my feet, and, you know, just continuously make one extra ball and make it a little bit harder for them, which, yeah, is what I did well against Clijsters and I seemed to do it quite well today. Q. How do you remind yourself to move your feet in these tight matches? LAURA ROBSON: I usually shout at myself a little bit. Yeah, when it got tight today, especially in the second set tiebreak, I was just‑‑ you know, I kept telling myself Keep going for your shots, keep moving. On my serve I had to keep reminding myself to use my legs. Q. There were a couple of umpiring issues in that third set, and you didn't get at all distracted. Is that normally you way, that you can put the conversations with the umpire out of your mind and keep firing away? LAURA ROBSON: I wouldn't say I wasn't distracted. I was a little bit annoyed. But that's what happens from time to time, so you've got to deal with it. I think being a little bit annoyed seemed to help me, seeing as I broke the first game and then I held serve the next time it happened. So, you know, it happens, but, yeah, it won't be the last time. Q. Because she was never going to get that ball that landed crack on the line, was she, whether or not it had been called in or out and you had to replay the point? LAURA ROBSON: Umpire didn't seem to think so. Q. You have Wayne Rooney tweeting about you. LAURA ROBSON: He called me Robinson. (Laughter.) I saw that when I was stretching. Q. He blamed it on predictive text. LAURA ROBSON: Can you blame that on predictive text, though? I'm not so sure. (Laughter.) Does it mean much to you to have people like that, people in the sporting world, talking about you? LAURA ROBSON: Yeah, it's great that he watched, even though he got my name wrong. (Smiling.) The more people watch the better. Maybe a few people a bit younger than me have seen his tweets and said, I want to play a bit of tennis now. It's great, and I think James Cordon was watching me today, as well. I spotted him midway like first set, and then spent the rest of the time trying not to wave. (Laughter.) Q.Do you think it's kind of too simplistic to say you've got a new coach and you're inspired by having someone with that experience coming to work with you? LAURA ROBSON: No, I think the level has always been there. It's just in the last few weeks I have gained a bit of confidence and the work that I have done with him has been very specific in terms of tactical stuff. So just in the last few matches I think it's noticeable that instead of just trying to hit a winner off a tough shot like I have done in the past, I'm just trying to make a percentage shot back; that makes all the difference really. Q. How much of a factor has it been having a run without injury? LAURA ROBSON: Oh, it's been massive. It just makes so much of a difference mentally, you know. I just feel like I'm healthy and I feel like this is my third match and I'm feeling fine, I'm feeling fit. So I'm really ready for the next match, but in the past after the first round here, you know, I had needed a lot of physio work. Although I have an infected toe at the moment, yeah, it's not bothering me and I'm feeling fine. Q. Have you always played low balls so well? LAURA ROBSON: Low balls? Q. Low balls. LAURA ROBSON: Like slices or, Just in general low balls? Q. Looks like you lose the point and then you come up with this wonderful shot. LAURA ROBSON: I don't know. Hopefully I've always played them well. I think it's more of a footwork thing. Maybe in the past I didn't get up to them quite as fast. Now I'm getting there and playing the right shot off it. Yeah, low balls, it's going well. Q. Are you just as happy the fact you won in three sets and not just two and you wore her down as well? LAURA ROBSON: I had the opportunity to win it in two. It was a really close tiebreak, and at 5‑All she played two really good points. There's not much that I can do off that. I knew that if I kept playing the way that I was and kept playing how I started the first set, you know, really aggressive and, like, accelerating on my forehand when I had the opportunity, then I knew that she would struggle. That's what I did. I also think that I returned a bit more aggressively in the third set. Q. Three weeks ago you lost in the final round of quallies in Cincinnati. After that match, if someone would have told you you would have beat back‑to‑back Grand Slam champions at the US Open, what would you have thought? LAURA ROBSON: I would have taken that. Well, you know, Cincy, it was difficult going from the Olympics straight there. I left the day after mixed doubles final. Maybe I wasn't as prepared as I am now for that tournament. But after that loss, you know, the next day I was straight back on the practice court. Just worked really hard since then, yeah. Q. Getting to the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament is a major accomplishment in and of itself, but to do so as just alluded to by way of two Grand Slam champions at age of 18 is a remarkable thing. How do you feel about the path to the fourth round that you've had thus far? LAURA ROBSON: I have had a fairly tough draw, haven't I? (Smiling.) Well, you know, you have to beat who is in front of you. That's what I managed to do so far. I think I play Stosur now, who is defending champ. That's going to be really tough. I've never played her before, so, you know, I'm going to just work hard tomorrow and recover as best as I can for the next one. Q. You have always said that you have worked very hard on your speed and your movements. How do you explain the progress you seem to have made this summer that has been terrific in that area? LAURA ROBSON: I think this summer has been the first one where I have been injury‑free. So then, you know, in the past I might have done two or three days of work. I needed a few days to get over another little niggle. This time I have just been able to keep going. It's been extremely busy summer, and I have still managed to stay injury‑free. That's a big thing. But, yeah, I have been doing a lot of work with Jez over the last few weeks who is Andy's fitness trainer. I like the work he does and it seems to help. Q. How much confidence did you take from medaling in mixed doubles at the Olympics into your singles? Even though it's a different discipline, are there areas from that experience where you can say, Hey, now I can do in singles as well and maybe it led to the run here? LAURA ROBSON: Well, there were a few matches in mixed where I had to serve out in the match tiebreak. So, you know, I think that helped in terms of being able to serve it out today. But I think I'm playing better now than I was during the Olympics. I hit a good volley today at one point, so that was definitely helped by mixed doubles. Q. You've played Stosur there as well in the mixed doubles so you have some experience against her. Do you take anything out of that? LAURA ROBSON: I don't think you can really take anything out of that match. Mixed doubles is so different. Yeah, I'm not gonna even take that into account. Q. You have hit against her though individually before? LAURA ROBSON: I have hit with her a few times before, but we have never played each other. Q. How will you then try and attack her? Do you get video and analyze over the next few days? LAURA ROBSON: I think I know her game pretty well. I don't think I need to look at any YouTube videos or anything like that. I'll have a chat to my coach the day of the match and, yeah, play as best I can on the day. Q. You said the other day that you were going to talk to Heather about playing Li Na. Did that conversation take place? Did you get anything out of it? LAURA ROBSON: I actually haven't seen Heather in the last few days, or we saw each other yesterday briefly before she went on court for the doubles. So we haven't had time. Yeah, my coach knew Li Na's game pretty well, so didn't really make a difference in the end. Q. You have been around tennis for a long time, but it's hard to remember this is the first slam you have gotten into directly ever. You got wildcards and qualifying and stuff like that. Is it fair to say you now have that one thing, that sense of belonging that maybe wasn't there before? LAURA ROBSON: A one‑direction reference. (Smiling.) I love it. Sorry. Yeah. This year I qualified for Australia; had a wildcard for Wimbledon; lucky loser Roland Garros; and direct entry here. So it's been a bit of a journey to get here, but I think it makes it so much easier when you don't have to qualify. I got here straight after New Haven, so on Tuesday. I had five, six days to practice really hard before my first match. Q. You talked about Twitter before, and there is a bit of banter flying around that you've still got an Aussie passport and that we might be able to nab you still. Is there any chance of you playing for Australia in the future? LAURA ROBSON: I get asked that every time by an Australian journalist. I don't think my answer has ever changed. Yeah, still a no. (Laughter.) Q.The last time a British woman was in the fourth round of a slam was 1998. Did you ever think you'd be the one to break that? LAURA ROBSON: No. Anne has made third round before and Heather made third round at Wimbledon; I'm sure Bally's made third round at some point. So we have been really close. It's good that I'm able to do that. But, yeah, I think British girls are playing pretty well at the moment. I won't be the only one. Q. Did you ever feel these victories were inevitable? Last few years might be frustrating. Maybe you were thinking maybe it's not going to happen for me. LAURA ROBSON: I'm only 18, so if I was that negative, you know, last year or a year ago, then who knows what I'm going to be like in a few years. But, no, I have always thought that I can play with the top girls. Whenever I've practiced with, you know, Caroline or Maria, I've always felt that the level was there. It was just taking that onto the match court and keeping the level up for the whole match. That's what I have worked on. Yeah, that's been the biggest difference. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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