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U.S. OPENAugust 29, 2012Mallory BurdetteNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK M. BURDETTE/L. Hradecka THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Did you expect to be in interview room 1 at the US Open? MALLORY BURDETTE: No, definitely not. This is quite an experience, and I'm really enjoying it. This is fun. Q. What did you do well today and what was it like out there doing it well? MALLORY BURDETTE: I think one of the biggest things I did well today was just managing my nerves, managing my thoughts out there. Yeah, every point I stuck to my rituals in between points and was just really focused on trying to be aggressive and playing my game style. Q. How nervous were you? MALLORY BURDETTE: Actually, I felt pretty good out there. I was definitely a bit nervous closing out the match, but again, very happy with the way that I handled it. Q. How much did you know about her going in? She won a silver medal at the Olympics pretty recently. MALLORY BURDETTE: I did not know that, but I had heard a few things about her game tactically. I knew she was two hands on both sides and hit the ball pretty hard. That was about it going in. Q. Can you take us through the last couple weeks, getting the wildcard, what it's been like. MALLORY BURDETTE: This summer has been amazing. One of my biggest goals at the beginning of the summer was to obviously play some of the pro tournaments and to see if I just enjoyed travel and go playing these tournaments week in and week out. I can honestly say that I've enjoyed the whole process. It's been great. To end up here at the US Open was a huge surprise. I never expected that at the beginning of the summer. I kind of thought I missed my chance at NCAAs when I lost in the finals. That wasn't even on my radar. Yeah, so it's been a crazy ride. Very exciting. Q. Did you know the USTA Pro Circuit determines that there was an automatic wildcard there. Did you know that was a possibility? Were you trying for that? MALLORY BURDETTE: Yes. I knew that was a possibility, but that wasn't my goal throughout the summer. I was just working on things, working on my game, and it just kind of happened over time. Q. When did you find out? I mean, how soon did you actually know that that actually happened before they actually announced the wildcards? When did they tell you that? MALLORY BURDETTE: So the last tournament that I played in Vancouver, the 100,000, when I won that tournament was when I knew that I had clinched the wildcard. And obviously I knew that there was a chance that something could change or whatever, so we had to wait and see when they actually announced them. That's when I knew that I had gotten the most points out of all the U.S. players throughout the summer. Q. Used to be that players tried to get to the pro circuit as soon as possible. Could you talk about the Stanford experience, going to The Farm both as a person and as a tennis player? MALLORY BURDETTE: Stanford is just so great. You're surrounded by such amazing people in the classroom, and all of the athletes there at Stanford, they work so hard. It's been a great experience for me. I have learned how to handle a variety of different situations and how to manage my tennis along with schooling, along with, you know, being a captain on the team and things like that. It's just been a very valuable experience, something that I think has definitely prepared me for playing pro tennis. I think college tennis is a great breeding ground for players, and I definitely wasn't sure when I was 18 whether I wanted to go pro or not. I was on the fence. And so I said, I'm going to take my time. I'm going to go to college, work towards a degree, and go from there. I think it's been extremely valuable for me. Q. What did you major in and what did your coaches tell you about the transition to the pro circuit? MALLORY BURDETTE: I'm majoring in psychology. My coach, LeLe, our head coach, was great. I believe she made it to the quarters here at the US Open, so she was a great player in her own right. You know, every day at practice we're just always pushing to be the best that we can be. Yeah, I mean, she's been very╩‑‑ you know, she's talking to me a lot about pro tennis, because I didn't even know if I wanted to play or even give it a try. She was very encouraging and wanted me to take a shot at it, so I'm very thankful for all of her support. Q. Now, are you going back to school or are you done? MALLORY BURDETTE: Yes, as of now, I am going back in the fall. Q. This doesn't change? MALLORY BURDETTE: No, not as of right now. Q. Even the money? Even leaving the money on the table? MALLORY BURDETTE: I have already checked the amateur box, so if I know correctly, you can't go back once the tournament starts. So it's done. Q. You aren't even going to look at what you could have won today? MALLORY BURDETTE: No. Q. Even without Andrew Luck you're actually going to go back to Stanford? MALLORY BURDETTE: Yes. Q. Seems like your game is maybe not typical for a lot of the college players trying to make the pro circuit. Some are defensive and trying to get balls back. You're more assertive. Men have been successful switching from college to pro. Do you think your game is built for that transition better than other female players? MALLORY BURDETTE: I would like to think so. My coach Nick Saviano has built my game. He's been working with me since I was 12 years old. He didn't care whether I played pro tennis or college tennis. He saw in me that I was an aggressive‑type of person when I got out there on the court and that that type of game style fit with my personality, and so he always pushed me to be more aggressive, to make use of my volleys, and be very comfortable putting away overheads and things like that. That's just been a huge part of my game ever since I started working with him. Yeah, I love playing tennis that way. That's the way I like to play. Q. Seems very likely your next match will be against Maria Sharapova, which is likely it will be on Ashe, maybe like CBS in the afternoon or something. What would be your expectations, that experience, be like? MALLORY BURDETTE: I have no idea. I have no idea. I have only walked out on Ashe with nobody in the stadium. Actually at the National Indoor College Tournament they give you a little tour and we get to go out there at night. But I have no idea. It's going to be quite an experience. I've always looked up to Maria. I remember sitting with my coach, Nick, when she won her first Wimbledon title and talking about her game and the way that she plays. I would certainly love to play more like her. It's going to be a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to it. Q. Have you modeled your game at all after her? MALLORY BURDETTE: Yes, she's very meticulous between points, doing her routines. That's something I have definitely worked on this summer, so I look up to her in a lot of ways. Q. Melanie Oudin played her third or fourth round a few years ago and beat her. When you walk out there, do you think you're going to be able to win? MALLORY BURDETTE: You never know. Anybody can beat anybody on a given day. I might talk to Melanie a little bit, ask her a few questions just to get the inside scoop. (Smiling.) Yeah, I'll take it one point at a time and see what happens. Q. Was pro tennis, you always planned ‑‑╩when you went to Stanford did you figure you'd be pro eventually or not? MALLORY BURDETTE: I thought that I would play doubles at some point, but, no, I never thought I would have this type of success in singles, honestly. I had always worked towards it, but, no, I don't think anybody can ‑‑╩I guess you do plan for it, but... Q. So what's happened? MALLORY BURDETTE: I think just maturity over the years. It doesn't scare me as much to play pro tennis and to be successful. Just managing myself better out there on the court with my emotions has been huge. Q. It sounds like you were really thinking of maybe after this last season getting a real job, so to speak. I guess what job were you going to get and how seriously have you been making plans eventually to do that versus tennis? MALLORY BURDETTE: I was planning on ‑‑╩I really want to be a psychiatrist. So I was interested in med school. So I would have finished up my degree and I would have gone to some type of program where I could take all my pre‑med requirements and then hopefully go to med school. I had given that a lot of thought at the beginning of the summer and I was preparing for that. Still am in a lot of ways, but, you know, my success this summer has kind of taken me in a different path a little bit. So I think my focus will be a little bit different when I go back to school. Q. Sounds like the summer was not just about results but just the lifestyle. Is that fair to say? What were you worried about? MALLORY BURDETTE: Just traveling week in and week out. I didn't know how I was going to handle that. We finish school so late in June that my schedule, I had to go four weeks in a row to get those tournaments in, and I was a little bit worried about that. I was worried how my body would hold up. Obviously have the great trainers and I did a lot of off‑court work in order to get my body going again and make sure I didn't have any breakdowns. So, yeah, this summer has just worked out really well. I have worked hard, and just taking care of the things that I can control and then, you know, just laying it out there on the court. Q. Stanford tennis is sort of a whole culture. Have you gotten input over the years from Coach Gould or have you met Condoleeza Rice? Just talk about that. MALLORY BURDETTE: I have never met Condoleeza Rice, but I heard she's a huge tennis fan. A lot of the girls on our team, one of the graduates, Carolyn McVeigh, she was always trying to get into classes. They're small. They're like fifteen people and there are about 250 applicants. We always wanted to teach tennis lessons to her, but I don't think anybody's gotten in touch with her yet. Dick Gould actually coached my coach, Nick Saviano for years. Was Nick's first coach, I believe. I talk to Dick quite often. Whenever he's around he'll watch us play and say a couple of things after the match and he is just very supportive of us. Q. Your next opponent is known for her baseline conferences with herself after points. As someone who wants to go into psychiatry, what does that say about sports psychology, game‑plan management, and the like? MALLORY BURDETTE: I think it's huge, especially on a big stage. She plays on a big stage almost every day because she's so good. It's hard out there sometimes. You get outside of yourself and you're worrying about things you can't control. That's one of the things she does a very good job of. You can tell she's in the zone every time she walks up to play a point. That's amazing, and nobody's perfect when it comes to their mental side. I think that's very interesting. I guess you can't always perfect a stroke or whatever. It's one thing that's always a challenge out there, and so that's why I find it interesting. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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