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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 14, 2013Heather WatsonMELBOURNE, VICTORIA H. WATSON/A. Cadantu THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Must be pretty proud of that. HEATHER WATSON: Hmm. Well, not really. At the beginning I definitely wasn't there. I wasn't playing well. I didn't have much energy today. I don't know what it was. I think I'm going to go see the doctor after. But when I started cramping, you know, I had to start hitting the ball because I couldn't move. I'm kind of thankful that I did cramp today, otherwise I don't know how that would have ended up. Q. Was your elbow giving you fits? HEATHER WATSON: No, my elbow was fine today. It's just because I haven't been serving a lot. I didn't really have my timing. It felt fine. I maybe felt it on one serve, but it was fine. I think I was struggling with the wind a bit at the beginning and my timing, but then I got into it. Q. What was the treatment you had? HEATHER WATSON: On my elbow? Q. When the trainer came out. HEATHER WATSON: It was the trainer and the doctor, and I just told them how I was feeling, if there was anything I could take, what I should be doing, 'cause I was feeling quite faint. I didn't have any energy today. There was nothing I could really do. She actually had two timeouts, so during that time I just ate like two bananas, some gels, drunk loads. I think having that little sit‑down, I got a little recharged and motivated. Q. It seemed to help that she called the trainer. She waited a few minutes, then called the trainer. It gave you recovery time. HEATHER WATSON: Yeah. I think that did help me. And, like I said, it gave me time to eat, get some fuel in me and just get recharged. Q. Had you felt like that all day? HEATHER WATSON: Literally it was when I walked on the court. In the warmup I wasn't sharp. I don't know what it was. Q. Could it just be something like, because you haven't played for a little while, not frustration, but you're waiting to play, perhaps you get a little too nervous about the occasion and it all gets to you a little bit? HEATHER WATSON: Maybe. And the match before was a long one, and we never knew when we were going on. So I was warming up for like two hours. Q. When did you actually start cramping? HEATHER WATSON: It was actually after we had the timeout, when I came back on, hit a few balls. I just felt it going. I knew I couldn't move. I couldn't, you know, be too tense, so I just loosened up on everything and just hit it. And I'm just so glad that I did cramp. Q. You've had some quite tough draws. HEATHER WATSON: Yeah. Q. When you get what is a fairly decent draw, did you feel quite a lot of pressure that you needed to capitalize? HEATHER WATSON: I definitely expected myself to win today. I've had some tough draws in the past, and I knew it was a big opportunity today. I didn't want to waste it. But at the same time I didn't want to get frustrated with myself if some things weren't going so well because that just wouldn't help me out there on the court. But, yeah, I definitely think I put that extra bit of pressure on myself. Q. Do you know Pervak, have you had much to do with her? HEATHER WATSON: Last time I played her was Australian Open juniors in the quarterfinals. I lost. She won that year. But, yeah, I've seen her around. Lefty. Tough player. She makes a lot of balls. Q. Was the crowd very helpful today? HEATHER WATSON: Oh, yeah, the crowd were awesome. I didn't expect there to be so many people for the first round on like a backcourt, but it was unbelievable. Q. One of the best atmospheres you've played in? HEATHER WATSON: Uhm, yeah, I think playing Centre Court Wimbledon was a great atmosphere, too (smiling). But, yeah, it was good today. Q. The problem you had last week, the elbow problem, was that a one‑off or what? HEATHER WATSON: That was the same thing I had two years ago at Wimbledon against Motilide Johansson in the first round when my elbow went. When it happened in my singles match in Auckland, I knew what it was. It felt exactly the same. So I took everything off my serve there. I think that did help in the recovery 'cause it wasn't as bad as it was at Wimbledon. Q. And what have the doctor or trainer said to you about the elbow long‑term? Do you think it's going to be a problem? HEATHER WATSON: They said there could be like scar tissue inside, and that's what's made it come back. I just have to keep my shoulder and all the muscles around my arm loose and start doing stuff to look after that. After matches, I look after my legs a lot, but I never really look after my arms, think about what my arms go through. I'm starting to do that a lot more now. Q. Are you serving at full power? HEATHER WATSON: Not today. At the beginning I was probably serving like at 50. I wasn't even getting it on the strings at the beginning. But by the end I'd say I was serving about 80, 70, 80. Q. It's a new year. I know you take stock in the off‑season. Is there anything going forward that you're going to try to do differently this year to achieve your goals? HEATHER WATSON: Yeah, the way I go about things, I just want to be more professional, like what I'm eating, things in my diet, making sure I get enough sleep, doing the right things before and after a match. Just small things, but they make a big difference. Q. Are you going to have to cut out any sort of nice things that you're particularly fond of? HEATHER WATSON: Yeah, it's really tough actually. Three days ago I had one of these Oreo cakes in the cafeteria. Oh, it was so good. But I'm not going to have another one. Q. All year? HEATHER WATSON: No, no, no, no. Well, next month I'll allow myself (smiling). Q. Was that your mum I saw? HEATHER WATSON: No. Q. She's not here? HEATHER WATSON: No, she's not here. Q. Do you think the conditions here actually do suit the way you want to play and the way you'd like to play? HEATHER WATSON: Yeah, I think they do. I think the court really suits my game. I love the courts here. I really feel confident on them, like I play well. Today I think I just went about it wrong, my match tactics. I tried to, you know, be consistent with a girl that's just going to be there all day. When I can hit the ball like I did later on, I should have been doing that in the first place. Q. Was it a surprise to you after that break how much the match completely changed? HEATHER WATSON: It felt really good. It wasn't a surprise to me because I knew I could do it. But I just didn't know if I was going to change it around 'cause it was just taking way too long. Uhm, but that break did help. And I was able to refocus. Q. Were you worried at that point, before you called the trainer? HEATHER WATSON: Yeah, I was worried. I wasn't playing well at all. Like I said, I thought it was a great opportunity, you know, I'm not drawn against a top‑five player in the world. I really wanted to take advantage of this. I had a great finish to last year. This is the first slam. I was really looking forward to it, very motivated. When I got out there, I mean, the first set just went, I lost 6‑2, and then, you know, I thought I could turn it round in the second set. Didn't have a great start. I was a little worried. I thought I was just wasting an opportunity. Q. Does it help to finish your mindset since you won that title? HEATHER WATSON: I feel a lot more confident. I believe in myself. Like this match today, I felt I should have won, and if I didn't I would have been extremely disappointed. Yeah, and I think it just really gives you confidence, and I'm using it to push myself more in my training, make sure I'm working hard every day and not having a slack day. Q. Do you think you can beat anyone? HEATHER WATSON: Yeah, I do. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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