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AEGON INTERNATIONALJune 22, 2013Elena VesninaEASTBOURNE, ENGLAND E. VESNINA/J. Hampton THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Congratulations. Well done. Given the conditions, what was it like out there? ELENA VESNINA: Thank you. It was really difficult to play today, honestly. I think we both were struggling with this wind. At the beginning of the match, I was like, Oh, my God, I just need to stay in the match, just try to play every single point. Don't think about wind and just fight. Because yesterday it was not about serve. It was not about good forehand or good backhand. It was just about fighting spirit. If you're able to handle this, if you're able to play under the pressure with this kind of wind, you will do well. So I'm pretty happy about my game today with these tough conditions. Q. Did you try and avoid going for the lines, just playing safe shots to get the wind? ELENA VESNINA: Yeah, yeah. I was trying to play safe. I was trying to use slice a little bit more just to make Jamie kind of play low balls, because it's really difficult to control the ball, to put the spin on it. I mean, you have no choice. You just need to put it in the center of the court. Then I was just trying to play, when I had opportunity, I was just trying to play aggressive and deep so Jamie didn't have the time to attack. So that was my game plan. Q. Have you ever played in more difficult conditions than that? ELENA VESNINA: In Hobart. It was very similar conditions like there, and I was prepared for that. Like I told you yesterday, I was expecting that it's going to be windy. But it's a shame honestly that in the final, I mean, that wind. You always want to play, always want to show like best tennis. You always want to show a good match, you know, so spectacular match or something. But doesn't matter, a win is a win. Q. Was it worse than Hobart? ELENA VESNINA: It was quite the same. Q. You had lost in six finals before this year. ELENA VESNINA: Yes. Q. Now you have won twice in six months. What's the difference? What's made the difference? ELENA VESNINA: Maybe my time came, and finally I'm getting more lucky in finals. Maybe I change a little bit as a player, as a person. I grew up. I start to be more mature. Maybe I know what to do in the finals. Because before, even I was losing that finals, I was playing against really good players, honestly, top 10 players, most of them. I kept believing in myself. I knew that I'm going to win this title. I knew that it's going to happen. It's not like self‑confidence, you know, but I was just thinking that if you are working hard, if you keep believing in yourself, it will come. And it did. Q. Did you have any tips from your doubles partner? Because she had already won here, hadn't she? ELENA VESNINA: No. She told me, It's going to be really, really windy. Get ready for that. I'm happy now she won it here and I won here, so we're really good doubles partners right now. Q. Are you ready to tell us your secret now? ELENA VESNINA: About what? Q. Well, we don't know, do we? You said yesterday. ELENA VESNINA: Every woman has secrets. (Smiling.) I have plenty of them. Which one do you want to know? Q. I don't know. You said you'd tell us later. Now is later? ELENA VESNINA: My secret was for to win this tournament, right? (Laughter.) Q. Not good enough. ELENA VESNINA: It was just ‑‑I'm just happy person right now. That's it. Q. Even though it was doubles, even though it was a different surface, how much confidence did you take from winning at the French Open? ELENA VESNINA: A lot. It gave me so much confidence, gave me so much, first of all, happiness when we won it. A Grand Slam is a Grand Slam. You know, not that many players are able to play in that final. It's even harder to win it. When finally I lift the trophy with my partner, I felt such a relief. I felt that all my work that I was doing all my life ‑‑ since I was a little kid I was thinking about winning Grand Slam. The funny thing that Yevgeny Kafelnikov, he's from Sochi, he's from my home city, and when he won Roland Garros many years ago I was coached by his dad. I came to his house, and his dad showed me the trophy. He told me that it's going to be your first Grand Slam title, believe me. And it happened. Q. Turning up here as a Grand Slam champion, did it feel different? ELENA VESNINA: Everybody is joking right now about me, Oh, like you're a Grand Slam, you can say whatever you want, like you can do whatever you want. But it's not true. It's just title that I was waiting for. Yeah, it changed a little bit about my confidence. It gave me that confidence, gave myself belief even more. But I didn't change as a person. I'm same. Q. What are your ambitions going into Wimbledon now both in the singles and the doubles? ELENA VESNINA: In the singles I would like to pass first round. Q. Nothing more than? ELENA VESNINA: I will take step by step. I don't like to think about, you know, too far away. It's just ‑‑it's a Grand Slam. Everybody is hungry for the wins. Everybody is waiting for this tournament, especially Wimbledon. This is the most popular Grand Slam, and everybody is waiting for that, and everybody is trying their best and showing their best tennis over there. I'm just focusing on every single match. Q. And the doubles? ELENA VESNINA: In doubles, same. It's the same. Every single match we need to play very confident, very consistent, and especially because we didn't play this week with my partner, so we played only on clay. Now it's going to be different. It's grass. So we need some time to get used to that. Q. What's your thoughts on playing Andrea first round? ELENA VESNINA: It's going to be difficult match. Andrea is playing very good on grass. She likes this surface. I don't know if I played against her before. As I told you, I'm really bad with statistics and all this head‑to‑head. So, yeah, it's going to be a tough match, first round. Now I'm in Eastbourne. Today I'm going to be in London. It's going to be a little bit different conditions. I hope it's not going to be that windy. But still I don't want to think about that right now, honestly. I just want to enjoy my time in Eastbourne and enjoy my title. Q. Is Wimbledon one of your favorite Grand Slams? ELENA VESNINA: Wimbledon? One of my favorites. My favorite is Roland Garros. Q. What were the crowds like in Eastbourne? ELENA VESNINA: In Eastbourne? Really, really good crowd, polite. They understand the game. They support everybody the same. Of course they pick their favorite, some people, they pick their favorite and they keep cheering for them. It was really pleasure to play since first day, since my first match. Even I played against Ana, I mean, everybody ‑‑she was the favorite. But still it's a pleasure to play here. People really understand tennis, and they understand the rules. They helping players to feel comfortable on the court. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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