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ROGERS CUP WOMENAugust 9, 2013Gabriela DabrowskiSharon FichmanTORONTO, ONTARIO FICHMAN‑DABROWSKI/Errani‑Vinci THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How does it feel to beat the No. 1 doubles team in the world? Is this something you guys believed could happen when you both woke up this morning? GABRIELA DABROWSKI: I mean, I think we believed it. I, maybe not as much as you, coming off of like some really good wins with a lot more confidence than I had, but I think we went in with a really good strategy, and I think that made me more comfortable in, like, executing and then in turn believing. SHARON FICHMAN: Yeah, exactly. Like we definitely planned out what we were going to do today. We really stuck to it. I thought that we did a good job with that. We kind of had a little bit of a letdown in the first set with those three set points, but they played well. It was good we stuck to our guns and it worked out. In terms of believing it, I felt like especially after my singles, and last week as well I have had some pretty good wins, I just feel like I was able to stay on the court and dictate a lot of the points against top players. So, you know, when we found out we were playing Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, I thought, these girls are obviously amazing and they have had some absolutely phenomenal results together, but I still feel like I can be there. I think Gabby is playing phenomenal, and I thought together we would just ‑‑we really had a good shot. I was glad we stuck to our guns and it was good. Q. What were some of the differences playing two top quality opponents like them compared to some of the players you're more used to regularly facing? SHARON FICHMAN: I mean, speaking for me, I felt like, you know, playing girls at this level, one thing I have really noticed is that when it really matters, I feel like a lot of the top players, that's when they play their best tennis. They don't let the nerves get the better of them. They actually come up with really big shots when it matters. In turn, it makes me feel like I really have to step up as well. I feel like that's the biggest thing. They kind of know what to do in the moment is right, and that's what makes them so great. They come up with something special when they need to. Obviously the girls at this level are so much fitter, hit a lot harder. Playing someone like Sara and Roberta, they are so used to playing with each other, been through so much together, won so many tournaments. They know each other and know what to do. And just the fact they're so comfortable and understand their tactics, it makes it that much more challenging because they're so solid and so used to it. So we knew that we had to kind of pick it up today and really stick to our guns. I thought we did a good job. Q. Congrats. Good job. You mentioned the strategy. Can you share it with us? What did you guys do specifically to beat the No. 1 team? GABRIELA DABROWSKI: Well, we knew we had to play big tennis. We couldn't go out there and hope for them to make any mistakes, first of all. Like I knew that from me personally as well I know that sometimes I can revert back to slicing and hitting with more spin, but it was imperative today that we kept going after the ball and pressuring them and almost playing kind of how they would, which is like taking time away by coming to the net and winning a lot of points that way. That's basically what I was thinking of. Q. I'm sure you guys are aware of what happened in Montreal, as well, today. We have two Canadians playing in the semis obviously in singles. Here in doubles now. Does that make it more special, this win, for you guys? GABRIELA DABROWSKI: Yeah, I mean, two huge tournaments in tennis worldwide, and then we're all doing well. It's really special. Yeah. SHARON FICHMAN: Yeah, I think it just kind of makes us want to push each other, I think. A great example actually is Davis Cup and Fed Cup. The guys have been doing so well, and, you know, I feel like as a team we were like, Gosh, these guys are really stepping up. We got to do it. I felt like it gave us the motivation to really come up with the goods when we needed to, because we wanted to be there too. We got back into the World Group. We have a shot at World Group I. The guys are in the semis. It's just kind of making us want to do that much better as well. The fact that Vasek is playing phenomenally, and Milos is doing incredibly well, it kind of drives us. It's so awesome. We have a chance to do that too. Like let's do it. Let's take it. It's great for us and tennis and Canada. Makes us all so proud. We love representing Canada. It's such a great country. It's so fun to be doing so well in our hometown. It's great feelings all around. Q. I love the reaction after that match. You jumped around and everything. Can you describe maybe the last point and if you can remember it even? SHARON FICHMAN: Yeah, like, I remember Gabby was serving, and, you know, she clocked a ridiculously hard serve, which I was like, Yes. The second I saw that ball come off her racquet and started floating, I was like, Oh, come on. It was an easy overhead. I was like, Okay. Whack it. No one went for it. I kind of looked around, like, Oh, my God, we won, we won, we won. It was fun. It was really good. We went for it to win the match. Gabby came up with a great serve and finished ‑‑I looked good hitting the overhead, but it was really because of her. It was good. I'm glad. It's a nice way to win the match. I feel like we really took it, and I think that made it a little more special. Q. Can you talk about the Toronto crowd. How do you feel their presence, their support? SHARON FICHMAN: This is my hometown, and it's so funny, because like I have seen so many faces I haven't seen in ages. It's great. It's so fun. I said earlier in another interview, someone asked me a similar question, I was here when I was six years old, I think, and I was watching my favorites like Martina Hingis, Serena and Venus when they were younger, Monica Seles. I was like, Wow, I want to be one of these girls some day. That's so cool. Now, years later, it's come back and come full circle. In my hometown it's so great to see that I have so much support from the people I grew up with and from the city I live in and love so much. It makes me feel like all the hard work that, you know, we put in to be as good as we are and to get better and better. It just makes it so much more worth it. It just makes it like really special, like, Wow, you know, I'm so glad that I sacrificed everything in my life to do this. You know, it's really rewarding. Yeah. Q. You're only two matches away from making more history. First Canadian women's doubles team possibly to win the Rogers Cup, then called the Canadian Open, since 1969, probably way before your parents were born, never mind you. I wonder if you two believe, or did what I just say puts a little more pressure on you? GABRIELA DABROWSKI: I don't think it puts more pressure on me. We just have to think about tomorrow for now. Personally I have no idea how our opponents play. I have never seen Srebotnik or Jankovic play in doubles. I think it's important to just take it one point at a time. Looking ahead, it's pointless, because the outcome is so out of our control. SHARON FICHMAN: Yeah, you know, I agree. I think it's important to kind of step out of the situation and just take it for what it is. We're in the semifinals of ‑‑ you know, it's a big tournament, but it's still a tournament. Everybody here is really good. I think we just are going to keep going with the same mentality we have been going with since the beginning of the week. We're having fun. To be honest with you, our main goal, other than we have our strategy when we're on the court, our main goal is just to play really good tennis. We just want to improve and get better, and we want to ‑‑every match that we have, it's a chance for feedback. We go out there, do the best we can, we give it all we've got, and we just trust ourselves because we have put in the practice. That's all you can do. We just want to go out there, play great tennis, and see what happens, see where it goes. It doesn't matter who we play against. We put in the work, and we believe that it will show up in matches, and so far it has. If we just approach it with the same mentality, I think great things have happened and great things could potentially happen. I think that both of us really believe that strongly. We're just having fun, and we're just going to keep doing that. Q. You have sort of started touching on this, but looking ahead to tomorrow, given that you have beaten the world No. 1 team, how does that not kind of affect you mentally going into your next round, and how do you stay kind of focused? GABRIELA DABROWSKI: I'm not sure if it affects us mentally in the sense like, Oh, we beat the No. 1 team, we can beat anybody, because they play so differently than so many other teams. I think it's really hard to compare. I think like tomorrow I'm not sure who we play, but like another team like Makarova and Vesnina, who hit so much harder, they don't like hit slices and these lobs, like it's such a different type of tennis, so it's really hard to take this win and be like, Oh, yeah ‑‑I mean, it shows we do have a good level of doubles together, but I don't think it necessarily means anything certain going forward. SHARON FICHMAN: Also, like everything she said, and just one thing that ‑‑I mean, maybe I think, and I'm sure you agree, is that you have to take note of the fact that everyone in this tournament is really, really good. And, you know, we're the top at what we do in our sport in the entire world. On any given day, I really believe that anyone can beat anyone at this level. You know, what happens over the course of a year is different, because, you know, consistency is very important, but tennis is just like any other sport. Anything can happen. I think that, you know, just because we beat the No. 1 in the world team doesn't mean we are No. 1 in the world by no means. It means we have the level to be there. But everyone is good. You have to respect everybody. I think on any given day anything can happen. You have to just go into every match as its own entity, just take it for a new match and new clean slate and just approach it as a new challenge, and I think we are going to do that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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