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U.S. OPENSeptember 4, 2013Flavia PennettaNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK F. PENNETTA/R. Vinci THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You have made three quarterfinals here and now your first semifinals. What is it about NewYork that brings out the best in your game? FLAVIA PENNETTA: Everyone ask me the same thing. It's every day the same question (smiling). I don't know. I just enjoy to play here. Q. You have such a long relationship with her. It seems very special to some of us to see you guys playing. You're both late in your careers and stuff. Does it feel that way to you? FLAVIA PENNETTA: Yes. I feel it a lot, you know. I think in the beginning we didn't play good tennis. I was tight; she was tight, also. When I won the first set I just relax a little bit and tried to play better. But the day was tough for both of us. Q. Do you remember the time that you first became friends and what kind of sparked your friendship? FLAVIA PENNETTA: Excuse me. (Silences cell phone.) What did you ask me? Q. Do you remember when you first became friends with her and what might have sparked your friendship, what maybe you had in common? FLAVIA PENNETTA: I think it was really young when we meet for the first time. I don't remember when was exactly the day or the time, but we spent so much time together. And in the beginning was not a really friend of me, and then she's become because we spend so much time in the Italian Federation together. She's still, of course, my friend. Q.  Since you know her so well, can you say what you think is the best quality in your game and what is the best quality in her personality? FLAVIA PENNETTA: I think in the way she play she's so talented, like you cannot see another player like her in the tour. She's Roberta, and she's the only one, you know. Like she do different thing. Most of the players play really hard in just one way. She makes so different shots. She comes to the net, unbelievable backhand, and so she is different completely. Personally I think she's really positive girl. She always try to find the light, no? When you see everything really dark. So she always really a good person. Q. Was it tough then to know that about her, and at the same time to know that only one of you was going to reach the semifinal? FLAVIA PENNETTA: Of course, of course. If you can choose, you want to be in the final, not against her directly. It's much better. Q. Normally I don't like to talk about age or ask about age, but you are 31 and Roberta is 30, right? Once Errani said it was maybe Italian grow a little bit slower compared to other countries. FLAVIA PENNETTA: (Through translation.) Q. Do you agree with that? FLAVIA PENNETTA: No, I don't think so. I think Francesca, she was top 30 when she was pretty young. I was also top 30 when I was young. But it's good to stay physical, in a good way, and play this good tennis at this age, of course. I'm proud of me now. I'm 31, and physically I feel good finally. I'm in the first semifinal in Grand Slam. There is nothing to say more. Q. What does that mean to you? Talk about this run. You haven't lost a set yet. I mean, to be honest, if you look at the results prior to coming in, there isn't much to say that you would be in a situation that you are in right now. FLAVIA PENNETTA: Well, from first day of the tournament I never think to be here and talk about the semifinal. You know, I didn't play my best tennis in the last six months, and I just try to keep working and working in the same way every day. I starting to feel more my forehand, my backhand. Everything starting to feel more normal in the way it was before the injury. I play really good tennis here, I think. I play good tennis with Sara, with Kuznetsova. Every day much better, and better and every day was tougher and adjust, try to use everything I had now and put it in the court and play my best tennis. Q. And after coming off of this match and going into a semifinal of a Grand Slam, what is your level of confidence right now? FLAVIA PENNETTA: I'm confident because I'm here. Of course if I gonna, I will play two good girls. I don't know who is going to win tonight, but anyway it's going to be a good match. But I still have nothing to lose. Q. Why do you think that there are so many women now who are able to play into their 30s at a really high level? What's changed over the last 15 years? FLAVIA PENNETTA: I think we just keep playing. Before the career of the woman was shorter. They retired early. But I think because we just keep playing. Q. You talk about the confidence level, but the semifinal is a little bit uncharted territory for you. No Italian, male or female player, has reached the final in the US Open history. You can be the first one; just one step away. How big the challenge and the pressure that all country is watching you and... FLAVIA PENNETTA: No, I really don't feel this pressure. In Italy we already have one champion on Grand Slam; Sara make two final, one semifinal. So I really don't feel this pressure right now. Right now, really, nothing at all. Maybe tomorrow night I starting to feel a little bit, but now I'm okay. Q. In singles she has a way of making people crazy because her style is so different from everybody else. How is it for you today, and in the past is it because you're so accustomed to her? FLAVIA PENNETTA: Because I know her really well and she know me really well, so most of the time when she want to make a dropshot I know it. I know it's going to be a dropshot. Actually I didn't take one, right? You know that. But she's so good in the way she did it it's not easy to take the ball. But of course we know each other really well. We grow up together. I know how she play, she know everything of me. We get in the court, and I think today was more about inside, you know. Was not about tennis. It was about how you play, how you feel in the court, and how can you handle the situation. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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