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U.S. OPENAugust 31, 2013Ana IvanovicNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK A. IVANOVIC/C. McHale THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You battled back in that match. Talk about the match. ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, I'm very pleased with the effort, you know, that I managed to win the match today because it wasn't easy. Obviously I wasn't at the top of my game. I really struggled to find my feet around the ball in the beginning of the match. But I really tried to swing freely and get myself back into that match. You know, played great game to break her when she was serving for the match. That kind of gave me confidence. I tried to move forward and be aggressive even when I was making mistakes. Then in the third set, I did serve very well. So I was very pleased with that. You know, just so happy to be through. Q. As you go deeper in the tournament, the competition gets tougher. Do you think it's better to have a tough match relatively early on? ANA IVANOVIC: You know, while sitting now after I won, of course I'm going to say, yeah, it's great. It challenged me and pushed me. If it was not the case, it would be hard to see that way. It definitely is. Because during the Grand Slam, it's a long tournament, two‑week event. You're not going to go through winning 6‑Love, 6‑1 every match unless you're Serena. You have to battle out even when you're not on top of your game. Now I have the opportunity to improve for my next match. Q. Talk about a matchup with Victoria Azarenka. ANA IVANOVIC: I played both of them leading up to the US Open. I know what to expect. It's going to be revenge seeking no matter who I play. I really want to play against the best and challenge myself, because I'm ready to take them on. I had close match with Vika and close match with Li Na. I really look forward to this opportunity. Q. You said your number one goal is to get back to the top of the game where you were before. You're going to have to beat players like Victoria. The opportunity to play her, is that an exciting challenge for you? ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, definitely is. I was really close in SanDiego, I felt. I have game that can challenge top players. I look forward to that opportunity. That's why I'm also very happy to pull through matches like this. Now I have day also to recover, recuperate, get ready for that match. It's going to be tough, no matter. But I really want to take on that challenge as a positive thing. Q. Can you tell the difference when you're playing an American player out there? I wasn't in the stadium, so I couldn't hear what was happening. Was there a lot of support for her? Does it matter to you? ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, it was more excitement obviously. They were cheering for her, which is normal. But I had that experience because last couple of years I also played Sloane Stephens here and Serena. I kind of knew that going into today's match. Q. You've been on the circuit for quite a while. You probably know better than anyone how it's a grind. You posted the famous quote, Only he who knows the best nation knows the way. Could you take a moment and talk about that quote, what it means to you. ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, I think many times we judge people without actually knowing what's going on behind the scenes. Speaking for me and for other players, you see us when we are competing and you don't know the efforts we put in. Everyone, it's easy for them to sit back and judge and talk about what one should do or shouldn't do. But only the person who is involved and who knows what their goals are, for every person it's different. That way when they are clear on their goals, they can put the work in and the motivation and everything towards achieving that goal. Q. What are your goals then? Have you been pleased with this process? ANA IVANOVIC: I change my team after Wimbledon, so it's new team, new situation for me. I set myself a goal. That sort of resembles that. I have a way that I want to take on and a goal that I have in the long term. This is a process. Still it's a process. It's working every day. Some days it's tougher, like today. Some days it's easier. But it's matter of just dealing with whatever comes your way. Q. Can you share your goal? ANA IVANOVIC: Well, obviously my big goal is to win another Grand Slam. You know, I really want to work hard for it. It's long way. I have to beat players like Vika, Serena, other top players to get there. I'm aware of that. I have luxury that I've been there, so I know what it takes. Q. You had a full‑time coach for a few years. You said a few weeks ago it's a collaboration with a new team. I would think you're coaching yourself a bit now. When you're out on court, are you making most of the decisions? ANA IVANOVIC: I still talk to them a lot, you know. We come up with the tactic. I'm also kind of player who needs direction. I like to take charge, but I also need direction. It's balance of these things. I do listen closely to what they have to say, the way they prepare me for the match, because I like to have plan going on the court. Not necessarily it's my own plan. It's what they tell me as well, because they are the ones watching opponents as well. They have a little more insight to that side. Q. What's the difference between winning the big points against McHale today and when you played Victoria a few weeks ago? Do you feel differently inside? ANA IVANOVIC: Well, I try not to judge. I try to look at myself and try to play the best I can every point. Obviously can feel the moments in the match what are more important. I try not to look at the opponent. I just try to take care of what I have to do out there. It's hard because it's very easy to get wound up in the feeling, in the opponent, even the crowd. But it's very important for me to go back to my own plan and my intention. That's what I did well today at the end of the match, which I was very happy about. Q. What did you think when you first heard that Maria and Jimmy had parted company after one match? ANA IVANOVIC: I mean, it's hard to say because I haven't seen them obviously work together. But, you know, that's another thing. It's a trial. We are competing all the time. We are under the public eye. If you're trying with a person, everyone knows about it. It was probably for them the same thing, and it just doesn't work. It's also energy and how you work with one another. Q. Do you remember the first time or two you were in this big interview room and what was that like? ANA IVANOVIC: In this one particular, I actually don't remember. I was always very shy, so I was very nervous for every interview I had. Q. What was the last match you won that you would describe as a big win? ANA IVANOVIC: Well, it's hard to remember. That's a scary thought (smiling). No, but I mean definitely matches like this. Also last year here when I played Sloane Stephens, also pulled a tough three‑setter match in the night session. These are the matches you work hard for. For me also playing Li Na in Toronto, having 5‑2 and still losing 7‑6 in the third, it gave me courage to believe that I'm that close to the top players. Q. What's the difference when you actually win the match? ANA IVANOVIC: Maybe we can talk about it next time if I do win (laughter). Q. Can you talk about challenges for female players in particular in finding the right balance of fitness, weight training, weight in general? For men it seems a little more cut and dry than maybe it is for women. ANA IVANOVIC:  Yeah, it's hard, you know. Every player, it's kind of different. They have different style of game so they need different thing in strength and fitness. I now have full‑time fitness coach with me. I trust him, what he's doing. We set a goal. We know what we're going to get to. Yeah, so we sort of going along that road. Q. Many people in tennis think Novak is a great guy. It's taken a while for him to catch on with the public. Can you share about your relationship with Novak, a fun story from your early years. ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, Novak is a great guy. I mean, we know each other since we were four. I didn't even play tennis at the time. I think he was just starting. We shared lot of fun moments. Lots of tournaments we played under 10, under 12 in Serbia. We used to play hide and seek. You play two, three matches a day. In between you have nothing to do so you play games. It's great to see him do so well, it's inspiration. For many, many kids in Serbia as well. He brought a new image to our country as well. In some degree we all did. It's so good to see him, you know, here at the top of the game. But he did embarrass me a few times, trying to imitate me. I don't know if you noticed in Hopman Cup, when we played mixed doubles, the Gangnam style song came on and he made me dance. I was so embarrassed. He knew it. That's why he did it (laughter). Q. He speaks candidly in his book about when the bombs were falling and the fear. Do you remember that? Do you remember practicing even at courts that were in harm's way? ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, I do remember very well. The very first day it started actually, I was on the practice court. They came in and they said, Look, you know, we heard it's going to start tonight. You better go back home and just stop the practice. The coach was like, Yeah, sure, we just finish the basket. They're like, No, no, no, we go. That was the first day, and then for about a week or two weeks we didn't practice because we didn't know what was going to happen. After that, we used to wake up early, practice 6 to 8, 5 to 7. That was for a couple weeks. After that we went and played tournaments. We tried to live as normal as possible. We were not going to school. People were not working. They tried to organize these tournaments. There was a rule that the matches that were on, in case the sirens came on, they had to finish, but no new matches would be called on. They invented their own rules. Q. There's a lot of excitement about the Sloane/Serena rematch outside of the locker room. Is it also something that would excite players? ANA IVANOVIC: I mean, I think it's a great competition for two of them. They had a tough match in Australia this year. I know they're good friends, too. They're both very tough, tough players. I think it's exciting. I think also for Americans to have, you know, two great players like that playing against each other. Q. Is it interesting enough that yourself and some other players would actually turn on the TV and watch? ANA IVANOVIC: Actually, I do watch TV when I'm resting. I do enjoy it to relax with the tennis. Q. Who is your favorite commentator on television? ANA IVANOVIC: Well, I have to say Darren, don't I (smiling)? Q. You were trailing in the second set. What do you do mentally to come back? ANA IVANOVIC: The thing is that in the second set also there was a lot of breaks, a lot of up and downs. That kind of gave me courage. When she was serving for the match, I took some risk that paid off. I knew I had to be aggressive because I was giving her too many opportunities to be aggressive herself. I was very, very happy that I managed to go for my shots at that point. Q. Going back a little bit to the question of diet. In Washington we were asking a lot of players about supplements. Dmitry Tursunov said something, that you exert so much energy on court, in practice, that you literally can't eat enough and drink enough to replenish, so you have to take supplements. I'm curious about whether what happened with Viktor and Marin with the blood testing, has that changed anything with you about what you take? ANA IVANOVIC: I think most of the players just take something that they've been taking for a while, that they know it's safe to take. I think it's very important for us after each tough first session or matches in particular to take a protein shake. There are so many organic ones that you can take that are very safe. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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