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U.S. OPENAugust 26, 2013Alisa KleybanovaNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK A. KLEYBANOVA/M. Puig THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How does it feel to be in the main draw slam locker room again? ALISA KLEYBANOVA: Well, for me right now it's a little bit strange still to be in any kind of tournament. But, you know, I don't feel any difference now being at the Grand Slam locker room or big event locker room. It's still the same players. The atmosphere is pretty much the same. Of course, the Grand Slam is one of the most important tournaments through the year, but I'm not thinking about that right now. You know, I haven't played through the whole year every tournament like everyone else. For me, it's one of the first big tournaments I've played since a long break. I'm just taking it step by step, enjoying it every day, trying to improve as much as I can, and, you know, play my best tennis. Q. Are you surprised you won that fight today? ALISA KLEYBANOVA: No (laughter). Well, it always feels great to win. But, you know, if you go on the court you have to want to win that match, and I went on the court and I wanted to win that match. And I knew it would be tough because here everyone is tough to beat. But my goal was to end up winning this match no matter what it takes. It took a very long time, but I did it, and I'm very happy about it. Q. Do you think your game is slowly back to what it was? ALISA KLEYBANOVA: Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's still hard for me to say how it's going to be, you know, on the long run because I haven't played so many matches yet. It's difficult to play your best from the beginning, you know. I've been training a lot. I know I'm doing the right things. I know I'm getting there. But I still need a lot more matches, a lot more tournaments to be more consistent, you know, to feel better on the court, you know, to be able to manage the stress level out there. You know, everything is a little bit new for me right now, so I'm just trying to feel everything, you know, and try to deal with things as good as I can for the moment. Just try to win every point and not think about which tournament I'm playing, you know, how important it is, all that stuff. I just focus on the ball. That what really helped me today because I was, you know, really not distracted by people up there. There were a lot of fans from the first point out there. You know, the crowd was very active. I just, you know, was very focused on my game, and I think that's why I was able to hang in there for such a long time and be able to make the most important points. Q. Do you realize maybe the impact your story has on people in tennis and outside? People are happy you won today. ALISA KLEYBANOVA: You know, I know that it does, but I don't really realize it that much. I probably should, but I don't know. I mean, I'm happy, you know, all those things are over for me now. I went through them. I came as a winner on that battle. Right now I'm back on court, and all my focus is on the matches. You know, I try to do my best. I want to win. I want to come back so much. It's just all my mind is in tennis right now. But, you know, I hear a lot from people that I'm a big inspiration for them. A lot of people now look up to me. I mean, I think it's great. I don't want to be like an example, but if I am, I think it's very nice. I'm not trying to, you know, show anything or whatever. I do it for myself. I want to play tennis. I want to be here as a tennis player because I have skills that I can do that, not being here as someone who overcame and because of that people know me. I'm not trying to pretend anything. I just want to be a tennis player right now. But if my story inspires people and, you know, it gives them more belief on things, it makes them feel stronger at some point, I mean, that's great. I think, you know, people always need someone to look up to, as I when I was young. I was looking up to certain people in my life, setting up certain goals. I think it's great. If I can do something, I'm always happy to do that. Q. How much did all those small tournaments you played help get you to the US Open? ALISA KLEYBANOVA: Well, for me right now it's not important what I play. I just try to play as much as possible to get the competition, you know, to get my game back. I think it's important also now for me to play different levels, because every match you play out there, no matter who against, it builds up your confidence. I mean, it's hard to start after such a long break straightaway with such a big event. We figured out it was better for me to start with something smaller because you're still stressed out there. It's normal, because everybody that goes into the match wants to win, feels the tension, feels the pressure. The more I play, I'm getting used to it. I think it played a very important role for me, that summer season that I've played in the smaller tournaments. And the World TeamTennis helped me a lot because I was able to transform things from practice to the match and try some things. Also because I had a lot more matches in a row. You know, if you play a big tournament, you lose first round, you have a week you don't do anything. TeamTennis, no matter what, you have a good day, bad day, you play three weeks in a row. You have a chance to change things every day. You lost, it's okay. You go back on the court the next day and try to play. Smaller tournaments, obviously even if I wasn't playing so good, I still managed to win the match no matter what and I go into the next round. It's important for me to do that, as well. I mean, I'm happy I did it. Also after this tournament I'm planning to play some challengers again, you know, to keep playing more matches, because obviously I don't have so many tournaments using my special ranking. It's only five from now until May next year. Obviously I'm not going to play everything right now in a row. I have to mix them up with some smaller events. Q. The day that you announced that you had Hodgkin's, I think on your website it said, Alisa Kleybanova defeats Hodgkin's Lymphoma 6‑Love, 6‑Love. Was that your idea? ALISA KLEYBANOVA: No. Marcin Matysik, he comes up with some great ideas. I really like them. But it's a big surprise for me, too, sometimes. Q. Is that what you thought, though, at the time? Were you that confident that you'd be able to get through it and come out of it on the good side? ALISA KLEYBANOVA: Well, I mean, maybe for sure it's different for other people, but for me, at that moment, I just wanted to come back on the court so much. I wanted to play tennis again so much that it wasn't a question for me. Like, I just saw tennis court like few months ahead, you know. I just, you know, was ready to go through anything. I wanted to be back healthy and play again. So I think that gave me a lot of power, a lot of, you know, like confidence, and also, you know, a lot of‑‑ I mean, I was very patient. I wasn't so stressed about those things. Just took it as part of like when you do very tough training, you know it's going to be tough. You have to go through this, because after you'll get better and things will get better. So I just took it as something I must do right now to be able to come back on the court. I think because I had that goal I just was very focused on doing the right things, and it helped me to go through everything strong, you know, without giving up, without having, you know, negative thoughts. My goal was so big to get over this that I think that's what helped me a lot. Because the most important is that, you know, when you want to have a big goal in the front of you, you do everything to reach it. I think for some people, maybe they give up because they don't know what they're going to do. Maybe they're insecure. I was just like, you know, it's like playing a match: you just do everything to be a winner. Q. Have you kept in touch with Andy Roddick since the World TeamTennis ended? ALISA KLEYBANOVA: No, not really. We had a lot of fun obviously playing during, but our schedules are very different. He's doing his things; I'm doing my things. We haven't been in touch. For sure, if we see each other somewhere we're going to have a chat. We had a great time. I'm sure we're going to be in touch occasionally somewhere during the tournaments if he's going to show up. Q. Would you say you changed in any way after all you've been through as a person or as a player? ALISA KLEYBANOVA: It's hard for me to say because I think it's something that people from outside can judge. But, you know, inside, of course I feel stronger. Everything that you go through, it's always experience. It's something negative but also something positive. You know, I always take it as a lesson.  I learn. I always try to look forward and never to look backwards no matter how bad or hard it was. I think whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger obviously. Q. Have you spoken at all with Ross Hutchins, an ATP doubles player? ALISA KLEYBANOVA: Yes. I tried to get in touch with him when he got the diagnosis. I emailed him. I guess he had a lot of people around him, a lot of attention. I don't know. I mean, I was in the same situation. I actually tried to like stay alone, stay out of it. I know a lot of people, basically all tennis world, was supporting me. But in that situation, for me it was like playing a match. I don't want to be distracted by things. I just want to do it. As a professional athlete, obviously I didn't want to show my weaknesses. I didn't want to, you know, like suffer in front of other people and everything. I appreciated a lot that close friends, my family was around me. And I knew that a lot of people from outside who were not able to come there, they were supporting me. But I didn't have to like talk to everyone to feel it. I knew it and that made me stronger, and that made me feel good about it. That's it. I didn't feel like I needed a confirmation from people that they were there. Even if they didn't say anything, I know that they're thinking about me, they're praying for me, and I was always thankful for that. You know, I wrote him an email. I just said, If you need anything, I give all my support and I hope you're going to be, you know, able to win this battle as I did and come back on the tour and play tennis again. And that's it. I'm completely fine that he didn't get back to me. I know it's very tough to go through those things. I guess he did it very well because I heard everything is over and he is starting to play soon. I'm very happy for him. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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