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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL PRESENTED BY SUNCORPDecember 29, 2013Jelena JankovicBRISBANE, QUEENSLAND THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How was the off‑season? San Diego house done now? JELENA JANKOVIC: Yes, but I didn't do it over there. I did it a little bit at home in Serbia because I wanted to be with my family. Then couple weeks I did as well in Dubai. I came as well early here. So spent a little bit of time everywhere. Q. Feel like you got a nice mental break between the Championships and here? JELENA JANKOVIC: Yeah, that's really what I wanted. I wanted to be at home in Serbia with the rest of my family. I really missed that because I was on the road a long time and didn't spend much time with my loved ones. So I wanted to do that. I'm really happy. I recharged my batteries and am ready to start the new season. Q. So looking back at 2013, which was better obviously than 2012, 2011, were you very pleased? JELENA JANKOVIC: Yeah, I was very pleased. I had a very good season. I was able to come back to the top 10. I'm No. 8 in the moment. So I've come a long way and worked very hard. I'm still trying to work very hard to get better and keep improving. You know, I look forward to the challenge that will bring me 2014. Q. Why did you decide to play Brisbane? JELENA JANKOVIC: I decided to play Brisbane, first of all, I wanted to start a little bit earlier just to get some matches, just to hopefully get as many matches as possible before Australian Open. The field is tough here. I want to play with the best players in the world. It was just my choice. Last year I was supposed to play in China but I withdraw. I got sick so I wasn't able to play. Then this year I chose to play Brisbane. It's nice to be back here. I was here a couple years ago, and this is the second time here. Q. Schiavone was the last match. Do you remember that match at all? JELENA JANKOVIC: Yeah, was that a couple years ago I think in the quarterfinals. I'm not sure. It was a tough match. I think she's a tricky opponent.  She plays those spins and slices and mixes up her game. It's every easy to play against her. I hope I can play some really good tennis and play a really good match. Q. Do you start the new season with any specific goals in mind? JELENA JANKOVIC: My goal is just to keep working hard every day and to improve certain things in my game and stay positive. You know, when I go on court, I want to compete at 100% and be the best player I can be. Results will come. My main goal is to do well in the big events, like Grand Slams and Tier 1s. So we will see how it goes. Q. How do you separate your relationship with your brother as a coach and your sibling, brother? You have on and off court, which could be great and it worked for you last year, but it can be tricky with family members, no? JELENA JANKOVIC: No, actually I'm very close to my family. We get along very well. He's my older brother, and he's always been that protective brother and always took care of me. Even though now we are older. Things change as you get older obviously, but I think he knows my character the best, you know, my game, you know, my lifestyle. On top of that, I think we get along very well on and off the court. It's important I think to be happy as well and have a good surrounding, good, positive people around. So that helps you when you go on the tennis court. You can do your job with ease. You enjoy it. Q. So do you guys have an agreement as to when you stop talking about tennis during the day? Like when you go to dinner, do you say, Okay, no tennis now? JELENA JANKOVIC: Yeah, of course it depends. I think when we finish the tennis obligations we don't talk about tennis. Sometimes let's say we are at dinner and we are talking about some tactics or something, so that's fine. But it's not like we talk about tennis all day. I'm not that person as well. I like to focus on my job, and then when I get off the court‑‑ like I said, when I finish all the things that have to do with tennis, I have other subjects to talk about as well. Q. So it's mostly the older players, not very old, but players in their late 20s, early 30s, in the top 10. Do you see that happening in 2014, or you think maybe some of the younger ones will really push this year? JELENA JANKOVIC: Yeah, it's difficult to predict, of course. You never know what's going to happen. But I think from my experience, when you're getting older you have a lot more knowledge, a lot more experience, you feel wiser, and you can use that to your advantage compared to some youngsters that are doing everything for the first time. They don't know what to expect. Of course they maybe don't have anything to lose and not as much pressure, but being one of not the old but ine of the older ones, you can use that to your advantage. If you're fit and don't have major injuries, if you enjoy what you do, I think you can achieve really great things. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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