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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 19, 2014Casey DellacquaMELBOURNE, VICTORIA E. BOUCHARD/C. Dellacqua THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. What were your thoughts on the match tonight? CASEY DELLACQUA: Uhm, yeah, I mean, obviously disappointing to lose. But, yeah, you know, I'd probably say that the best player tonight won, and that was Eugenie. She played the best tennis in the end. She played really well. I did what I could out there. Tried to create some scoreboard pressure. Tried to hold court position. But she was really playing well tonight. Once the night got on, the conditions got a bit slower and it was pretty hard to hurt her where I wanted to. Yeah, like I said, I'm disappointed to have an opportunity and not to win. But probably the better player won tonight. Q. What changed after the first set? CASEY DELLACQUA: I think Eugenie started to serve better. She definitely picked up her first‑serve percentage. I found it harder to, yeah, hurt her and probably get first hit on the ball. Also, like I said, the wind dropped a bit and the conditions, it didn't become an indoor match, but it kind of felt like that a bit. It became hard for me to hurt her where I wanted to. She picked up her game and picked up her level a lot, I felt. Yeah, that's about it. Q. Did you come out any more or less nervous than you had in your previous matches? CASEY DELLACQUA: No. I felt pretty good out there tonight. I mean, you always have nerves. I have nerves when I play in Bendigo. I just wanted to enjoy it and do what I could. Yeah, I didn't feel any more or less nervous. I know it's different, it's doubles, but we played in big Grand Slam finals last year. I think that puts you in good stead when you play matches like that. Eugenie, she's a young player. She's a really good hitter of the ball. She's talented. I knew it was going to be tough. I thought she played some pretty good tennis there, especially in the end of the match. Q. Was the ball coming through harder in the second and third set? CASEY DELLACQUA: I don't think it was coming through harder. I think the conditions allowed her to have a bit more time on the ball to be able to, yeah, get first hit on the ball. Like I said, she started to serve better, and she returned really well. I didn't get any free points off my serve. That made it difficult for me. But, yeah, she's a very good player. She's definitely one to watch. Q. Do you look at this whole tournament as a launching pad for yourself? CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, like I'll be honest. About three months ago, after US Open, you know, I remember having a conversation with my coach in Tokyo. I qualified there. But I was 180. It was just a matter of like, Do I want to continue to like really work hard and play singles? We had all those conversations. And my answers were always, Yeah, I want to do it, yeah, I want to work hard. Now only three months later, I'll be back inside 100. I'm not sure exactly what my ranking will go to. I'm back to kind of where I wanted to be, probably sooner than I thought. I was in the fourth round of the Australian Open. So in terms of like putting it in perspective of where I'm at and where I want to be, I'm definitely, you know, feeling really good with where my game's at. Even since Brisbane, I've played some really good tennis. Obviously disappointing to lose tonight. But, you know, I felt Eugenie played really, really well. Where I'm at, I'm actually really looking forward to this year. I'm looking forward to working hard and having hopefully more opportunities to play, you know, matches like that, and in the latter stages of the Grand Slam tournaments. Q. The conversation with your coach, was quitting singles a serious option at all? CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, it wasn't a matter of like quitting singles or not. It was just a matter of like if I want to continue to play singles and doubles, what do I need to do, where do I need to head, what things do I need to work on. We had all those open and honest discussions I think you need to have if you want to 100% commit to what you're doing. Uhm, yeah, he asked me a lot of questions. I said, Yeah, I really do want to play singles. I don't want to travel on the tour and just be a doubles player.  I want to play singles. I had to get physically better if I wanted to play both. I had to spend the time on the court working on my singles game. So that's what I did. Like I said, I honestly would have been happy to come here and win a match. But, you know, I beat three pretty good players I feel over the last week. Even like I said since Brisbane, I had some good matches there and in Hobart as well. I'm just really looking forward to the rest of the year now knowing my ranking is already inside 100, which I can tick my first goal off, and now I can reassess my goals and hopefully aim for my ranking to go higher and achieve more this year. I'm definitely more ahead of where I thought I might be. Yeah, I'm really excited for the rest of the year. Q. Do you have specific goals, numbers? CASEY DELLACQUA: I said after I won the Australian Open playoff, I won the 250s in Bendigo, after the Australian Open I wanted to be close to 100. I don't know, I think I'll probably go to around 80 or something. So that was my first goal. So I'll have to sit down with my coach and maybe have some more of those discussions. I think that's what like motivates me to have something to aim for, to have something to work towards. Yeah, I guess we can have some more discussions on where I think I can get to and where my level's at. But I know I'm certainly doing everything I can and heading in the right direction. Yeah, hopefully that produces some more of these results over the coming year. Q. How do you compare where you're at now compared to after you made the fourth round in 2008? CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, I'm probably in a lot better position right now. I'm older. I understand where I'm at with my game. Yeah, I'm definitely in a lot better position now than I was back in '08. In '08 I was playing good tennis, I got to 39 in the world, but I was struggling with injuries. It was a tough year for me. So, I remember it being a great year, but I also remember it being tough. But now it's about enjoying it. I heard Flavia say it today. As you get older, you enjoy your tennis a lot more, you appreciate what you can do, you're healthy, you get out there and enjoy it. That's exactly how I feel. I enjoy tennis. I started playing because I love it and I'm motivated. At the end of the day that's all I can do. I'll be, you know, just working hard throughout the whole year to continue. But I'm definitely in a lot better position now than I was in '08. Q. You said some nice things about Eugenie's game. People talk about her as the potential next big thing. How good do you think she can be? CASEY DELLACQUA: Tennis is a tough sport. I don't think anyone should be putting too many expectations on her in a way of, you know, in the next couple years she's going to, you know, win slams and stuff. But to be already in the quarterfinals at age 19, it's a pretty good effort. She plays some really good tennis. When she's on, her serve is great. She holds court position amazing. She's mentally tough.  Somebody her age, she's pretty composed. She didn't seem like she was going to crack too much today. I think that's a really, really positive sign for her. I've seen her play some great tennis through the juniors. But sometimes translating that into the seniors is tough. She's done it with a breeze. Yeah, I look forward to watching her career. I think she's going to be an extremely good player. Q. Do you think the Serena loss changed the dynamics of this match? CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, no, not at all I don't think. I think Eugenie and I both wanted that quarterfinal spot. The best player won tonight, and that was her. Q. What did you make of the crowd tonight? CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, they were great. The Aussie crowd are always great with me. She's obviously got some fans, which is awesome. It makes for a good atmosphere. Yeah, I'm sure for her next round against Ana, that will be tough. Aussies love Ana in Australia. That will be another great match to watch. I look forward to it, too. Q. If you had to pick one thing, what's the biggest thing you would take from your singles performance at this tournament? CASEY DELLACQUA: I guess just the belief that I can do it. I think probably in the past I've probably struggled with that belief that I can beat a lot of those players. Even in '08 when I won, I don't know, it was still a bit crazy. I think it's finding that belief within yourself that I can beat those girls. I think that's a really big thing in our sport. So probably if I can take one thing away from the last month of tennis, not even just here, but from Brisbane, Hobart and here, it's that I can beat girls like this and I can compete with them. I've just got to continue to work hard, which I haven't done anything different except work hard. If I can continue to do that and believe in myself, then hopefully, yeah, things will be all positive for the rest of the year, and stay healthy. Q. You must be pretty proud of yourself what you've achieved here. CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's hard to feel super positive now when you've just lost. I know when I sit down with my coach and my trainer, we look back on what I've done over the last few months, and I think reflection is a really important thing to do to grow and develop. I think, yeah, I'll take a lot from this last month of tennis. Even I played the wild card player. I played two 50,000s in Bendigo to get my ranking up. I've done a lot of hard work since pretty much after US Open. I haven't stopped. It's hard to sit here now and reflect, but, yeah, I feel proud of where I'm at now. Hopefully that will continue. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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