|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 19, 2014Eugenie BouchardMELBOURNE, VICTORIA E. BOUCHARD/C. Dellacqua THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. In the first set I think your backhand was more unstable than usual. How did you get through it? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah, I felt the first set, it was a bit shaky. I feel like I still served well in the first. I made a few too many unforced errors, wasn't being aggressive enough. Then in the second and third, I really just, you know, stepped in more and really controlled the points. And that worked really well. Q. First quarterfinal at 19. How are you feeling? Nervous, excited, mixture? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I'm excited, yeah. We're at a Grand Slam. I'm just so happy to be playing, looking forward to playing another match. Just really happy to be here and excited to play my next match, hopefully play well. Q. Do you give yourself more of a chance of beating Ana Ivanovic than if it was Serena? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: She beat Serena so she's playing really well. I saw a little bit of the match, so she was definitely playing really well. I'm going to look forward to a really tough battle. We're in the quarters now, so she deserves to be there. No one's going to give it to me, so it's going to be a good match. Q. Did you feel the support from the Genie Army tonight? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah. They were trying to rival her little group of people. Obviously the whole stadium was for her more. I got a gift again today. It's a kookaburra. I'm getting the full range of the Australian animals (smiling). Q. How many stuffed animals did you get so far? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Now I have three. Just looking hopefully in two days I can add to my collection. Q. You didn't seem to get very nervous. When was the last time you were getting super nervous in a match? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I get a little bit nervous before every match. I think that's normal. I think that's part of competition. I think I was a little bit nervous in the first set, but I was able to calm myself down and really just focus on how to play and what to do during the points. I think once I really started just being more aggressive, that's what my game is. So I just felt more confident on the court. Q. Casey said in the second and third sets the conditions changed a little bit, which she thought helped your game. Did you notice any conditions change? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I didn't really notice anything. Maybe the wind died down a little bit. Definitely in the first set it was windy on one side. You had the wind with you. Just something you have to be aware of. It's the same for both of us, so... Q. It seemed like you could have pulled away sooner. Did you feel like maybe you could have done that in the first set? Maybe why didn't it happen? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah, I think I could have. Like I said, I was just feeling‑‑ I don't know. I mean, I felt fine on the court. Just a few too many unforced errors, things like that. She did play well in the first set. She gets a lot of balls back and made me hit a few more balls. I ended up making the error where in the second and third I didn't. But, you know, I was happy I was able to regroup after the first and get my game back together. Q. You lost in quallies here last year. Now you're three matches from winning the title. Does this feel ahead of schedule? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I wouldn't say so, no. I always expect a lot from myself. Every match I go on the court believing I can win. Just take it one match at a time. I just have a match in two days. Just looking forward to that. Q. You spoke the other day about how tough it is to win a Grand Slam as a teenager these days. But the draw opens up a little bit now, doesn't it? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I don't know if you can say that. Obviously Serena is No.1 in the world. But Ana played well and beat her. I think she's playing really well right now. She also won in Auckland. I think she has a lot of confidence and it will be a really tough match. Q. The level between juniors, like when you won Wimbledon, to now, didn't you find there was a fairly significant jump? Doesn't it surprise you a bit that in a year and a half you're in the quarters of a slam? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I think there is a difference, for sure. When I played the juniors, though, I was 18, so I still felt a little bit of pressure being kind of older and still playing in the juniors. But, you know, that was my choice. I still think I did well winning a slam. But, yeah, I mean, it's definitely, you know, another level in the pros, definitely mentally tougher I think. But I think winning junior Wimbledon gave me a lot of confidence. Right away I transitioned into the pros really well. So I don't know. A year and a half is a long time, too. It's not something that surprises me. Q. Why do you think you've been able to transition better than a lot of other junior slam champs? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Well, I think first of all I got a lot of confidence winning a junior slam showed me that I belong here, I can do well, things like that. Just the constant working on my game, really trying to get better. Really just being tough on the court, battling match after match. It's gone well so far and I hope I keep improving. Q. Tactically from watching you in juniors until now, it seems your game has changed the last year or so. You're aggressive, hitting a bigger ball, bigger serve. Did you make those changes specifically because you needed to be a little bit more aggressive on the senior tour? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Yeah, well, you know, like I said, it's all about constantly trying to work and trying to improve. Just in this past off‑season I was working on my serve, trying to hit a bigger serve, bigger shots, like you said. For sure, you need to have weapons on the pro tour. Just trying to work on them, get them better, as well as the mental side, just trying to be tough in the matches. Whereas in the juniors, you know, maybe the girl will crack or something. But in the pros here, it's really tough match after match. I just think it's really important to always try to constantly improve. Q. What do you remember about the match with Ana at Wimbledon? What do you think worked in your favor? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I remember just being so excited to be on Centre Court, trying to look in the Royal Box to see who was watching the match. I think I played well in that match. I'm going to talk to my coach and talk about, you know, tactical things to do against her. But I'm feeling confident. I feel like I'm playing well. But it's going to be a battle. I'm just going to try to be aggressive, and I know she will, too, so I'll be ready for that. Q. How is Rod Laver compared to Centre Court in Wimbledon and Philippe Chatrier? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: They're all, you know, amazing in their own ways. It was really cool to be out there tonight with a lot of atmosphere, most against me. It was still really cool. Q. How did you keep focused and calm throughout the day? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I slept in till like noon, so really wasn't much of a long day. Just staying relaxed. I only came here at the site like at 3:00. Just hit, did my thing. I think I was really excited to play. I was just looking forward to going on the court, so it wasn't really hard. Q. You slept in till noon. How many hours of sleep did you get? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Like over 12 hours (laughter). Q. What do you do to keep your mind off tennis during a Grand Slam? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I watch TV shows. Like right now I'm watching Heart of Dixie on my computer, yeah (laughter). Just watch other things. But I do enjoy watching tennis at night, the night matches, things like that. Of course, it's tennis. But to me it's still watching as a fan, it's entertaining. Q. You watch the other girls or just the guys? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Everything. Whatever's on. Q. Doesn't get you stressed out at all? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: No. I mean, I love tennis. It's my life. So thinking about tennis all the time is kind of what I do. So I don't really try to get away from it too much. Once in a while, yes. But it's my job. Q. Who are your favorite other players on the men's and women's tour to watch? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: Well, I love Roger, of course. I watch all of his matches. Just watching the great champions. Watching as a fan, also as a student, trying to learn from them. Watching Maria, Serena, watching how they play, you know, what things they do on court that I can learn from. Q. What have you made from Ana Ivanovic's forehand? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I think that helped her win today. She was hitting it really well. I'm going to be ready for it in two days. Q. Could you tell us the story of your YouTube of Laura and Genie Gangnam style? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: We just wanted to show what we do off court for fun sometimes. To have fun off the court, it's not always 100% serious. Q. You dance around China a lot off court? EUGENIE BOUCHARD: No, not that much (smiling). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|