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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 17, 2014Samantha StosurMELBOURNE, VICTORIA A. IVANOVIC/S. Stosur THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. What were your thoughts on the match overall? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, look, I thought it was a very good match. Obviously I had an opportunity to close out that first set a little bit quicker than what I ended up doing. Look, I thought we both played very well. Ana came out swinging. I thought she returned great tonight. I think as that third set went on, she kind of, I don't know what she was feeling obviously, but I thought she was kind of up there. I felt like I had to hit very good serves and really hit my spots to make it that I was going to be on top of the point. Then the last couple of games where she broke me she, yeah, played unbelievable. I think we both played very well. Yeah, that's that. Q. She was strong on her forehand tonight. Was it hard to avoid that? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Look, I think her forehand is her better shot anyway. She's always very dangerous on that side, has the ability to hit a lot of winners. I kind of knew that going in anyway. I do think she hit it very well tonight. If you weren't going there with a purpose or hitting it well, then you were going to be in trouble for the rest of the point. It's one of these things you can't not go there, but you also have a make sure whatever you are doing to that side has got to be effective. Q. Has her game changed the last 12 months or so? SAMANTHA STOSUR: I think she still generally plays the same way. I think she's playing better now than maybe a year or two ago. I think confidence probably has a lot to do with that. Her serve was very good tonight. Sometimes that's something that can break down. But, look, I think she's obviously got a very dangerous game. She's got the ability to beat anyone. When she's on, she's very tough. Q. Was there anything particularly you thought caused the match to start swinging her way? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, I don't know. Maybe that's tennis. I thought we were both playing very well, like I said. That first set obviously got pretty close there at the end. She had opportunities. Sometimes when you lose a set after having so many set points, it's easy to have a drop. But she certainly didn't do that tonight. I felt like even though I was down Love‑40 in that first service game of the second set, to get that back, I felt I was able to kick on and keep the momentum. But she was able to shut that down and get that early break. Yeah, I wasn't able to get it back. There were certainly chances where maybe I had a little sniff here and there towards the end of that second set. But she played well to get out of them. Q. It's obviously easy to say it now, but are there things looking back you could have done differently to get her off balance on her forehand? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Look, I'd probably have to think about it a little bit more before I can really dissect point by point or really crucial things. But, look, it's easier maybe afterwards when you do sit down and look at it. When you're in the moment, I think you've got to go with what your gut says. That's what I did. I tried to back myself with those decisions that I made. Q. Having been up a set and then to lose, do you walk away still thinking you played well and she played a really good game? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Look, I do think I played well. She played probably that little bit better tonight. That's kind of the way it is. Look, of course it's disappointing. I thought, you know, I was playing well enough to get through the next round. Look, it's one of those things, tennis is tough. Sometimes there's obviously more important points than others. You win those, you go through. If you don't, you sit here on the other end of it. Look, it was a tough match. Obviously I've got to look at it in a little bit more time to see exactly what went wrong. At the moment now, it's disappointing, but I have to say that I'm proud of the way I was able to play out there. Q. Did that make the loss a little bit easier to take? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, look, you never like losing no matter what circumstances. But if you're going to lose, for sure it's better when you don't feel like you beat yourself and you kind of did things that you know you shouldn't or whatever it is. So, again, yeah, disappointed, but can still look back on that match and think that I played well and got beaten by a good player tonight. Q. Can you take some good positives out of the tournament? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Sure. I'm pleased with the tournament. I guess it kind of all goes together just the same as that last answer. It's obviously disappointing I couldn't go further. But I thought I played well. I thought each match got better. There's certainly lots of positives I can take from this first few weeks of the year going into the rest of the year. So it is what it is. But I'm looking forward to obviously the weeks ahead. Q. You looked more comfortable on court than maybe you have been in the past few years. Do you feel you've turned a corner in terms of playing in this city? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, look, I don't feel like any of the outside whatever was a problem. So I thought I handled myself well, played well, was able to get through some tricky moments in Hobart probably that led to me being able to feel more comfortable on court and play better here. No, for me this year, it was just another tournament and I enjoyed it, yeah, gave myself the best opportunity to try to play well. Q. Have you done anything in particular before these tournaments to try to address these problems? SAMANTHA STOSUR: No, nothing really different to previous years. I think it's just one of those things. Each time you go through, you maybe get a little bit better at it. At the end of the day, if you're playing well, kind of everything else becomes irrelevant. It's how good you're hitting the ball and if you're winning matches really. Q. The roof closing, did that have any effect at all on your play on the ball? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, I think at nighttime the ball is always heavier anyway. It's probably sometimes not helping my game sometimes. With the roof shut, it probably slowed things even more, and she was able to keep swinging and really going through it. Her ball was able to penetrate the court, whereas obviously I like to play with spin, and I didn't feel like I was really getting the reward for doing all that. But, you know, it's one of those things. Got the ability to close the roof. You go out there and play. I didn't worry about it going back out there. Yeah, for sure it makes the conditions a bit heavier. Q. As experienced as you are, when the break came early in the third set, did you start to feel those old nerves again? SAMANTHA STOSUR: No, no. I felt good. Look, yeah, I was concentrating and focusing on trying to win that next point and get through whatever was going on out there. I just tried to think tactically, Okay, what am I going to do now? What did she just do? Try and win the next point. It was just a matter of playing tennis. Q. Did you feel the delay because of the rain came at a good or bad time for you or didn't make any difference? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Oh, I don't think it probably helped either of us. 8‑7 in a tiebreak, it's not ideal for anyone. Yeah, bad timing maybe to walk off the court. I don't know. Q. What chances do you think Ana has to pass Serena Williams? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Anytime you go on court, there's always a chance. I thought Ana played very well tonight. If she can keep serving well, be dangerous on her forehand, it will certainly give Serena something to think about. It's going to be very tough. Serena's obviously playing very well. She has been for a long time now. Ana probably doesn't have much to lose, so she can go out there and swing freely. I guess it will be a good match. Q. The last point where the rain started falling really hard, do you think the last point should have been replayed? SAMANTHA STOSUR: I don't know. I don't know if there's a rule that says once some raindrops fall on the court you should stop. Maybe whoever won or lost that point was not going to be happy about it. But, yeah, I don't know. I can't really comment. Q. In your head have you set yourself any goals, getting back in the top 10, anything like that? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Of course I'd like to get back to the top 10. That's kind of what I'd like to do. But you don't get there without winning lots of matches and working hard. So you've got to put all those little things into place first. Probably this year I've got to try to do a bit better in these bigger tournaments, Grand Slams, where there's a lot more to gain. Hopefully I can peak at those right times this year. Q. Do you still feel like the best times of your career are still in front of you? SAMANTHA STOSUR: Absolutely. I think I'm more than capable of playing better and getting better and still improving, doing all that kind of stuff. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, I've got no reason to think that I can't keep getting better. Hopefully that will show. Q. Is Miles staying with you or just before the slams? SAMANTHA STOSUR: It will be pretty much full‑time. We need to discuss what's going to happen now, ahead, what tournaments, all that kind of stuff. Look, it is pretty much going to be a full‑time thing. So, yeah, I guess we've got to work it all out. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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