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AUSTRALIAN OPEN


January 22, 2015


Caroline Wozniacki


MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

V. AZARENKA/C. Wozniacki
6-4, 6-2
An interview with:
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Anything you wish you would have done a little differently?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I wish I would have won. You can always look back and say, I wish I'd done this, I wish I'd taken this breakpoint, taken advantage at 30-Love. At the end of the day she played better than me today and hats off to that. I just need to go back and work hard. Early, still beginning of the year. So still have 10 months to make up for this. Hopefully it's still going to be a good year.

Q. You obviously play all year and work hard to get your ranking up to where it is. What is it like getting an opponent who has won two of the last three times here in the second round?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Obviously she feels great here. I think it's a curse I've gotten here. I've made semis, then quarters, then fourth round, then third round, this year second round. It's kind of gone that way the last few years. Hopefully I'm going to break that next year and start going the other way. I love this tournament and I'm so sad to be out already. Obviously it was a tough draw for both of us. But, you know, she came out on top and played better.

Q. Do you believe that luck or bad luck can exist in a draw?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah, I mean, there's always a little bit of luck in the draw. Sometimes on paper it looks tougher, but it's opponents you like to play. Sometimes it looks easy, but it's someone maybe you don't feel comfortable playing. In the end of the day, you know, I mean, you can see there's been so many upsets. There's nothing that comes easy. But at the same time, you know, I'm sure I could have had it a little bit easier.

Q. Do you think with how well she's done here they could have bumped up her seeding?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah, it's not Wimbledon unfortunately. I think she would have got the seeding thing there. At the end of the day, again, if you want to win the tournament, you need to beat anybody on the other side of the net. Again, I tried my best. I ran. I tried everything I could. Just today wasn't good enough.

Q. You know her game very well. What do you see where her level is compared to the past?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah, I feel like her level, it's high. She's taking the ball early. She mixes the pace up. I think she's at the level that she left when she stopped playing.

Q. Second round isn't the result you were hoping for here. When you look back at this tournament, do you think you'll say, I lost to Azarenka who is a great player, or I lost second round?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: A loss is a loss. All losses suck. It doesn't feel fun to be here right now. I would rather completely suck and play terrible and win than play wonderfully and lose. I'm a competitor. It hurts to lose. A win feels good. But it definitely feels much harder to lose this early as well. So I'm just going to take this with me and turn it into something positive and just go over and work hard. I know what I need to work on to step up my game, just go that way. There's still loads of tournaments left this year. There's still so many things I can improve on and do better. I showed last year the first half of the year I kind of was on a vacation, second half of the year stepped it up. Hopefully I can step it up already in Dubai and just try and do my best.

Q. We know how well Vika can play. Were you surprised how consistently she was able to hold her level tonight?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: No. I mean, she's won here twice. It doesn't happen by accident. I knew she was going to go out there and play aggressive, do her thing. I knew, you know, she was going to be consistent because that's what she's known for. You know, again, she was more consistent than I was. Took the ball a little earlier.

Q. On your side of the net was there a particular shot, serve, forehand, that you thought let you down tonight, or everything needed to be a little bit better?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: You know, I think I played consistently. I ran a lot of balls back. I didn't make stupid mistakes. I served pretty decent. In general, I think I did okay. But at the same time I felt like I let her dictate a little bit too much. She played cross-court, I played cross-court back. I let her dictate. I should have opened it up a little bit earlier and just tried to make her play my game.

Q. You had the marathon last year. Do you feel like having something so outside of tennis, something to motivate you, helped in your game throughout the year? Seemed once you were committed to the marathon, your tennis also got better.
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah, maybe I should do a marathon and a triathlon, too (smiling). I don't know. You know, it was great for me last year. It was a great experience. It was definitely the right time for me to do it. It felt amazing. I became in great shape. I knew I can be out there, and I still can be out there for hours, not really get tired. Definitely there were so many positives to take with it. But I'm a tennis player and I need to watch out for my body as well. One time it's good. I'll probably wait a little bit before I do my next one.

Q. Is there something to be said of not necessarily a marathon, per se, but an off-court distraction to help you succeed on court?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I think I can succeed on court without a distraction.

Q. With the marathon, your time was great. How was the time after? How were the next few hours, days after it? How did you feel?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: They wanted me to go into press straight after. I was like, Can you just give me half an hour, please? I was tired afterwards. Actually the upper back was the worst. Every time I had to laugh or turn, I felt like I was going to cramp. But after half an hour, I kind of got myself together, did my media. Then I went back home and got a massage, went to the spa, went to the Jacuzzi, loosened up. By that night I had a huge steak and felt pretty good. I had a bit of trouble walking up and down stairs. That was probably a day and a half. I avoided stairs, took the elevator anytime I could. After that I felt great. I had an event I think like the next night even. Wore high heels, was feeling okay.

Q. You've been to Minsk a couple years ago. When are you coming again?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I don't know. Last time I was invited by Vika. She hasn't invited me back, so... I'm not sure if I didn't leave a good impression. Next time she invites me back, I'm going to come back.

Q. You are friends. Did you talk at all about having to play each other or was it silence between you for this?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: No, we talked. We have lockers right next to each other. Every morning we would bump into each other and talk. Obviously she knew she's unseeded so she can play anybody first or second round. Yeah, that's really it.
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