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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 22, 2015

Casey Dellacqua

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

M. KEYS/C. Dellacqua
2-6, 6-1, 6-1
An interview with:
CASEY DELLACQUA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. She seemed to be on a run in the second set. Did you feel the game change momentum at that stage of the game?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Obviously I started off well. I thought at some point her level was going to improve. She's certainly a quality player. So I was very aware that her level was going to improve. Few tough games early in that second which kind of went her way. But that definitely changed the momentum. Then once she got confident and once she got swinging, she's pretty much top-10 material I would say. Once she gets firing, she's on the ball. Yeah, it was tough from that point on.

Q. Does she hit the ball as fast as Serena or Maria?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, she's definitely one of the biggest hitters. She's obviously over the years improved. She's not so erratic anymore. She makes a lot more balls. Off the ground, she definitely strikes it as big at Kvitova. Serve-wise definitely up there with those top echelon of girls in terms of pace and positions, where she serves. Yeah, I was always expecting, you know, a big game from her. Once, like I said, those first few games in that second set, she started to fight through them, got a little bit confident. Once she starts free swinging, it's pretty hard to stop that.

Q. Did you feel like you had any say in those last two sets?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, not much. I think the game's always on Madison's racquet. I play a certain game style where I like to maneuver the ball, I like to get into points and stuff. When you're playing someone that the ball's on her racquet, the game's on her racquet. Yeah, it's all systems go. It's pretty hard to I guess absorb that pace and play the game style I want to play. Yeah, I don't even know what the stats show, but obviously I would think she hit a lot of winners, maybe the same amount of unforced errors. Definitely that's the way she plays. That's why she's so dangerous.

Q. Frustration and a bit of disappointment that you couldn't keep with her?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, I mean, obviously disappointed. You always want to win in Australia and you always want to continue to stay in the tournament as long as you can. Yeah, you know, it's early in the season. Last year I played a lot of really good girls week in, week out. That's what I want. I want to be playing the top girls week in, week out so you know where your level needs to be at to beat those girls. I had that last year. This year I'm going to get those opportunities week in and week out, which will be great for me. Yeah, obviously disappointed to lose. But I have to know that it's early in the season, take what I can from that match, yeah, just hope to move forward.

Q. What do you think you have to do to consistently beat the players ranked ahead of you?
CASEY DELLACQUA: Yeah, I mean, obviously there's certain areas I'm still looking to improve, like my serve, day in, day out. On any given day, anyone can beat anyone. We've seen that here at the tournament with lower-ranked players beating top girls. Yeah, it's just continuing to work hard. I don't know, there's no secret. That's what I've done from day dot to get to this point. It's just a matter of getting out there, practicing the game style I want to play, that's to be aggressive. When you're playing someone like Madison who is double as aggressive as me, it's hard. Yeah, I'm going to keep working hard.

Q. You played her in 2013, and then this year. She brought Lindsay Davenport onboard. Do you think there's been any change since Lindsay has come onboard?
CASEY DELLACQUA: I think she literally only started with her in the off-season. I'm not sure how much impact she's had in the space of maybe a couple of months. Certainly I would think it's a great addition to her team. Probably game style-wise they played very similar. I would think that's probably what Madison is looking for, to hone in on those skills. I think Madison already has to be a top-10 player, so Lindsay is probably the perfect person to have on her team.

Q. A big comeback with Kimiko yesterday.
CASEY DELLACQUA: I don't know how we won that one. Playing with Kimiko, who I think is 44 years of age, and me, I'm no spring chicken out there as well. It was nice to be there. We played together before. We've had some really good times. I was excited to play with her. That was a really hard first round, because Peng Shuai is a multiple Grand Slam winner. We were just having a laugh. Tennis is a funny sport. It can change so quickly. In that doubles it really showed yesterday. I really enjoy playing doubles, so I have that to look forward to with Kimiko, I have mixed doubles, a Fed Cup tie to prepare for. It never stops for us. We just get back on the horse, keep working hard. Like I said, our sport is funny. You can have a bad week and then you can have a great week the next week if you just keep at it. So that's what I'll do.
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