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WIMBLEDONJune 27, 2015Simona HalepLONDON, ENGLAND THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How are you feeling on the grass coming into Wimbledon? SIMONA HALEP: I feel okay. I feel good actually. I just practicing very hard every day. Now I can say that I feel very, very well, the grass. I feel the game. I think I'm ready to start the tournament. Q. You made the semifinals here last year. How much confidence does that give you coming into this tournament? SIMONA HALEP: Yeah, I can say that I'm pretty confident that I had good result last year. But still is another tournament, another year. So I have to take match by match, to be very focused for what I have to do on court. It's too far to think that I can repeat that result. I just want to play my first round to see how good I can play in that day and trying to win as much as I can. Q. Grass, do you think you need an aggressive approach, maybe taking the ball quite early on this kind of surface? SIMONA HALEP: Yeah, I think my style, it's like this. I like to play fast, to play close to the baseline, just to take the ball very quickly. I think I'm okay now. I play my style. I play with confidence. I improved a lot in my serve, so can help me now on grass. Q. Do you remember walking out on Centre Court for the first time? Talk about those feelings, playing on such a special court. SIMONA HALEP: Yeah, was first round. I didn't know the court before. They said they might change the court before the match. So I went to the Centre Court for first round. Was pretty full, the crowd. So was amazing. I just remember that when you go on court, is like you go in the very nice hotel. It's like they have carpet on the floor, and the door is really nice. It's wood and it's really nice. They have a message up to the door. That made me, like, stronger and more motivated to go on court and to feel good. Q. What does that message say? SIMONA HALEP: I don't tell you. You should know. You should know because everyone knows. Q. Is there any other court like it in the world for you? SIMONA HALEP: This one is very special. Like I said, it's not exactly that you feel that you are going on court when you enter to the court. So it's more special. It's more elegant. The crowd is special. They are very quiet, I can say, very nice during the match. I said always that this tournament is very special and has own thing that makes it special. Q. How were you feeling after Paris? How long did it take you to rebound from that loss? What did you learn from that experience moving forward? SIMONA HALEP: Yeah, I can say that wasn't a good clay season for me this year. Yeah, I was disappointed after I lost in the French Open. I took some days off, home with my family and my friends. I didn't play tennis for about five days, which was very good. I relax myself. I took the pressure off of my head. I just said that I have to enjoy again, just to work hard every day. So I started to work harder more. Now I feel pretty confidence that I can play good tennis again. Q. What goes through your mind when you think about the idea of winning all four majors in one year the way Serena is trying to do now, halfway through? SIMONA HALEP: For me? Q. In general, the idea of anybody winning all four majors in one year. SIMONA HALEP: I think it's very hard. I cannot imagine now because I didn't win one Grand Slam yet. So it's really tough. But Serena has two this year already, so she can do it. I think Steffi Graf did it, no? Yeah, it's pretty amazing. Hard to think about this. But you have to be like very strong mentally, I think. The game is there always if you are in the top, but you have to stay, to manage the pressure of every match of every tournament. I think you need a lot of experience to can win all the four majors. But, in my opinion, it's really tough. Q. What are your observations of the way Serena has played this year on the way to trying to do this? SIMONA HALEP: Like I said always, she's a great champion. She has a lot of experience. She has many titles of Grand Slams. She knows how to manage the pressure there. She's very strong. She's hitting the ball very strong. She has the serve, the big serve, which it's helping her always when she is like down a little bit during the matches. She has power, a lot of power. I think she's very strong mentally. Even if she's down during the match, she's coming back very good. Like she turns the pressure to the opponent always when she feels it. Q. Are you surprised or impressed how she's managed to keep going for so long? She's 33 now. She's still No.1 and the woman to beat. SIMONA HALEP: Yeah, you can say I'm impressed. I admire her a lot. I have learned many things from her. You know, she is the best player in the world, so... No more comments (smiling). Q. Could you see yourself in that seat when you're 33, in 10 years? SIMONA HALEP: Tough question. Actually, I was thinking at 30 I want to have a kid. But, you know, I'm very young now still, so I cannot think about the retirement. Just I want to play as much as I can and as good as I can. So when I feel that I will be tired or I will finish my power to play tennis, I will stop. Q. Genie Bouchard is one of the players who broke out last year, and now is struggling. You're someone who had a lot of good results all of a sudden. In your opinion, what did you struggle with after you set the bar really high for yourself? Is it difficult to keep that going? SIMONA HALEP: It's difficult to keep going the good results, to feel good every tournament, every year in a row. I did it for two years already. I had good results. And this year, in the beginning had good results as well. But in the middle, I was a little bit maybe tired mentally and maybe that's why I lost on clay season. About Genie Bouchard, she always can come back and make good results. Last year she had a good tennis, so she still has it. I think she will come back soon. I think she has the power to come back. Once that she did good results during Grand Slams, she can do it again. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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