WIMBLEDON

June 25, 2002

Jane O'Donoghue

MODERATOR: Questions, please.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: It's fantastic. I've been looking forward to it like for the last week - to go out there, and I felt I did do myself justice. I'm playing against the best player in the world. I thought I did quite well.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: Yeah. Venus served really well today. The length on her first serve was really good. I struggled to make a lot of returns. I went out there and I enjoyed every minute of it.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: No -- well, 10 minutes before I went onto the court, I had a lot of butterflies in my stomach, which is understandable. As soon as I hit the first ball in the warm-up, I relaxed and thought, "I'm going to enjoy the occasion and give a hundred percent." I'll work hard now to get my next opportunity to play on Centre, because it's the place where everybody wants to play. Now that I've had a taste of it, I want more of it.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: Well, the first service game, she came out and served (laughter). I thought, "I'll make her serve first, put a bit of pressure on (laughter)." She came out and nearly did four aces, so she was quite loose. Then I realized, "I've got a mountain to climb here."

JANE O'DONOGHUE: Yeah, they were great. The country's desperate for somebody in this country, for a British player to do well in the women's game. Hopefully I've shown them that there is talent out there. I'm only young, 19. Hopefully in three or four years' time, they have something to shout about.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: I don't know. It's a difficult question to answer, I think. I mean, Tim Henman has come through the system. If you are good enough, you will come through any system. I believe I will come through the system if I remain injury-free and keep putting the work in. So hopefully you'll see in a couple years' time. There's quite a few youngsters pushing each other now, so we will have a couple players in the top hundred in the near future.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: That's difficult to answer.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: Well, we all go to school til we're 16. I mean, the way I came through the system, I played five hours a week up until the age of 16, whereas my peers abroad, eastern bloc players, they played five hours a day from the age of 10. They've already made up 20 hours every week of the year. If you add that up over six years, that's why I'm a couple years behind. I do believe I will come through the system. I've just got to keep putting the work in. I've shown that. My ranking has gone up all the time. I just have to keep injury-free so hopefully come through the system.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: Exactly.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: Yeah. I know how good she is. I had to approach it that I was going to beat her, because there's no point stepping on Centre Court believing you're going to lose. I approached it that I believed I could beat her. I went out there and gave it my best shot. On the day, Venus came up with some good tennis. It's been in this environment all the time. Playing the likes of Venus, Serena, Jennifer Capriati, week-in, week-out. That's the way your game improves. At the moment, because my ranking is lower - I was out of the game six months last year - it's difficult to play against these girls week-in, week-out. But my incentive now, now that I've had a taste of it, I've got to try to get my ranking up so I do play these girls week-in and week-out. You'll see my game go up and up and up.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: Not really. I play quite aggressive anyway. You feel a bit rushed. The pace of the serve is a lot quicker. Every shot, you really have to focus where you're hitting it because she is such a great athlete and she covers the court so well. I really had to focus where I was going to play the ball. Sometimes you do find yourself maybe going for a bit bigger shot than maybe what you normally would. That's only because of the way she covers the court. You feel rushed, and you have to do that.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: I want to play on Centre Court again because it's just a great place.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: No. She just said, "Well done." That was it. She was nice. It was good to see that she realized that it was kind of my day out there, and she respected me for that. So it was nice of her to do that.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: What's that?

JANE O'DONOGHUE: I don't know. I mean, I do hit the forehand quite hard. Well, Venus hits it hard off both sides. I felt very comfortable with her when I was rallying on my forehand side, and even the backhand side. It was a case of she served good today. It put a lot of pressure on me holding my serve.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: Yeah, I've got doubles with Anna Hawkins. I'm going to try to get into the mixed doubles with Martin Lee. Again, we've drawn the No. 2 seeds in the doubles, so I seem to be -- I'm against it (laughter). I mean, I've got a great opportunity again to go out there and enjoy playing my first Wimbledon. If you would have said to me a year ago, "You'll be playing on Centre Court against the defending champion," I wouldn't have believed you because I had such a hard time when I was injured for six months. I've come back stronger and hungry. After having a taste of it today, I'll be working even harder to get back out there again.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: I'm going to Casablanca to get into a tour event, hoping to get in that. Like I said, I have to move my ranking up and play these better girls week-in and week-out.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: I don't think that's going to happen, no.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: Well, you've got to get -- the serve, on her day, when she's playing her best tennis, she'll beat anybody, and everybody knows that. You really have to stay with her in the first couple of games and test her, because once she starts to unleash, she's very dangerous. I didn't feel I played enough returns today, and that was the difference.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: From her?

JANE O'DONOGHUE: It was a set and 5-1 to her. I thought, "I'll serve-volley here." I serve-volleyed, hit a great first serve, came in, hit a great volley to the corner. Nobody else on the women's tour would make that cross-court forehand. I was waiting for the down the line. I thought, "There's no way on the serve she can make it cross-court." She took two strides, and she was there, bang, winner cross-court. I just thought, "Too good." That's what you're dealing with.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: I thought they were great. The crowd were fantastic. When I won my first game, I told them to get behind me. I just enjoyed the whole atmosphere. It was fantastic. I thought the crowd were really good to me. It was nice.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: I did visualize her in a different way.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: I'm not going to say what I visualized her as (laughter). No, I mean, you can't really step on court thinking "This girl is the greatest player," whatever. I just approached the match in a positive way and said, "I'm going to take the game to her," which I felt I did do. On the day, she was too good.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: I do listen to his music because I think he's got a great voice. So, yeah, I listened to -- I watched a lot of the Pop Idol. So I got into it. But Will Young, I listen to his music all the time. He's very good.

JANE O'DONOGHUE: Just the way that I went on court. It was such a big match for me, the biggest match of my career. I went out and felt I did myself justice. I was loose and really took the game to her. You know, I wish I'd got a few more games or what have you. But that will come in the future. I've just got to keep working at my game, getting it bigger, getting my serve bigger. It was a great experience for me today. It shows me where I am at against the best in the world.