ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

January 13, 2026

Maya Joint

Press Conference

M. JOINT/S. Kenin

7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Maya, congrats on the win. Your thoughts on the match?

MAYA JOINT: Thanks. Yeah, Sofia played pretty well today. She definitely made me problem solve. Yeah, I had to think about different ways how to win.

I played her twice before, so I knew what to expect going into the match. Yeah, I think I'm really glad that I was able to figure out a way to win today.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Did you feel like you were at your best today? You had to dig deep, a couple of early breaks in both sets. Was that something that you had to sort of just work through, as you mentioned, problem solve?

MAYA JOINT: Yeah. I think I was a bit nervous. I really wanted to get my first win of the season. I was making a couple unforced errors. I was struggling a little bit on my return. She was also hitting her spots on her serve, playing pretty good tennis today. Yeah, I'm just glad I was able to find a way.

Q. How are you feeling physically after United Cup? Are you feeling close enough to a hundred percent compared to then?

MAYA JOINT: Yeah, I'm all good now. I only felt bad for maybe a week, so I feel good.

Q. You got Ajla coming up next. She's carried the flag for a long time in tennis now, and she spoke positively about you. What's your thoughts firstly on Ajla and playing her in the next round?

MAYA JOINT: Yeah, I played her three times. Yeah, I mean, it's always tough playing a friend. I think we've had pretty good matches each time. Yeah, always difficult having to play someone that you know, playing another Aussie.

I think the crowd's going to be amazing. The atmosphere's going to be really good, so I'm excited.

Q. Obviously it's not ideal getting broken early in both sets, but do you feel that winning a match like that can set you up pretty well for the rest of the tournament?

MAYA JOINT: Yeah. I think definitely getting broken early is not helpful. It gives me some confidence that I'm able to still find a way to win that set and that I'm able to break back.

Q. There's probably going to be a few more eyes on you this year. Do you feel any extra weight of expectation, and I guess how are you taking that on?

MAYA JOINT: Yeah, I definitely feel some extra pressure. But like Billie Jean said, pressure is a privilege, so got to just take it positively.

Q. In your opening statement you talked about how you found different ways to beat her compared to when you previously played Sofia. Can you share an insight maybe what technically you focused on to defeat her this time?

MAYA JOINT: I knew that she likes to serve a lot out wide, so I just needed to hang on that serve on the deuce side. I targeted her forehand a bit more because her backhand's I think stronger. So I tried to make her move, mix up some spins.

Q. Talking about your matches at United Cup. I know obviously they didn't go your way. Were the things that you learned from those matches with Barbora and Iga that you kind of wanted to fix in the interim days to play Sofia now?

MAYA JOINT: Yeah, I rewatched the matches against both of them. They were playing pretty good tennis both days, so it was two tough matches.

My coach and I went over some small details that I could have improved just to make the match a bit closer. I've been working a lot on my serve placement and just accuracy.

Q. How often do you re-watch the entire match or certain areas, and how often do you do that generally throughout the year?

MAYA JOINT: I rewatched the whole match. I do it quite often. Yeah, especially in matches where I lost, or when I have a really good match we like to go back and see what I did well.

Q. Talking about the second set. I know on court you said that you're not really a calm person. In your opinion, I know you were down 4-1, it may have seemed like it was going to go a to a third set, how do you lock in and regroup and win five straight games?

MAYA JOINT: I don't know. I was kind of trying to take it point by point. I knew that if I just kind of cut back on my unforced errors and focused on what I needed to do to win I would be able to come back in that second set.

I think the games that I lost were pretty close. We had a pretty long deuce-ad game the game before, so I knew I was right there, I just needed to convert.