ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

January 11, 2026

Maya Joint

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Maya Joint to the interview room here at the Adelaide International. First time here in Adelaide. Can you give us your overall thoughts on playing this tournament.

MAYA JOINT: Thank you. Yeah, super excited. The site's really, it's a bit of a maze, honestly. It's been hard to find my way around. But the courts are playing really nicely. A lot of people have already been out around the courts, so I think it's going to be a really good atmosphere.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You and your team feel that Adelaide is the ideal preparation for Melbourne, the surface, the climate, do you think that's the best way to prepare for a Grand Slam?

MAYA JOINT: Yeah, I played Hobart last year. I really love that tournament, but I just wanted to experience something new. I heard some really great things about the Adelaide tournament, so I just wanted to try.

Q. Aside from the obvious, winning the thing, what do you hope to get out of this week?

MAYA JOINT: I just want some pretty good matches against high-level players. Yeah, I hope I can be in this tournament a little bit longer.

Q. You had on a breakout year last year. Winning a couple events, a couple 250s. Is the next step to translate that into 500s, Grand Slams, and get into the second week of some Grand Slams?

MAYA JOINT: It's big goal of mine to go deep in these tournaments, bigger events. I hope to win a 500 this year eventually. Yeah, it's just, it's the top level that I want to be competitive in.

Q. How do you pronounce your name?

MAYA JOINT: My dad says Maya (phonetic), but my mom says Maya (phonetic), so either works (laughing).

Q. You've played, you got Sofia Kenin in the first round. You've played her twice already, haven't you, and you've won, you've done very well each time. What's going to happen this week?

MAYA JOINT: I don't know, I'll find out. Yeah, she's a great player. I like her game style, I guess, it matches up well against mine. I played really well both times I played her. Hopefully I can play really well again.

Q. You must have heroes. What tennis players have you looked up to growing up and who might they be?

MAYA JOINT: I really love watching Simona Halep play. I really love the way she would run for every ball, fought really hard. I loved watching Ash Barty, Roger Federer, yeah.

Q. Do you do you feel like an Aussie yet? How long does that process take? Have you always felt half Australian or half American or what's the story there?

MAYA JOINT: I grew up in America, so for the first 16 years I considered myself American. When I moved to Australia everyone really embraced me, all the Aussie girls, all the Aussie fans, yeah, they really made me feel at home.

So now that I've permanently moved to Melbourne I definitely feel Australian.

Q. Who are your friends among the Australian players?

MAYA JOINT: Kim Birrell, Ajla Tomljanovic, Ellen Perez, Storm Hunter, Maddy Inglis. There's so many, I don't want to forget anyone.

Q. Welcome. This tournament's seen a lot of emerging players win for the first time. We've seen Lleyton many years ago. Novak made his name here. Even Iga and Ash kind of semi early in their careers were able to win. Is that a blueprint you hope you can follow at a tournament like this?

MAYA JOINT: Yeah, I mean, it would be great to win it, obviously. Yeah.

Q. You don't want to look too far ahead, but how are you feeling heading into the Australian Open? You were a little bit unwell the other week. How are you feeling heading into Melbourne Park as well?

MAYA JOINT: I'm really excited. It's my home tournament. I got a lot of friends and family there that are going to come out and support. I had an amazing time last year. It was a tough draw, I wanted to stay in a little bit longer. But, yeah, we'll see what this year brings.

Q. A lot of talk about it being your breakout year. When you kind of reflect on that, is there a big learning that you take out of that? I don't know if you're someone who does reflect over calendar years and things like that, but is there one kind of key takeaway that you took from all that as you go into this calendar year?

MAYA JOINT: Yeah, I think I've thought about it enough. I had just a lot of really good tournaments, one after another, which I think is difficult to keep up throughout the whole year. I did really well on every surface. Yeah, I just was playing some really good tennis, so just got to keep working hard to make that happen this year again.

Q. We spoke to Madison Keys before. She won here last year and then went on to win the AO. How big a springboard do you think a tournament like this can be heading into a major?

MAYA JOINT: Yeah, I mean, all the big players are playing this tournament, so you get some really good preparation and good prep matches. You can get your confidence up by doing well here.

Q. After a really good 2025, how are you looking, like obviously representing Australia at United Cup and this week, how are you looking to lead into next week at AO?

MAYA JOINT: Yeah, United Cup was a really fun event. I'm really glad that I was able to play it. I wish I could have been a little bit better for the team.

Yeah, it was an amazing event, and I learned so much from Demon and Storm and all the others. I think this tournament's a great event leading into next week. We get to play all the big players here as well. Yeah, I've already had two really good matches against two really great players, so I think it's a really good preparation.