TELECOM ITALIA MASTERS

May 12, 2003

Jelena Dokic

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

JELENA DOKIC: No, I'm not distracted at all. No, I think I'm pretty calm. I think I just, you know, I'm just having not such a good year like I had the last few years. That's all.

JELENA DOKIC: I lost the match.

JELENA DOKIC: She didn't do very much. Honest, I don't think she's ever played worse against me. I mean, we've played like 15 times. I think this is the worst she's played. I think this is the worst that I've played, too. I mean, I had chances, but I was playing up and down. I would play two good games, three bad games, and it would just go on and on. I was basically playing against myself, not against her. And I don't think she did two or three winners in the whole match. It was just my errors, basically.

JELENA DOKIC: No, it's been like this the whole year. I've had some close matches, but I've lost. You know, I'm just not having a good few months, I guess. And, you know, I'm just struggling against myself a little bit and that's why I'm losing matches.

JELENA DOKIC: No, in Monaco.

JELENA DOKIC: Heinz Gunthardt.

JELENA DOKIC: Little bit. I mean, I'm not having a great year, I've had some losses, so my confidence is a little bit down. But, you know, I just have to continue working. I mean, it's normal. You cannot play 10 years of your career well every year. So I think eventually it had to come and, you know, we'll see. I mean, hopefully I'll get out of it quick.

JELENA DOKIC: No, they are not connected to anything. Like I answered already, there's no, you know -- I don't put my things that are off the court into my tennis. I never did. And, you know, I don't think -- I mean, I don't think things off the court, whether you have problems or not, you know, distractions, I mean, this has never gone on to my tennis and reflected in my tennis.

JELENA DOKIC: He's working on everything. You know, I have good practices. I do all the things that -- you know, he's changed some things. But I can't seem to get it together in matches. I think mentally I'm not like I was before. And then it's hard to do things that you do in practice. You know, I think I'm a better player than I was before, but it's not exactly showing on the court so...

JELENA DOKIC: I don't think that anything's changed. Like I said, I think it's normal that you have a bad maybe even a whole year. I mean, we've seen that. Players have lapses, you go up and down. I mean, I don't think it's such a big deal. I've had -- I've gone up to No. 4 in the world, but in two years. So, I mean, if I have a bad few months or a year, you know, I'm not gonna -- you know, I'm not gonna cry about it all day and all night. It's something that happens. And, you know, the quicker I get out of it, the better, you know? It's just not easy to play sometimes. I mean, it's not always that you're gonna be in the best form and peaking every year. I've played a lot of tennis the last few years, so I think eventually it gets to you a little bit.

JELENA DOKIC: Practice, go shopping, you know. That's all. Maybe have some days off before. Try just not to worry about things too much and, you know... Not much.

JELENA DOKIC: I think it's different when you're getting coached by someone who's in your family, first of all. I think it's a completely different relationship. You know that person in different ways, and he's there all the time and always has been. You know, this is just -- and to be coached by someone else is different, you know. You don't know that person so well at the beginning, then you get to know them, how they work. I think Heinz does different things, you know...

JELENA DOKIC: I mean, he's played. He does everything different. His practices are intense, you can hit with him - you know, everything. And he makes me work a lot and asks for a lot, which is good. He wants discipline. He's like this, so .... But it's been interesting to see, you know, just how everything works, because I've had the same for my whole career. So now is a little bit different. I've had to get used to some things. Just a different person now doing everything.

JELENA DOKIC: Maybe. You know, then I would have less time off at the end of the year, and it's a long trip to go to Australia and then come back. So, you know, maybe it's something -- it just depends. It's up to the individual. I've played Australia for the few years before that and, you know, I found it was a lot of traveling to go there, come back. And it was not enough time in the end of the year to get ready, because I play quite a few tournaments during the year anyway. So you need to have the extra month off at the beginning, works well. But it's something I will look at eventually.

JELENA DOKIC: Yeah, we'll talk about it when it gets to that. We'll see. I think he's trying to work on my schedule and make it a little bit better. It was a little bit different this year because I'm not doing that great so I'm not playing that many matches, so I can kind of keep on playing every week. I mean, if you're out by Monday, you don't have very much to do until the next tournament, so I can pretty much play. But I think he wanted to look at my schedule and change a lot of things also.

JELENA DOKIC: No, I think you grow up and you mature a little bit. I mean, tennis is something that, obviously, I do every day and every week in the year. You know, that has not changed. But other than that, I mean, I live the same life pretty much, you know. I like the same things. I think I've just gotten older and more mature, and just a big difference from two years ago. I think I was a kid here two years ago, and, yeah, now I think I'm just more mature.