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SONY ERICSSON CHAMPIONSHIPSNovember 3, 2008Ana IvanovicDOHA, QATAR THE MODERATOR: We welcome Ana Ivanovic from Serbia to the Sony Ericsson Championship. Ana is currently world No. 4. She's had an excellent first half of the season reaching the Australian Open final, and winning Indian Wells before winning her first Grand Slam singles title at Roland Garros. Her claim to fame in 2008 is becoming the first player from Serbia, male or female, to ever rank at No. 1. Questions in English only. Q. Last season was your debut tournament. It just started when you had your birthday. So how do you feel to be having your birthday during the tournament here? ANA IVANOVIC: I can't understand. Q. Out of eight players here, you are the only player who will be having your birthday here. ANA IVANOVIC: My what? Q. Birthday. ANA IVANOVIC: Oh, birthday, okay. Q. Last year, the tournament started on the same day, if you remember: How do you feel celebrating your birthday? ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, it's a great feeling. You know, maybe when I started to play on the WTA Tour, and I saw the championship was held during my birthday, I always thought it would be the best birthday present to get. Last year I had the honor to have it there and this year as well. So I'm very, very happy to be able to celebrate my birthday here. Q. It's the end of a long season, everybody's tired, and you've got the best eight players in the world to come up against, how difficult is that? ANA IVANOVIC: The best eight players? Q. The best eight players to compete against, how is that? ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, I think it's a great honor for sure. It's going to be great, because I think we are all little bit tired and had a long season behind us. But this is an honor to play in the championships they're always very special. So you want to play your best tennis. And I think everyone's going to be so motivated to qualify through the group, and make it to the finals. Q. Do you think you've returned to a reasonable level of format just the right time with this event coming up? ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, I'm very happy about that. Because I've been working really hard on and off the court. To see results coming the last couple of weeks, it's obviously very -- it gives me a lot of confidence coming into this week's tournament. I had also lot of fun on the court and competing again, and playing at a high level. So, yeah, I feel 100% ready to be here, and I feel my game is back on a level that it was before my injury. And that's, you know, all I can ask for. Now I just have to try to enjoy and play the best I can. Q. How disturbed were you during that dip in form and confidence? ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, it was very tough. It was probably the toughest time of my career so far. Also having to pull out of the Olympics and everything that's been happening straight after reaching the position of No. 1 was very disturbing and frustrating. And it took me some time to realize, you know, that injuries are part of the game. It's unfortunate at the time it was happening, but now looking back I think it made me stronger. It made me learn new things. And, yeah, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, so I'm really happy the way things are going now, and I want to continue that. Q. In terms of getting your form back, what's been the biggest challenge for you? Is it an emotional management on the court? Is it feeling like you know when to go for the right shot in the match? Is it just feeling physically fit? What does it take to get back to that point? ANA IVANOVIC: It was just consistency and hitting the right shot at the right time. Because physically I felt 100%, because I kept doing fitness even though I couldn't play tennis. But just confidence at some important points was little bit missing. Also I haven't compete against top players for such a long time. Then all of a sudden you come up against these players in the tournament and you have to perform still good with a lot like you did before and it's a little bit lacking. So now I feel in Zurich, I played a few matches against top players and that's something that gave me confidence. Q. You come from a small country, I come from a big country, the U.S., you know, we have a couple of players in the top, and not a lot of players after Venus and Serena. Why do you think that maybe the U.S. has slipped a little bit in terms of its player development? ANA IVANOVIC: Well, I think it all comes in kind of waves. I'm sure they have great academies in America. I'm sure there are a lot of younger players that are going to come up. It's just now it's in Serbia also we have Jelena and me, and not too many also behind us. But there are a lot of young kids motivated to play now because of us. I'm sure in the near future we're going to have many more in the top 100 or top 50. And I think it's a case, you know, in any other country they have a few top players. It's something that's an incentive for other girls and boys to play and compete, and see that it's possible to succeed. But, you know, it's also very personal. They have to have drive inside themselves and no one can force them to do anything they don't want. So, yeah, it just has to be the right person. Q. Few weeks ago there were some remarks that maybe you were going to stop working with Sven. Can you confirm it, or it's not true? ANA IVANOVIC: Well, you know, Sven's really helpful and we work great together, and I learned so much from him. And I think the situation that I have, it's working really good because, you know, it's not like full-time coach. He's here a few weeks a year like this. Obviously, it was hard when I played against adidas players. So sometimes in preparation weeks when I would need him to be here, he couldn't be there. So to have someone else that can actually be there was maybe a thought. But now it's everything perfect. I have full-time sparring partner traveling with me, and it's working out really well. And Sven is here to fine tune and to help me, you know, yeah with some important moments. That's working good for me. Q. What do you think you've learned from your injury? Has it changed how you go about your business? Has it altered your schedule or the way you prepare for tennis in the future? ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, you know, I learned that injuries are part of the sport, and you have to accept them. I've been working so hard on my fitness, and I was really fortunate with my injuries that I managed to prevent them, you know. So now after this injury, I realize how, actually, grateful you should be when you're healthy, even if you lose the match. It's not a big deal, you know. To have this at first place, and, yeah it just was very frustrating at the time. I was feeling very down on myself. You know, why did I get injured? It was such a frustrating injury as well, because no one could actually pinpoint what was wrong. So I learned that in the future if I start having pains here and there a little bit, you should straightaway take steps to discover what it is, and prevent it and solve it straightaway. Rather than I kept playing with this for a few weeks, you know, even though I had so much pain. Then afterwards it took much, much longer to heal. So, yeah, that's something that for sure learned. Q. Would you change your schedule or how you train? ANA IVANOVIC: No, I think with my fitness coach and my coach, the schedule of still not playing too many tournaments. Having a few tournament that's row and then some time off. Because tennis is becoming so intense, and you throw your body around so much. So it's important to have time off and recover and start preparing again. So that's something that I'm looking at everything that I've done over the last two years that is something that is good for me. And I still have to keep doing that. You know, yeah, this injury that came we can't really point why it came. You know, maybe I was practicing too much. I was too motivated to work. Q. Do you think you can help to inspire local tennis players from Qatar to maybe like female players to play through your presence? ANA IVANOVIC: I hope so. I'm sure all of us we hope we can inspire some other kids or ladies to play tennis as well. Myself, I started playing tennis because of Monica Seles, so when I'm on the court I'm thinking maybe I'm inspiring some other young girls. And it's important to be a good role model as well. So, yeah, I really hope we can make a difference. Q. What about winning the French Open? Was that the Grand Slam you were looking to win the most? Which one do you want to win next? ANA IVANOVIC: I think the first one is always special, no matter which one it is. It was obviously a great, great achievement. I always play good at the French Open. It was my first final I reached. Also, it was the first quarterfinal of the Grand Slam I achieved, so it was always kind of special. So I think winning any Grand Slam, it's an amazing achievement. Obviously, I have dreams to win other ones as well. So, yeah, it's just a great experience. Q. First half of the year was very good for you, second half was so, so. But you must have some positives to carry into the next season? ANA IVANOVIC: Well, obviously, the last couple of weeks I got my form back, so I'm very happy about that. This being the last tournament, I will have some time off and time to prepare again, to work hard on my fitness and on my tennis and start the season in Australia. You know, I'm very excited about it. I think it's going to be a great year. Q. You begin tomorrow night with a match against Jelena. Is there any added edge to that due to the fact that she's now No. 1 and you were earlier in the year? ANA IVANOVIC: Yes, I play tomorrow? I didn't know. Okay, I think the groups are very spread, two Serbians, two Russians, two Russians, two Americans. So I think it's going to be a very interesting match. We've played many times against each other before. I'm sure in Serbia they're going to complain so much that we're in the same group because they don't want this for sure. But I think it's going to be very exciting, and I'm looking forward. But I've been having so much fun on the courts competing, so that's exactly what I want to do every match I step on the court. I think it's going to be the case tomorrow as well. Q. Your answer indicated that it's a friendly rivalry. There's no edge between you? ANA IVANOVIC: No, it's a friendly rivalry. Whoever you play against, you want to win. It doesn't matter if you are good friends off the court or like this. You want to win. You want to be better than them, because after all we are here to compete and we all want one thing, to win this tournament. So there is no friends (laughing). Q. But no enemies either? ANA IVANOVIC: No. Q. Now that you seem to have overcome the injury and confidence issues and you feel that you're back and forth, what sort of technical aspects of your game are you focusing on? Is it any particular stroke or some tactical thing? ANA IVANOVIC: No, I was just trying to play my game and be aggressive like I was in the past. And I worked a lot on that. Just stepping on the court and taking my chances. Obviously, on hard court everything is happening so fast. So you have to really be on the ball. I feel like in the last few months still improving my fitness and my movement on the court. It gives you a lot of confidence, because I know even if I don't hit the perfect shot, I can get to the next ball and still rally. And that's something that helped me win matches and get the confidence back. Q. The injury aside, a lot of the players talk about an adjustment they have to make after they win a slam or become No. 1. You did both at the same time. Was that a factor, do you think, in your performance in the laster part of the year? ANA IVANOVIC: In the beginning it was very emotional, and it was very overwhelming. I'm a very emotional person, so I took it so much. Each game I appreciated it so much what I've got, and Wimbledon was very hard for me to compete because I just felt drained. For a week I was on such a high after winning the French Open, I eventually had to come down and to the bottom. And Wimbledon was very hard. Also, all of a sudden being No. 1 seeded not only in the tournament but in the Grand Slam. It was an unbelievable feeling and new experience for me. So it took me some time to adjust. And after Wimbledon when I had some time off, it kind of all settled down. I realized that I was really motivated to work hard ask to remain in that position. Yeah, I would say it took some time, but not too much. Q. If you can say just one word or adjective, whatever you want about each of the 8 players here, starting for yourself, which is your best quality on court, and which is the best quality of your opponents here if you can say just one word about each one? ANA IVANOVIC: Okay. Can I start with other players? I think Jelena, she's really good on the court and she's a great fighter and a great come pet ter. She's very consistent. With Dinara, she never gives up. She's a very, very tough opponent, and so many times in this year she came with match points down, so that proves that. With Serena, she has unbelievable powerful game. With Venus it's the same case. They are so powerful and they are different game style than the other girls on tour. With Kuznetsova, she can be very dangerous, because she's very aggressive. She likes to dominate as well. With vera, she's also consistent. She likes to run, and she likes to take the speed of other opponents. Elena, it's also, she is very, very aggressive. She likes to dominate. She likes when the balls are coming, her hitting it, in here she's very good and very consistent. And about myself - what can I say about myself? Maybe you can ask them. No, I think I'm a great fighter. I never give up. I just try until the last moment. End of FastScripts |
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