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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 23, 2009

Alisa Kleybanova

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

A. KLEYBANOVA/A. Ivanovic
7-5, 6-7, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What's the feeling after that win?
ALISA KLEYBANOVA: It's just great to play one of the matches like this. It was definitely the best match in my career so far. I'm so happy that I pulled through, because it was not just a win, but I really felt that I played almost my best tennis today.
It was so exciting to be out there. Just the moments that we train every day, we work hard and, you know, we live our life to be there and to play on this court, and for all those people that came to watch. Just the feelings that you get out there was amazing today.
I'm so happy and excited about it. It was just so great for me today.

Q. Was the key the start for you?
ALISA KLEYBANOVA: We started the match, it was a little bit intense in the beginning. It's such a big court here. I've never played on a big court here. To play against Ana, I was really preparing for this match for last two days. A little bit it was out of timing. But I believed really from the first points that I can do it. I just try to stay in the match and try to do my best as I can.
You know, at the end of the first set I really found myself in the court and on the game. I started to play much better. Then I was able to finish the first set. After the first set, I really felt that I can go forward and just try to stay in the match and play until I can win it.

Q. You're hitting the ball very hard out. Is that the best you can stroke it?
ALISA KLEYBANOVA: It's a good question, actually, because when you're so the excited and you're so much into the match really sometimes you're not thinking what you're doing on the court. Just everything comes out naturally. So some shots really was like so hard because some balls that coming to you, you feel like you have to put all your power in there to finish the point. We had really a lot of long points out there.
Against the top players like this, you really have to use your chances. You have to go for your shots sometimes even if you over hit it. You have to do it. It's normally that when you play against players like this you have a bit more unforced errors because there you have to go for your shots. You can't just put the ball in the court.
I knew it from the beginning. Today I was really trying to stay offensive and play as aggressive as I could. So I mean, I'm pretty sure that this was one of my best matches today.
I'm working on my game to play, to try to improve the power. You know, like the whole -- to play fast and strong. It's really difficult for the other players to play against this.

Q. Where did you learn to speak so well in English, and so fluently?
ALISA KLEYBANOVA: Thank you.

Q. And also, some other personal issues with about you. In the media guide there is not that much.
ALISA KLEYBANOVA: Yeah, well, as a junior I was traveling a lot to play junior tournaments. I've been coming to States for a month or two every year to play some tournaments there and also to practice a little bit. So definitely it helped me to learn English faster. And also before school I was with a private teacher, so from the beginning I knew it was important to speak well. Then you can travel all over the world and talk and understand other people. So it's really nice.

Q. Is your family rich, they could afford to send you everywhere?
ALISA KLEYBANOVA: I was traveling always with my mom. We were come to the other academies or clubs around the world. They were really happy to help me, so I actually -- I never had to pay for anything. I just had to pay for the flight and maybe sometimes hotels where I was staying. But it was really nice that I have the opportunities to come and train in different places for free.
I'm really happy that a lot of people, like in Bollettieri Tennis Academy, also in Spain and Italy, they helped me. Because I didn't have any sponsors in the beginning. So it was not easy to pay for everything.
Why I was going outside of Russia, because in Russia, I didn't practice in any club. I really had to pay a lot of money for everything, for the balls, for the people to play with, and it was much more expensive for me to stay at home than travel outside and practice there. So in the end, it was -- I had a lot of opportunities to go outside my country and practice there.

Q. You mentioned Italy. Where were you in Italy?
ALISA KLEYBANOVA: In Italy, actually I came to Italy four years ago first time and it was in Perugia. It's between Rome and Florence. Actually this is the place where I met my coach that I'm still with, Iulian Vespan. He really helped me so much, because I had some problems and I didn't have a coach with me.
So it was maybe a year and a half that I was a little bit struggling to come from juniors to the pros. I came to the club there. It's called The Art of Tennis. The chief of the club is Alberto Castellani. I came there, and my friend suggested me because I had some tournaments in Italy. I came there just to practice a little bit.
Iulian, he really helped me out. He said that I would like to travel with you to help you go forward. I'm very happy that he believed in me that time, because I really needed someone to give me some confidence, to just stay with me and train.
So this is how we started. Since then, we're always together. We really enjoy it, and I'm so happy that we are working like that.

Q. How many languages do you speak?
ALISA KLEYBANOVA: We speak English, because he's not Italian. He's Romanian, but he lives in Italy. It's tough. I started to learn Italian in the beginning, but I don't stay much there because I practice in Russia also now.
My club, where I practice in Moscow, is really helping me. So for the moment I don't have to pay for the courts. So now I have good facilities there that I train. I do conditioning and have very good people helping me there. Sometimes I come to Moscow and sometimes we -- I train with Iulian in Europe. I didn't come to Italy so much.
When you're not staying there it's really tough to learn a different language. You have to be around people who are talking Italian. Everybody speaks English, so you have to learn another language.

Q. You got to be playing Jelena Dokic next.
ALISA KLEYBANOVA: Yeah, I mean, I've heard of her a lot. When I was a little kid I heard of her a lot because she was one the top players in the world years before. Before I came here, I saw her in Sydney and Brisbane and we were practicing together a little bit.
So also here, we had a few good hits. I mean, she's very nice person. We been talking through this week, and also my coach and the coach of Jelena, they become really good friends here. So I'm looking forward to have a good match against her, because just I have to go out there and believe that I can win every match here and just try to play my best tennis.
I can't really think right now what am I going to do. I'm looking forward that I got my confidence, and I feel like I can play very good now. I just have to go out there and do it.

Q. Did you beat her in practice? Did you play sets?
ALISA KLEYBANOVA: No, we didn't play any sets. Just some hits, like half hour, 45 minutes. It's really nice. She has good rhythm and a good game. I think we can play a very good match together. We're both powerful players with good serves. I think we going to run a lot around the court.

Q. Did you grow up with some idols, Russian tennis players?
ALISA KLEYBANOVA: Not really, because, you know, when I was growing up, a lot of Russian players were going out from the country. So I didn't really practice a lot with some big players. Most of the time I was watching them on television. Everybody was training in different places. Still now a lot Russian players don't train in Russia. They train in Spain or America or different countries.
You know, I got a lot of chances because I stayed also in America to watch a lot big players coming. I was practicing in Bollettieri for maybe a month every year. It's a place where a lot of top players came to practice. It was Hantuchova and a lot of big man players, like Haas. Just plenty of them.
Sometimes I got a chance to hit with them. We played some sets and points. The atmosphere was really great there, because they allow players to play against each other all the time. Because there are so many people there, you could stay every time and play against someone different.
There I got a lot of experience about how people practice and work. It's not just how they're playing in the tournaments, it's also important to know how they do everything during the days when they prepare for something.
It was a lot experience definitely, junior Grand Slams. You know, I always liked to get involved, to watch how -- just how the big tennis lives.
But I got into the professional tennis when he was 14, 15. I started to play pros. So there I started to understand how everything was working. It was very hard in the beginning, but I'm really happy that Iulian, he helped me a lot. He was working with ATP players before. He never coached any WTA girls.
From the beginning we understand each other, and he helped me to prepare and practice and everything with scheduling. So it was really great.

Q. You'll probably play on Rod Laver Arena. Jelena will have big crowd support.
ALISA KLEYBANOVA: Yeah, I never played on Rod Laver. I'm pretty sure that Jelena is going to get a lot of support next day. But, you know, I'm looking forward to stay out there and play some great tennis. People come here to cheer up for Australian, but also to watch some great tennis.
So in the beginning of the match I have almost all the crowd was supporting Ana. I knew that if I showed good tennis it's going to be a big fight. If it's going to be exciting match, people are going support both of us. That's actually happened.
So already in the final set I heard a lot of people were supporting me. It really helped. I'm looking forward for a lot of Russian people are going to come, because they get to know me a little bit better now because I moved forward in the rankings. So people know me a little bit more. I feel like every day I get more fans. I'm really looking some fun out there.

End of FastScripts

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