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BNP PARIBAS OPEN


March 12, 2012


Ana Ivanovic


INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA

A. IVANOVIC/K. Pervak
6‑7, 6‑3, 6‑2


THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  Can you just talk about the second time you called the trainer in the third set?  You kind of doubled over for a while, and we weren't sure what was going on.
ANA IVANOVIC:  Yeah, I just landed after that serve and I felt really dizzy.  I think it was just a little bit of excitement and everything.  I landed and I was feeling really, really dizzy.

Q.  They checked you out and everything was fine?
ANA IVANOVIC:  I was fine, yeah.

Q.  (Question regarding net cords.)
ANA IVANOVIC:  Yeah, at the end, but I did not feel like that at the first set definitely.  It was really funny that one moment when I kind of went to the net, and I next point Ihit one.  Then the way to finish up the match was really lucky, was very fortunate.

Q.  Long match, kind of physical out there.  What was your overwhelming sense at the end?  Was it relief?  Was it you just you had to get through the fight?
ANA IVANOVIC:  I was just happy that I managed to win that match.  I really felt she was playing well today.  Not one moment was I thinking about score.  I was playing point by point and to fight, and that's why I was really happy.
But I felt like I could keep going and I was really on such a high and adrenaline running through the body.  I felt very good.  We had some longer rallies that third set than we had in the first.

Q.  You could play Caroline Wozniacki, who was just No. 1, and you are a former No. 1.  Do you have any advice to give to someone else who used to be No. 1 and isn't for a while and how to deal with that?
ANA IVANOVIC:  Um, yeah.  Maybe they can give me advice.  (Laughter.)
Maybe I'm not the right person to ask that question.  Yeah, you know, I don't know.  It's one way, you know, when you start and you have goals and you want to reach No. 1 position.
And then once you get there, it's like, Oh, my God, this is amazing.  I think it's very important to reset your goals and reset, you know, what's next.
Because, you know, you're chasing and chasing, and all of a sudden you have bulls eye on your back and everyone wants to get you.  I think it's hard.
Like I say, it's harder to stay there than to get there.

Q.  What were you feeling when you bent over for that long time?
ANA IVANOVIC:  Yeah, I just said after I landed after that serve I just felt so dizzy.  And then they wanted to track my blood pressure.  I was like, I'm fine, I'm fine.  I didn't want to cause any pause.

Q.  Did you feel funny staying there for so long?
ANA IVANOVIC:  I felt really, really dizzy.  I thought, Well, okay, I better sit for a second.  They ran out on court.  Then I was fine.  They were like, We better check, and we have to wait for doctor.

Q.  You like the big fight, these long matches.  Does it do more for you mentally than pulling off a quick impressive victory when everything is going well?
ANA IVANOVIC:  I think both has its benefits.  Of course I feel good and happy when I play perfect match and you win easy in straight matches.  But these kind of matches give you confidence.
The matches, when it was getting tough in the past I felt‑‑ you know, I always lost.  So I really thought ‑‑ you know ‑‑ like today I didn't think about the score, but I just wanted to win so badly.  That was really, really good.
I think that's what actually got me through the match.  I stepped up when I needed to and I did things right when I needed to get through them.  I got lucky, and sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

Q.  You were saying the adrenaline was flowing.  Can you still enjoy the fight and enjoy those matches in the moment?
ANA IVANOVIC:  Definitely.  Today's match I enjoyed more in the third than in the first set, to be honest.  Not only because I won that and lost the first one, but the adrenaline, when it kicks in, is just the best feeling.  That's why I work so hard.
To be honest, I did not have this feeling for a while.  I actually remember‑‑ I can't remember exactly the year.  Maybe it was '07 or '08 when I played Schiavone on Court 3 and we also had an epic and we finished kind of late as well.
I got back and then I think I reached finals, so it must have been '08.  These kind of matches give you, you know, strength and energy.

Q.  What's your impression of Caroline?  You've gotten to know her pretty well, both adidas players, practiced together.  As a person and a player, does she have the disposition of a champion?
ANA IVANOVIC:  I think she's very motivated and she works really, really hard, and that's why she got to No. 1.  And she's very persistent.  That's why I think she should deserve, because she's very consistent, as well.  She's nice person.  She always tries to make, you know, jokes and so on.
The other day we were going to share center court, and we were like, Oh, let's just hit together.  You know, she's very relaxed, unlike some other players.

Q.  Like who?
ANA IVANOVIC:  I'm not going to give you names now.  I'm not going to drop any names.

Q.  Azarenka yesterday talked about how she doesn't like the word "confidence," how she believes it's much more about putting in the work and self‑discipline.  Having had the ups and downs in your career, how do you react to that?
ANA IVANOVIC:  Well, I think confidence, belief, the work, that's all you need.  But I really believe in confidence, because you do have to work really hard and you have to be disciplined and put the efforts in, but that equals, you know, confidence and belief and strength.
You need it to play.  You know, in matches when it gets deep, you know, in first set, third set whenever, if you have that confidence and believe you can execute a shot, you know that you can, it makes a huge difference.
Because it might be important point on 5‑All and 30‑All, and you just know you have to go for it.  If you have confidence you will execute the right way.  If you have one little doubt you will pull off a bit and the shot will finish anywhere.
So I think it's pretty important to have confidence, yeah.

Q.  You just said sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.  There is a lot of luck in tennis with let cords and the draw and schedule.  Could you talk about luck in tennis, and particularly can you think of a really‑‑ like the luckiest thing in your career and the least lucky?
ANA IVANOVIC:  Well, on top of my mind is that match when I saved match point by let cord against Vinci in Wimbledon.  That was definitely very, very lucky.
It is amazing how many times a shot or a lucky shot can turns matches around.  I think we see it in tennis a lot.  Actually, there is a movie.  I don't know if you've seen it, Match Point.  It kind of goes like that when he sort of throws and the ring hits the sort of ‑‑ and it bounces on a street instead in water.
It's really interesting, because it can go either way, and so many matches have been turned around.  I thought today we were both lucky.

Q.  Do you think you have had more good luck or bad luck in your career?
ANA IVANOVIC:  Well, I think I got lucky at the right time.  Let's put it that way.

Q.  What are you reading?
ANA IVANOVIC:  At the moment I'm actually reading‑‑ actually, if I would remember the name it would be good.  Fidel (phonetic) ?  Is that how you call it?

Q.  Fidel?
ANA IVANOVIC:  It's this book about this woman who grew up in Africa, actually, and then emigrated.  It's quite‑‑ I just started.

Q.  It's a novel?
ANA IVANOVIC:  Yeah.  It's actually true story.  I can't think of name, and I just started the book.

Q.  After you lost the first game of the third set you, [](mouth noise) the ball.
ANA IVANOVIC:  Yeah, I framed it.

Q.  Did you think you deserved the warning?
ANA IVANOVIC:  Did I get a warning?

Q.  No, no, you didn't.  Do you think it was smart to do if it gets you going or...
ANA IVANOVIC:  Well, no.  I was just a little bit frustrated because I felt like she framed a few balls in that game, and then I kind of had a shot and my mind wasn't there.
I was thinking, you know, about her shot instead of mine, and that's why I was upset.  That's why I hit it with the frame, actually.
Yeah, I probably shouldn't have done that.

Q.  You were talking to a couple of us the other day about Dubai, and I'm struck by kind of a little bit of a similarity, your meeting Caroline third round there and now this is a step further.  Can you talk a little bit about that experience and how this one might be different this time?
ANA IVANOVIC:  I'm actually‑‑ I would actually really like rematch, because I felt like I was quite close in Dubai, but we both started off really nervous.
It wasn't ‑‑ the quality of a match was a little bit up and down, and I really hope we get chance for rematch.  That's definitely gonna help me for this, yeah, encounter.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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