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NEW HAVEN OPEN AT YALE


August 25, 2012


Liezel Huber

Lisa Raymond


NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT

HUBER‑RAYMOND/Hlavackova‑Hradecka
4‑6, 6‑0, 10‑4


THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  Is it nice to get revenge from the Olympic match?
LIEZEL HUBER:  Yeah, I mean, I wasn't thinking of that.  But, yeah, bringing it up, it's always nice to beat a team that you lost to the time before.
I think for us, it was just really we came here this week last minute.  If you asked us eight days ago, we would say we're not coming here.  But it just turned out we didn't have a good tournament the week before.  We need matches.  This is why we came here.
So I'm really, really happy that's what we decided on.  This is great for us.
It means nothing going into the US Open.  The next match we play is a new match.  But I think mentally it's given us, Okay, we can put points together and we can put games together and we can win a tournament.
We'll enjoy today and then we'll focus on the next one.

Q.  Going into the match tiebreaker, after winning the set 6‑0, do you feel like you have the momentum, or this is a match tiebreaker, if we have two bad points...
LIEZEL HUBER:  We've lost a second set 6‑0 before and won a tiebreak.  Today we won a set 6‑0 and won the tiebreak.  It's a clean slate going into that.
Winning that 6‑0 only helps.  Right, Lisa?
LISA RAYMOND:  For sure.  Even though it's its own entity, a tiebreak, I think being able to establish ourselves, winning a set 6‑0 going into a tiebreak, I think you certainly have the momentum.
Yes, it can change in a super tiebreak.  But going in there I think we were feeling good and we knew, pedal to the metal, let's play another five minutes here of solid tennis that we've been playing for the last 20.

Q.  How is your stomach injury from the Olympics?
LIEZEL HUBER:  Actually, it wasn't a stomach injury.  I had ruptured cysts.  So I'm on codeine.  I take codeine.  It's been a battle.  It's just a battle.  I'm fortunate I didn't need surgery.  But I have another cyst.
I'm playing through this time period.  Ask my partner, I just take my codeine.  Yeah, so...  I mean, it's what we deal with as women, in my age also.  I think your body is telling you it's time to have children, and that time will come.

Q.  Following up on what you were saying about this is finished, what happens in New York is a new match, surely this has got to build your confidence.  There's been a surprising drought for the two of you for the better part of the year.
LIEZEL HUBER:  Well, when we lost early in Cincinnati, my first thought was coming here.  But on the other hand, because we're older, we know we need a break.  It's been a very long year.  It's been a long summer.  When you don't have the results that you want to have, you wonder, Am I having these results because I haven't had a break, and will the break in itself help me, or do I still keep plugging away and playing the matches.
So for us this is really important.  I mean, this was extremely important for us coming here and playing.  I said to Lisa, If we have the week off, is that monkey still on our back?  Are we going to practice for 10 days?  We practice great, okay?  There's nothing wrong with our practice.  But when you get out in a match, it's a different situation.  Ball comes quicker.  Maybe you just don't go for your shots as much, maybe you make poor decisions.
Even when we got to New Haven, we played a practice set against two guys.  It was like the same thing as the Cincinnati match.  We didn't believe in ourselves, some choices we made, made wrong choices.
So for us, this was huge coming here.  I think going into the Open, I know I would be crazy to think, Okay, we've done well, we don't have to concentrate anymore.  No, this is, We've done well here, and if we do what we did here, then that will give us the confidence leading forward.
You understand what I'm trying to say?  It's a new match.  We know we can do it if we do A, B, C on the court.

Q.  There was an animated discussion between you two after yesterday's match.
LISA RAYMOND:  It was nothing.  Truly it was something we needed to work out, something that happened during the match technically, or tactically I should say.
Look, I think part of what makes us work is communication.  Any doubles team, it's like a marriage.  You have to communicate and be honest with each other.
There was just something that happened and we worked it out.  That was it.  It ended within three minutes.
LIEZEL HUBER:  High five'd each other.
LISA RAYMOND:  It's like any partnership.  We spend so much time together on the practice court, on the match court, things are going to come up.  We worked it out.
LIEZEL HUBER:  It worked today.
LISA RAYMOND:  It worked and it's behind us.

Q.  This is your 79th doubles title.  Never gets old?
LISA RAYMOND:  Winning never gets old, no, definitely not.  You know, it would certainly be nice to get No.80 next week in New York.

Q.  You have more titles than Roger.
LISA RAYMOND:  That's awesome.  That's the best stat I heard all day (laughter).
LIEZEL HUBER:  That's awesome.  How many does he have?

Q.  Only 76.
LISA RAYMOND:  Oh, that stinks (smiling).

Q.  Going into the US Open, a big hurdle you might possibly have to overcome is the Williams sisters.  You played with a number of players against them.  What do you think it is about Lisa that will give you the best chance to get that win over them in the Open?
LIEZEL HUBER:  I haven't had a win over them.  Been three sets.  Been three sets.  Been up a break.  Even with Medina I played at the French one year up a break in the third.
I mean, I'm not even thinking about playing them in doubles.  For us, I think ‑ not to say this in a bad way ‑ we're our own worst enemies when we get out there.  I forget about who is on the other side of the court.
That's why when you ask me is it nice to get revenge...   We could lose the match, but if we do the things we're supposed to do, we're going to be happy, our coach is going to be happy, too good.
But they're great girls.  I love them.  They're ranked very high for me.  So I'm glad they're playing the doubles.  I hope we don't get to play against them.
But I'm not even thinking about that far ahead.  We're just enjoying the day.  We're going to enjoy the rest of the day and an off day tomorrow.
LISA RAYMOND:  Exactly.

Q.  Will you do anything tonight?
LISA RAYMOND:  We're getting in a car and going to New York.
LIEZEL HUBER:  My groceries will be delivered tomorrow morning between 6:30 and 8:00.  I'm going to do laundry this evening.  I'm a laundry freak.  I can't wait.
My parents are stuck in South Africa.  They're trying to get back here.  I can't wait to see them.
LISA RAYMOND:  I'll probably have my favorite cupcake place in New York.  It's either Joe's Pizzas or Molly's Cupcakes tonight.  There you go.
LIEZEL HUBER:  You talk a big game.  You're not going to have a cupcake.
LISA RAYMOND:  Really?  I'll take a picture of it and send it to you.

Q.  You're in hotels throughout the year.  How nice is it during a Grand Slam to rent an apartment?
LIEZEL HUBER:  Yeah, for me it's vital.  If I had the choice to go out for a meal or eat at home, I eat at home.  I'm also celiac, so it's very difficult for me.  I feel like a pain in a restaurant to order food, or it's uncomfortable for the people going with you.
LISA RAYMOND:  Yeah, it stinks going out with her (smiling).
LIEZEL HUBER:  We'll go to whatever restaurant you can eat at.  You don't even have an appetite to eat.
I am so looking forward to cooking my own food, you don't understand.  And I've even bought little containers that I will take my own food to the courts.  I'm just so excited.
But, no, it's just a great feeling.  If you want to put on your pajamas, you can.  If you want to watch TV, hang out on the couch.  Last year we had the hurricane experience.  Everything shut down for two days, and nothing happened.  We had two days of just laying around.
It's expensive to get an apartment, but it's worth it, definitely.

Q.  Are you going to continue the partnership with the Bryans?
LISA RAYMOND:  I'm playing with Mike.
LIEZEL HUBER:  I'm playing with Max Mirnyi.  I played with Max in the French Open, then we didn't play at Wimbledon because of the Olympic dynamics.
Bob probably needs a better partner than me.  We haven't had good results lately.  I still think he's the best partner.  So I'm going to be the one that has to bail and say he needs to find somebody better than me.
I'm going to play with Max.  He's super nice.  Anyway, I love the Bryan brothers.  I hope he doesn't play mixed so we don't have to play.
LISA RAYMOND:  He's playing with Kim.  Kim is playing all three.

Q.  Lisa, any more news to give Liezel?  She seems to be getting all her news from you.
LIEZEL HUBER:  I don't watch TV, I don't Twitter.
LISA RAYMOND:  I read everything.  I watch everything.
LIEZEL HUBER:  She tells me everything.  Did you see that score?  Like, I don't know any gadgets.  We got a gift today and she had to explain what the gift was.  Sad.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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