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AUSTRALIAN OPEN


January 25, 2013


Ashleigh Barty

Casey Dellacqua


MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

ERRANI‑VINCI/Barty‑Dellacqua
6‑2, 3‑6, 6‑2


THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  Disappointed but satisfied in a sense?
CASEY DELLACQUA:  Yeah, always disappointing to lose.  Doesn't matter when or where you play.  Always that disappointment is always there.
Yeah, but on the other hand, of course, what an amazing two weeks for Ash and I.  We played some great doubles and it's been so much fun.  So in that respect, yeah, very satisfied.
But, again, yeah, disappointing to lose.  But hopefully we get another chance to play them somewhere else and get them next time, because they're pretty tough to play.  But I think we were starting to figure them out a bit.

Q.  What's special about playing with Ashleigh?
CASEY DELLACQUA:  She's just a great kid.  She's a really good friend as well.  I think that's just great.  She encourages me as well.
She's like, c'mon, Case; c'mon, buddy.  I don't know.  I just feel so relaxed with her.  There's so many players that I've played with where I am, Oh, no, I don't want to turn around and talk to my partner, you know.
Even today there were a couple of times we still had a few laughs.  I don't know, Ash, she's really, really a good kid and obviously an amazing player for 16.
Yeah, so I think it's just all of those things.

Q.  What's good about playing with Casey?
ASHLEIGH BARTY:  I mean, it's the same thing.  Case and I are great mates off the court.  A few times there I had a bit of a lull, Case has come and goes, We can get this one.
It felt like we were really close in that match, a lot closer than the score suggested.  A point here and there, and I think that third set could have really turned.
Obviously we're disappointed not to have had the win, but for me this has been just an unbelievable two weeks, an unbelievable tournament for me.

Q.  Your opponents have obviously played together for a while.
CASEY DELLACQUA:  In a sense, I think it was more about as well I've never played them in doubles before as a team, and Ash never has.  It's very hard to figure them out.  They're obviously the No.1 team in the world.
They're there for a reason.  They play very good doubles, and a specific style of doubles.  I think in the first set, we were just a bit like, Oh, okay.  This is what we've got.  We've got to change something, because the way we're playing we're clearly not going to beat them.  Let's change it up.
I think that's more why they're tough to play.  But Ash and I are going to continue to play a lot more together, and hopefully all those things‑‑ like that match, we'll learn from.  The more we play together, I think the better we'll be, as well.
But, yeah, it's already been a great two weeks.

Q.  How often do you think you'll team up for the rest of the year?
CASEY DELLACQUA:  As much as we can.
ASHLEIGH BARTY:  I think our rankings are going to improve a lot.  We'll be able to get into most tournaments.  Whenever we're in the same place and same country, we'll play together.
CASEY DELLACQUA:  Ash is still on a bit of a restricted schedule being only 16, so she has to schedule smart.  If I'm somewhere and Ash is able to come and play, or if, you know, we're both at the same tournaments, yeah, I think it's good to stick with the same person that you gel well with, because it's so hard to find sometimes.
You know, if we're in the same tournaments, I'd love to play with you.
ASHLEIGH BARTY:  Definitely.
CASEY DELLACQUA:  Yeah.

Q.  What do you think makes you work well together?
ASHLEIGH BARTY:  Yeah, I think a big part of it is because we're such great mates.  A few times there, like 4‑1, the ball went straight down the middle and we just looked at each other and just laughed of the.
I mean, it's points like those.  You can just forget 'em.  A lot of other teams, that would put a lot of stress on them and they would panic a little bit.
We're able to go out there, just have fun, and just keep ripping the ball.  Even in the third set, we were doing the same thing.  They were able to adjust to it a little bit more.
Yeah, but next time I think we'll have a game plan that we know we can trouble them with.

Q.  Casey, you were a 16‑year‑old player at one point.  Where is Ash up to at this stage?
CASEY DELLACQUA:  She's beyond any 16‑year‑old I've probably ever come across.  I remember exactly what I was like when I was 16.  Ash is far beyond her years.  She's mature, professional, disciplined with all her training.
Yeah, she's doing everything right to be the most professional athlete she can be.  If she continues to do that, I think, you know, she's got a bright future.  But everyone I think already knows that.  They don't need me to tell them.
Yeah, we've seen that on the doubles court and even on the singles.  I've played Ash in singles and she's amazing.  Yeah, she's got a very bright future ahead of her.
ASHLEIGH BARTY:  Thanks for that (laughter).

Q.  How do you assess your own situation with doubles with respect to singles?  Do you put added emphasis on your doubles a bit more from here?
CASEY DELLACQUA:  Yeah, I'd like to see my singles ranking go up with my doubles ranking.  It's always nice if both your rankings can go up.  My doubles ranking will jump quite a fair bit.
I guess the good thing is I'll be playing singles at tournaments.  It's always nice to know you can go in and get into the doubles tournament if you're not having a great week in singles.
No, I'm still 100% focused on singles as well.  Doubles helps me for my singles, so the more I'm playing doubles, especially in L.A. when I was doing really well in doubles, I was doing extremely well in singles, too.
There's always a time and a place that you feel like maybe my body can't handle playing both a week, but I'll just manage that as best I can.  If there's a doubles chance to play, I'll always play.

Q.  Ashleigh, has it been a great experience to be hanging around just to see what the tournament is like at this point in time?
ASHLEIGH BARTY:  Yeah, definitely.  Being here kind of at the latter end of the tournament, deep in the second week, you really begin to understand, I mean, especially on the men's side, how fit and how conditioned you have to be to play match after match.
Even when you have a day off in between, you're practicing, you're training.  It becomes quite a draining couple weeks.
It's been a phenomenal experience for me.  It's a lot easier to get through when you're winning, obviously.  When you're having good success, you can kind of put up with the bad things really.

Q.  Casey, you can go home and party tonight.  Ash, what are you going to do?
ASHLEIGH BARTY:  I might drink some red cordial (laughter).  I don't know.  It's already like almost 7:30.  It's ridiculous how quickly time flies.  Yeah, I'm sure we'll do something.

Q.  How is the body?
CASEY DELLACQUA:  I actually feel really good.  My foot's held up pretty good.  My foot needs a few days' rest.  Considering where I was just before Christmas, had to pull out of Hopman Cup, was probably feeling a little bit down in respect to where I was at.
But it's gone really well.  Had a great physio up in Sydney that put me on the right track.  Yeah, I'm great.  I'm so grateful that it's going well.  I'm going to manage it just as best I can.  I head off to Thailand on Sunday, so I'm straight back into it.

Q.  You both have said the two weeks have been emotionally and physically draining.  You're sticking with your schedule?
CASEY DELLACQUA:  No, not for me.

Q.  Ash, not taking your foot off the pedal at all?
ASHLEIGH BARTY:  Not at all.  I'm looking forward to going over and playing Fed Cup for Australia.  Jarka and I will leave mid next week and just get quality training in, and then the rest of the team will meet up.

Q.  Given your current form, what chance do you give yourself for being selected for singles in Fed Cup?
ASHLEIGH BARTY:  I'll train as hard as I can throughout the next few weeks.  You know, just continue what I've been doing.  Whenever you can apply yourself like that and commit yourself like that, you're always giving yourself a good chance.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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