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FEDCUP WORLD GROUP PLAY-OFFS: FRANCE v U.S.A.


April 20, 2014


Sloane Stephens


ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

S. STEPHENS/V. Razzano
6‑2, 6‑4


THE MODERATOR:  Questions for Sloane.

Q.  Congratulations, Sloane.  Your first singles win.  Talk about that.  I know you were waiting for it.
SLOANE STEPHENS:  Yeah, I mean it's awesome to get my first singles win; Maddy got hers yesterday.
Just excited to be here and competing out there.  Obviously we want to win, so we're doing the best we can.  Obviously yesterday for me was a tough day, but I was happy with the way I bounced back and regrouped and was able to get the win today.

Q.  I'm sure you suspected that Alize might not play, but when did you find out you were playing Virginie?
SLOANE STEPHENS:  Knowing that she wasn't going to play, she was just ‑‑ obviously everyone saw the match yesterday and that was what it was.  They only tell you an hour before.
She didn't warm up this morning and we were like, Okay, she's probably not going to play.
That was kind of how we put that together.

Q.  Did you kind of prepare that you may be seeing Virginie?  She would be the obvious choice.  Any changes in what you and Mary Joe talked about for the match strategy?
SLOANE STEPHENS:  No.  I just have to focus on myself and do the best I can.  Yesterday I didn't play a bad match; Caroline just played really well.
I was going to use what I did yesterday.  I was playing pretty solid, so I was going to do that today.  I did; I executed well.
So that was a good thing.

Q.  Talk a little bit about as you mentioned, this is a really important tie for next year for Fed Cup.
SLOANE STEPHENS:  Yeah, definitely want to stay in the World Group.  Really important tie for us.  Obviously hopefully Madison can get the win.  Obviously we have a really young team and we're doing the best we can.
Next year is the year before the Olympics, correct?

Q.  It is.
SLOANE STEPHENS:  So there is a lot of pressure going into next year.  Hopefully we can stay in the World Group and get some solid wins there we can at least make it to the finals or, you know, have a good win.
Because every year we have been battling to get back to stay in the World Group.  Hopefully we can get that here and build from this and get some momentum going into next year.

Q.  From a team concept, how big of a boost was it last night to see her dig out of that hole?  You guys were kind of on the verge of going down, 0‑2.
SLOANE STEPHENS:  Yeah, would have definitely been tough if we were 2‑0.  But we're going to fight.  Maddy is a great fighter, so it's good that she fought out of that yesterday and obviously took out their No. 1 player.
I mean, that's pretty solid.  She did the best she could, and obviously that's all you can ask for.

Q.  Technically, did you do anything better today?  The first serve?  Second serve?  Anything like that?
SLOANE STEPHENS:  No.  I just stayed really positive and I was jumping up and down, screaming all the time.  I was being really annoying, like myself.  I was like, Oh, my God.
But it was working and I stayed really positive.  I was just fighting for every point and it worked, so...

Q.  Does it kill you to be sitting here instead of out there right now?
SLOANE STEPHENS:  Yes.  It's taking a long time actually.

Q.  Go enjoy yourself.
SLOANE STEPHENS:  Thanks.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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