TENNIS US OPEN 2014. 26th of August 2014. S. Stosur d. L. Davis 6-1, 6-4. An interview with Sam Stosur
Q. Is that a relief or are you pleased to get through after last year’s sort of disappointment?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Oh, look, I’m pleased. I didn’t even think about last yore’s match, to be honest with you. Look, first rounds can be very tricky. I was certainly prepared for a tough match today, but I was able to come out and play well and do exactly what I wanted to do. So that was a good feeling.
Q. What were you most pleased with? What do you think did you best?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: I think overall it was a pretty solid match. I think I served well; really tactically probably used the right serve at the right time. With the way the conditions were I was able to use my kick serve a lot and change it up and go hard. I think I was, yeah, able to make her feel uncomfortable on return, which is exactly what I want to do.
Q. What are your thoughts on the speed of the court in comparison with previous years you have been here?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: I don’t think — I mean, it is playing quite quick, I guess, at the moment, but I think a huge part of that is the weather. I practiced here for two days before today. First day was pretty lively; yesterday really getting up there; today more so again. I think a huge part is what the weather does. When the sun is out and it’s shiny and hard, everything flies through the air and you get a lot of jump off the courts.
Q. If you were put in charge of the sport and could change any rule about play, what one rule would you like to change or enact if you could adjust anything you want as leader of the sport?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Oh. Huh. Gotta think about this. Maybe this new 20 second rule needs to be implemented fairly for all players on all courts.
Q. How would you go about doing that?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Don’t know. I guess the umpires have really got to look at what’s going on on every single situation.
Q. Why do you say that? Who is not sort of sticking to that sort of rule on court?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Let’s just say the last few slams I keep getting called for these soft warnings, and I’ve never been called for a time violation in my life, and I get told to hurry up while my opponent is in the back fence. That I wasn’t too pleased about in a few other matches. There was nothing like that today, so I’m all happy.
Q. Do you think it’s feasible to display a clock so that the players, the fans, and a chair ump could see the time tick off?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah. We actually had a meeting about that couple weeks ago. Yeah, I don’t think that would be a bad idea. You know where you stand. Yep, that’s it. That’s what we’ve gotta do.
Q. What was it like at the meeting? What were some of the discussions?
SAMANTHA STOSUR: Yeah, I think everyone was kind of for it. As long as it’s fair. Whatever the thing is, as long as it’s the same for everyone, no matter where you are and who you’re playing, I think all players would be fine with it.
