TENNIS AUSTRALIAN OPEN – 22nd of January 2014. V.Azarenka d. C.Wozniacki 6-4, 6-2. An interview with Caroline Wozniacki
Q. Anything you wish you would have done a little differently?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I wish I would have won. You can always look back and say, I wish I’d done this, I wish I’d taken this breakpoint, taken advantage at 30-Love. At the end of the day she played better than me today and hats off to that. I just need to go back and work hard. Early, still beginning of the year. So still have 10 months to make up for this. Hopefully it’s still going to be a good year.
Q. You obviously play all year and work hard to get your ranking up to where it is. What is it like getting an opponent who has won two of the last three times here in the second round?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Obviously she feels great here. I think it’s a curse I’ve gotten here. I’ve made semis, then quarters, then fourth round, then third round, this year second round. It’s kind of gone that way the last few years. Hopefully I’m going to break that next year and start going the other way. I love this tournament and I’m so sad to be out already. Obviously it was a tough draw for both of us. But, you know, she came out on top and played better.
Q. Do you believe that luck or bad luck can exist in a draw?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah, I mean, there’s always a little bit of luck in the draw. Sometimes on paper it looks tougher, but it’s opponents you like to play. Sometimes it looks easy, but it’s someone maybe you don’t feel comfortable playing. In the end of the day, you know, I mean, you can see there’s been so many upsets. There’s nothing that comes easy. But at the same time, you know, I’m sure I could have had it a little bit easier.
Q. Do you think with how well she’s done here they could have bumped up her seeding?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah, it’s not Wimbledon unfortunately. I think she would have got the seeding thing there. At the end of the day, again, if you want to win the tournament, you need to beat anybody on the other side of the net. Again, I tried my best. I ran. I tried everything I could. Just today wasn’t good enough.
Q. You had the marathon last year. Do you feel like having something so outside of tennis, something to motivate you, helped in your game throughout the year? Seemed once you were committed to the marathon, your tennis also got better.
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Yeah, maybe I should do a marathon and a triathlon, too (smiling). I don’t know. You know, it was great for me last year. It was a great experience. It was definitely the right time for me to do it. It felt amazing. I became in great shape. I knew I can be out there, and I still can be out there for hours, not really get tired. Definitely there were so many positives to take with it. But I’m a tennis player and I need to watch out for my body as well. One time it’s good. I’ll probably wait a little bit before I do my next one.
Q. Is there something to be said of not necessarily a marathon, per se, but an off-court distraction to help you succeed on court?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: I think I can succeed on court without a distraction.
Q. With the marathon, your time was great. How was the time after? How were the next few hours, days after it? How did you feel?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: They wanted me to go into press straight after. I was like, Can you just give me half an hour, please? I was tired afterwards. Actually the upper back was the worst. Every time I had to laugh or turn, I felt like I was going to cramp. But after half an hour, I kind of got myself together, did my media. Then I went back home and got a massage, went to the spa, went to the Jacuzzi, loosened up. By that night I had a huge steak and felt pretty good. I had a bit of trouble walking up and down stairs. That was probably a day and a half. I avoided stairs, took the elevator anytime I could. After that I felt great. I had an event I think like the next night even. Wore high heels, was feeling okay.
