JELENA DOKIC defeated ELENA MAKAROVA
6-3 5-7 6-4
19 January 1999.
Q. Was that a good workout for you, Jelena?
A. Yeah, definitely. I'm happy that I won the first match. It's
always the toughest one to get going, and I didn't play too
badly. I played quite well. She's tough. She hung in there the
whole time, and I am looking forward to playing my next
match.
Q. They were queuing up 10 deep outside the court. Was it
nice to have that sort of support today?
A. Yes, definitely, it's always good to have support,
especially here in Australia I guess when you are playing in
your home country or in front of your home crowd you
always get big support and it's always good to have that and
it always helps me.
Q. Jelena, you were up 4-2 in the second. Did you get a bit
nervous then thinking about winning your first Grand Slam
Singles or - - -?
A. Oh, I guess a little bit. She lifted her game up. She went
for her shots. She had nothing to lose, and as the match went
on she lifted her game and played better.
Q. What has it been like for you in the last couple of weeks
with all the publicity and expectations? Has that placed a
little bit of extra pressure on you?
A. I guess, I don't feel the pressure, because I don't think
there's any pressure on me right now because I'm not
supposed to be near these players in the draw. They are all
ranked higher than me and supposed to beat me, and even
though I won the Hopman Cup and had some good results, I
still don't think there's pressure on me. People expect things
from me, but the players that playing me are more pressured
than I am because they are supposed to beat me and not me
supposed to bet them.
Q. Has it been any extra distraction, though, in terms of
media, that sort of thing, maybe taking away from your
practice time?
A. Yes, has been a bit. There has been quite a bit of media
attention, and I don't mind doing things like that. But it has
been more than usual.
Q. Jelena, the wind was very, very strong out there. How
much did that affect your game today?
A. I guess whenever it's windy it always sort of affects your
game, no matter if it's ground strokes or serve or anything. It
was quite breezy, and it affected the game a little bit. But
I've played in wind quite a bit, and it didn't bother me too
much.
Q. And are you looking forward to getting on Centre Court
at some stage? Is that a big thing for you?
A. Yeah, definitely. I would like to play on the Centre. It's a
great court, and it's - it's very big, and I would like to play
on it. But we will see what happens.
Q. How will you spend the time between now and your next
match?
A. Well, I guess I'll practice, see, sort of work out what
have to do before my next match, and sort of figure it out,
how I'm going to go into the match and how I'll play. I guess
having a day off is sort of good too, to get prepared for the
next match and work out from this one.
Q. Have you looked ahead in your draw at all and sort of
sussed out how you might go?
A. I haven't. But I heard who might be ahead. But I never
look at the draw because everyone is tough and there's no
easy matches and you can always lose in the first round. I
take the match as it comes, and I didn't know who I played
if I won this match. I just found out. I don't know, look that
far. I always take the match as it comes and if I win the first
one then I worry about the next one.
Q. Do you know anything of Christina Brandi?
A. Not much; but a few people have watched her, my coach,
and I'm going do work out with my coach what I'm going to
do and how I'm going to play.
Q. Jelena, every match is like a learning experience. Is
there anything that sticks out significantly from this match
that you were in, that you recall?
A. I guess every match that you play and every match I
played at Hopman Cup I'm gaining more experience, which
I need. Playing more matches improves your game and the
things that you do. I guess the main thing for me right now is
gaining experience because all of those players
out there are more experienced than me, and just gaining
confidence, get a few matches and I'm just concentrating on
playing well.
Q. Is there any particular part of your game that you are
working on that might need to be strengthened to go the next
step?
A. I've been working on pretty much everything with Lesley.
She has worked on everything. You can't sort of have a
weakness playing in the seniors because they are going -
once they find out what you are not good at, you are gone.
So I've been trying to work on everything. I don't think
there's a real weakness anywhere, but I guess you can
always improve. There's always space for improvement
and that's what I'm trying to do.
Q. Jelena, when you met Margaret Court in Perth, did she
give you any advice or - - -
A. I just sort of met her, and she sort of said "Well done"
and things like that. She's a great player. And I played well
at the Hopman, and sort of did everything that I could.
Meeting people like that is always good because they have
been there before and, like Leslie has, and it was just good
to talk to people like that because they have got so much
experience and went through so much in their life, and have
been World Champions and won Grand Slams and
Wimbledons, and just talking to them a lot gives you a lot
and you learn a lot from them.
Q. Do you think Petr Korda should be playing in this
tournament?
A. I'm not going to go into that. I don't, I really don't know
what I think about that. It doesn't concern me right now, and
like I said, I'm just concentrating on playing my tennis, and
others should be concentrating on their - really, I don't know
what to say about that. I haven't thought about it really. I am
trying to play, I'm just trying to play tennis right now.
Q. Jelena, there was a big difference between the crowd
that watched you today and the crowd that watched
Kournikova. Yours was more of a traditional sort of Mum
and Dads and tennis fans crowd. Would you like to have a
Kournikova type following behind you or are you happy
with the sort of people there today?
A. I guess any type of crowd that I can get I'm happy with. It
doesn't matter if it's a Kournikova type of crowd or if it's
any type of crowd. Just having people supporting you out
there is good enough for me. I don't want to, I don't want to
sort of be known as someone like Kournikova or - I'm just
out there playing my own game, playing tennis, and people
who want to watch me want to watch me and if they want to
support me, they support me. I'm happy with whatever I get
and in Australia I've always had great crowds, and today
I've had a very big crowd; it was packed, and that's fine
with me. And in Australia, playing here, in front of your
home crowd, Australians have always been very
supportive, and even at the Hopman Cup, and that's fine.
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