00:00Donna, just to begin, just your thoughts on the match and getting that first round underway?
00:08Yeah, it was a tough match today. She's such a tricky opponent, slicing and dicing, moving well,
00:16but I was serving really well. I had 38 winners, I've heard, so I'm pretty happy with that.
00:22Any questions?
00:23You obviously wrote Love L.A. on the camera. Tell us a bit about being in touch with Pam.
00:30Yeah, it's a very difficult situation for her. She's home in L.A., her house is OK for now,
00:38but so many have lost everything and it's a horrible situation.
00:43We were doing our pre-season in L.A. this year, so we were just there two weeks ago,
00:48so I really cannot believe what's happening. We're very sad that she's not here with us.
00:56Are you playing for her?
01:00Playing for her, yes and no, but we really miss her here.
01:07We're in touch daily and I hope everything will be OK.
01:19Hi, Dana, I'm from the Danish media Extrablad.
01:22I know you're a good friend of Caroline Wozniacki.
01:25She obviously pulled out from the Australian Open.
01:28She hasn't played since the US Open.
01:31Have you been in touch with her the last few months?
01:34Do you know what's going on with her? Because we don't know anything in Denmark.
01:39That's funny, we actually had dinner last night together.
01:45She's good, she's happy, but for the other things you'll have to ask her.
01:51Do you feel like a different player coming into this season after the season you had last year?
01:58I feel like a different person.
02:00The year was very long, very tough, a lot of things happening on court, off the court.
02:09I feel like things happen in one year that maybe sometimes happen in ten years.
02:16I have a very different perspective on tennis this year.
02:22I'm just really enjoying myself out there.
02:26I was very happy to be playing on Margaret Court, it's one of my favourite courts.
02:31Hopefully I can have a few more matches here.
02:36Obviously Arena is going for a third title.
02:39You've played her, including here.
02:41What makes her so tough to play? What elevates her from a lot of the rest?
02:47I haven't actually played her since Dubai last year.
02:50We didn't really practice.
02:52She's playing so well, she's really aggressive and going for her shots.
03:00Is that the experience of being on the other side of the net?
03:04What do you mean?
03:05Just how that feels, whether it's an intimidation, how it feels different compared to playing most other players.
03:14Compared to playing her?
03:16Yeah, just what's different about playing her compared to everyone else.
03:19What separates her as an opponent?
03:22I don't know. I'm sorry, I don't know.
03:26Is it her power? Is it the spirit? Or is it a combination of all of those things?
03:31I guess everything. She has everything. She has big strokes, big serve.
03:40When you sat down, just as you were starting, you mentioned having heard that you had 38 winners.
03:47How much do you pay attention to statistics after a match?
03:53Is that something that one or both of your coaches will bring up to you?
03:57Do you care about that? Do you study those things?
04:00I really care about my serve percentage. I always like to see it above 60%.
04:08After the first set today, they were showing the stats on court and I looked and it was 60%.
04:14I was like, okay. It was not bad, but this is something that I really care about.
04:20Of course, it's always better to have more winners, less unforced errors.
04:25I try to take control of the point. I try to be aggressive.
04:30With that comes more mistakes and that's something that you have to accept.
04:34Will you seek out a stat sheet to look at those numbers?
04:39No.
04:41How will you find out if, let's say, you were over 60% at the end of a match?
04:47You just quickly look at the app.
04:51You said that you had a new perspective. Can you describe your new perspective a bit more?
04:56I think last year, tennis was everything to me.
05:03It was the most important thing. I wanted to win a slam.
05:06But after winning a medal, I was in my head.
05:15I was like, okay, if I never win another thing, it's fine.
05:19But still, on the other hand, I'm more hungry and more motivated than ever to keep winning,
05:26to maybe eventually get that slam, especially after playing semis at Wimbledon,
05:31being so close to the finals.
05:33But I'm a lot more relaxed, I would say.
05:37I was quite nervous on court today, but before matches, the days before,
05:43I think before it would be really unbearable to be with me during slams.
05:48But now I'm a lot more relaxed.
05:51You mentioned before about a year and ten years and everything on the court and off the court.
05:58We know what happened on the court. Are you able to share anything that happened off the court?
06:02I'd rather not.
06:04Okay, that's fine.
06:06What's Sascha brought to the team?
06:08A lot of intensity. A lot of intensity, good energy.
06:13We had a really good preseason.
06:17We worked really hard, so I was a little bit upset that I lost the first three matches of the season.
06:25I was like, no, come on, we worked so hard, I was practicing so well.
06:28But for me, even if I lost today, it wouldn't have changed a lot.
06:34I think he's a great coach, has a lot of experience,
06:39and hopefully we can have some good results together.
06:43We'll see.
