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HYUNDAI HOPMAN CUP XV TRANSCRIPT
Serena, you must be very happy with that today? (Serena) Definitely happier. My serve went much better, so, pretty satisfied. Are you where you would like to be now going into the Australian Open? (Serena) I'm insatiable - I'm never where I'd like to be. James, obviously a great day for you. (James) Yeah. I think that might be the first time I've taken out a reigning number one. Granted, it's just an exhibition tournament, but it still feels pretty good. I don't think he had his best form, but I'll take it. My kids and grandkids won't hear that he wasn't on his best form when I'm telling them I beat the number one in the world. It definitely feels good to close it out, and it gives me some confidence going into the rest of the year knowing I can beat a top player like that. Do you feel you played a part in him not playing that well? (James) Yeah, I'd like to think so, definitely. I'd like to think I have a pretty good game to match up, although my record against him doesn't show it. There aren't too many people that have phenomenal rec.ords against him - that's why he's number one in the world. But, I definitely think I played well and I was able to move him around on my forehand and not give him as much pace on my backhand so he couldn't hurt me as much. That was pretty much the game plan, and today I was able to execute it the way I liked. How do you see his chances at the Australian Open? (James) Pretty darn good still. I mean, he can play well on the surface obviously, he grew up on it. He's going to have the crowd support, maybe that could be a double-edged sword - it could be tough with all the pressure being the first Australian to win it in, I'm not sure, 30 years or so. He's going to have to deal with that every single match he plays. People are going to be asking him about that. He's dealt with some tough situations in Grand Slams before and ended up winning them, so I think he would probably still be the favourite. Do you think people are generally beginning to think the way to play Lleyton is not to use pace - are you all sort of thinking of ways to try and beat him? (James) Yeah, whenever someone gets to number one in the world, everyone else tries to think of ways to beat them. That's probably why it's tough to stay there. I think Lleyton will maybe have to find ways to combat that, the fact that everyone is trying to beat him. Pete Sampras said that was the toughest thing he ever had to do, was trying to stay number one. Not getting there, but trying to stay there. Lleyton has done a great job of staying there for an entire year and guys are still trying to figure it out. That's a testament to how well he's played for a year, and we're still trying to figure out what that secret is. Carlos Moya might be the only one that has some kind of secret to beat him. We'll see if the rest of us can figure it out. Serena, you say you're insatiable and never where you want to be. Do you think you are capable of winning the Australian Open? (Serena) I'm just capable of taking it one match at a time. There's a lot of people who would like to win the Australian Open. I'm not going to say I'm going to win or I'm going to lose. Really, whoever I play in the first round will be what my main focus will be and so on and so forth. What is your program over the next few days? What do you do before Melbourne? (Serena) You know, I'm going
to obviously work out a bit and definitely watch the football - Tampa
Bay all the way. Do you expect that you will come back next year? Paul McNamee makes it a habit to get the defending champions back. (Serena) I think as first time defending champions we should be obligated to come back. But, we'll see. I would like to, it should be a lot of fun. I think it's a great warm up for the Australian Open - it really suits me well. It's perfect.
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