Australian Open Day 7: Press Conference Snippets

The final rounds of the 2015 Australian Open are taking shape with several of the sport's biggest names still alive in the tournament. See what some of the the major players had to say about their play yesterday.


Q. You think they would take requests? (Genie's Army)

EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I was thinking about it, because I really want them to start singing some Taylor Swift. Hopefully they will see this and maybe work on it. That would be really cool. Maybe I'll ask them to do that. I'll be really motivated if they do that. Like if I'm down, start singing Taylor Swift and I'll be motivated.


Q. What do you remember most about the match with Sharapova in Paris?

EUGENIE BOUCHARD: I kind of just remember a grind. I didn't feel like I was playing great tennis the whole time. Sometimes here and there. But that's what it's about: trying to win and trying to always play better, get through it, even if you're not playing your best. I felt like I was close with her. She probably wasn't -- we were both maybe a bit off. You're never really playing amazing. Maybe 10% of the year. So I remember that, and I remember I had chances and stuff. I just remember a tough match. I was pretty disappointed after, so that's motivating.


Q. She's compared to you quite often for various reasons. Can you see the similarities and can you remember what it was like when you were coming through the same way?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I think we all want to go through our own paths and we all want to -- when I was coming up, I was compared to Kournikova for many years in my career and still occasionally name always comes up in interviews and articles. That's just part of it, part of the game, part of the business. It's understandable. It is what it is. As I have said, I believe I was still a teenager, I don't want to be the next anyone. I want to be the first Maria Sharapova. And that's how I've been throughout my whole career. And we all want to create our own path and go through our own career. And we're all destined for some sort of thing. We work extremely hard at a sport, and that's what we want to be known for.

Q. Do you see any of yourself in Genie?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: I personally don't know Genie very well. As a tennis player she's a big competitor. She's an aggressive player as well that likes to take the ball early and dictate points. From that perspective, yeah, definitely.


Q. Until the game that you broke him in the first set, you had only won one point on his serve. Was it a matter of you figuring out the serve, or did his level of serving drop?

RAFAEL NADAL: I don't know if you saw that, but I changed completely the position on the return. I was returning very close to the baseline. Is easier to start more aggressive and make the transition aggressive to defensive than defensive to aggressive. So is something that I talk before the match, and we decided to go close to the baseline in the beginning. Then if was not working, try to play more points. I had that feeling that I need to make him feel that he needs to play a winner to win the point, no? Because before my feeling was he was winning too many points only with the serve. So I tried to change that at the end of the first set. I was able to have some good returns. One very good one, but then the other ones, just put the ball inside the court and then try to let him think a little bit more than what he was doing until that moment. That's what changed the dynamic of the games on the return. Very favorable way for me.


Q. What is the meaning of what you're writing on the lens of the camera?

RAFAEL NADAL: Doesn't matter. Is stupid thing. With my friends, that's it.


Q. What kind of help has it been with a new coach, a fresh pair of eyes from Dani taking on Rafa this time?

TOMAS BERDYCH: Let's see. It's going to be easier to judge after the match. So far, as I said in the past, we didn't spend that much time together. But the good thing is that I'm able to, you know, execute the things that he's telling me what to do, how to set up for the matches. So far it works pretty well. I think it's definitely the advantage which I was surely looking for.

Q. You had that famous volley with the two sets lead against him a couple years ago here. You don't remember that?

TOMAS BERDYCH: To Rafa?

Q. Yes. You had a volley for two sets to love.

TOMAS BERDYCH: Okay.

Q. You came very close then maybe to beating him. Does that give you confidence that you can play him that tough on a big stage here?

TOMAS BERDYCH: No, it has nothing to do with that. Definitely not. As I said, every slam is different. Every opponent, even if is the same one, then the match is different. So, no. It's going to start from 0-0. That's how it is. No comparing with the past. Just trying to be in this time and looking forward to it.


Q. Did you feel like you were a bit jinxed at the end?

GRIGOR DIMITROV: Jinxed or not, when you play a match like that, you don't actually think about anything. I'm not going to hide my disappointment. I'm pissed.


Q. In terms of sustained quality, might that be as good as you've played since the back surgery?

ANDY MURRAY: It's very difficult for me to say right now. But in terms of how my body felt, if it was the best I played, my body allowed me to play that way for the whole duration of the match. I didn't feel tired. I felt fresh. My back felt good. I wasn't feeling stiff at all. I don't normally say stuff like this, but for me the compression garments that I'm wearing just now are genuinely exceptional. In these condition over the last couple years I struggled a little bit, and I felt absolutely fine this evening. Whether or not, you know, it was the best match I played is definitely -- for a match that went three and a half hours, physically I felt way better than the last year or so.


Q. How does this compare to Wimbledon?

NICK KYRGIOS: I think this one, it feels a bit better, honestly. There was a lot of expectation coming into this tournament. I was obviously out for a couple weeks before Sydney. I wasn't expecting, you know, anything, especially not quarterfinals. And, yeah, it's just massive, especially to do it in front of your home crowd. Hisense is an unbelievable court. I'd never played on it before. It's definitely my favorite court now.

Q. Talk about Hisense. What is the dynamic? How does that help you?

NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, the court itself is actually quite small. The back, from the baseline, actually isn't a long way back. I really enjoyed that. It's actually a pretty small court, and then it just extends wide with the crowd. It was really cool. Even when I got out there with the warmup, I thought it was a really, really good court.