ROGERS CUP PRESENTED BY AMERICAN EXPRESS
Date: 2007-08-17

ROGERS CUP PRESENTED BY AMERICAN EXPRESS

August 17, 2007

Svetlana Kuznetsova
TORONTO, ONTARIO
The Moderator Questions, please.

Question We were just having an interview, and she was saying that both of you guys seemed to be kind of out of it. Lot of unforced errors. Is there anything that you can see how your mentality change d from the first set to the third set at all?
Svetlana Kuznetsova Sorry, I didn't get the question.

Question Your mentality during the second set, was there a change of mentality at all for you frustration-wise? Or were you just playing the same way throughout the game?
Svetlana Kuznetsova No, of course not. I played good first set, and then just intention -- I was not intense in the second and third set. That's why I started to do so much unforced errors.
It's very hard to play with the wind, but to play good with the wind, but to play good with the wind, you have to move a lot and you have to be much more intense than I've been in second and third. I just let it go.
It was eight breaks in the first eight games of the second set. And I broke when I kept my serve, then I didn't play well next game. I guess this was the key. And it was just too many unforced errors in second and third set. And the second and third set I didn't play how I have to play to win this match.

Question You tried to push Golovin around the court. I saw that you made her run a lot. And she didn't sometimes even attempt to get some of the drop shots that you gave. Was that part of your mentality to try to, you know, make her run as much as possible?
Svetlana Kuznetsova Well, definitely, it's everybody's intentions. You have to make the other one move, and this is what I was trying to do. But then I didn't move to the ball well enough, so I was missing a lot of these balls. And you can't win like this the games.

Question You were stretching your lower body. Is there something wrong having trouble planting on your shots, is that why you were missing so badly?
Svetlana Kuznetsova Well, I guess the main thing I lost, I didn't move so well, and now I had so much intensity in my game. I had some problems, but I cannot blame them for losing. I guess I still could win like that.

Question But was it a hip or a thigh?
Svetlana Kuznetsova A little abdominal muscle.

Question Does the wind make it really harder in this tournament than in other tournaments. Because since Monday, pretty much all the players are saying there's a lot of wind and it's very difficult. Is it harder here than in other tournaments?
Svetlana Kuznetsova Yeah, we don't have so much wind like this. So every day it's so much windy. And today we warm up and it was zero wind in the center court. When we come to play match, it was so much wind.
And then it's so important to put your serve in, and I didn't serve well today. Yeah, it disturbs the game a lot. They say, again, if you don't move well when it's windy, it's very hard to play good.

Question Is it the worst tournament, like wind-like in all the season, in terms of wind?
Svetlana Kuznetsova No, I guess there are some other tournaments like Indian Wells is very windy. But it's very tough to play, yeah.

Question When you stretched several times on the court and you almost did the splits, are you okay there? Or is that, are you used to doing that?
Svetlana Kuznetsova I still have my legs, I'm fine.

Question Are you okay? I was wondering if that would have affected your game at all?
Svetlana Kuznetsova No, no, not at all. But I think I should have moved to this ball instead of stretching. I can do both ways. And it's much more effective if I run to the ball.

Question How do you assess your chances going into the US Open?
Svetlana Kuznetsova I mean, I think, you know, still after this match like if I don't count this match, I feel like playing good. Today I just did so many unforced errors. To improve it, I'm playing next week in New Haven. And I still need some matches because I had very long break, you know. So it's hard to get consistency. But if I don't have matches like that, I would be playing good.

Question So in your own mind, are you one of the favorites?
Svetlana Kuznetsova I mean, I would love to say yes, but you know, like after this game today it's really disappointing to lose, you know. So I just want to go out there and to do my best.

Question Did you not expect too much coming in here your first tournament since Wimbledon?
Svetlana Kuznetsova I didn't think about it, you know. I just wanted to go out there and play so much. Maybe this hurt me a little bit because I give so much energy-wise in my first two matches. Then sometimes you just lose it a little bit. And that's what's happened to me today.

Question What did you do in the break between Wimbledon and now?
Svetlana Kuznetsova I had some time off, because I had some problems with shoulder. And then I've been training like for three weeks.

Question So no vacation?
Svetlana Kuznetsova Yeah, I had a break, like a few days.

Question Three days?
Svetlana Kuznetsova Few.

Question Oh, few. What do you do on vacation for a few days?
Svetlana Kuznetsova Well, I had two, three days in Barcelona, and then I went to Moscow to spend time with my friends a little bit. Three, four days then I came back and I started practicing.