Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic and Daniela Hantuchova spoke to reporters in Madrid ahead of the Sony Ericsson WTA Championships. Sharapova, Ivanovic and Hantuchova are in the Yellow Group for the round robin portion of the event.
Maria Sharapova
"My current physical form is a big question mark. I only began serving a week and a half ago."
"This is my fourth year at the Championships. I'm still 20 and not even in the second half of my career. After suffering injuries, you learn how to be stronger. I must accept them and move forward."
"My life is very different from the girls of my age, who should probably be at school now. I have to face other challenges. [But] I'm not the first, nor the last."
Ana Ivanovic
"At the beginning of the year the results weren't coming, and I took some time off in March, relaxed a little bit and since there I started to take the pressure off myself. I realized some things on court and came to terms with the idea that you can't achieve everything you want in a day."
"Pressure always comes from myself. Sometimes I set myself high goals, and I want to achieve them in a short time. I have to take more time, I'm still learning how to do that and it will come with experience".
"My big step this year is related to my fitness. That makes me do more things on court. Apart from that, I'm more mature."
"My dream for this year was to enter the top 10, but I didn't expect to be in the top 5."
Daniela Hantuchova
"Before the tournament in Linz I was told I had to win the tournament to qualify, I said "sure, why not?" I tried not to think about it too much and I ended up winning the tournament. It was an incredible experience."
"What changed this year? I've just been able to think it's ok not to be perfect all the time, to forgive myself if I didn't win a match or if I didn't make the desired shot."
"Tennis is moving forward, it's become more physical with the years, but the important thing is what to do and what kind of shots you need in the right moment. I don't need physical power to win matches and I'm glad I'm part of that kind of tennis."