MELBOURNE—The weekend before a Grand Slam is media availability time for the top players. As in, the media, instead of getting to sit back in a hotel lounge and watch football all day like the rest of the civilized world, have to be available to quiz the world’s biggest tennis stars about how their preparation for this tournament has gone, and whether they believe deep down that they can go all the way. The answers don’t vary a whole lot. The player has, typically, “put in the hard work.” But there are “niggles.”
Sometimes the pressers are tedious. Sometimes they’re entertaining, if a player is willing to talk a little about his or her personal life, or, even better, if they just go ahead and invent a story about getting beaten up by a local animal. Mostly, with no match to mull over or regret, there isn’t a ton of new material to go over. But it's always fun to see the stars, and their very different press-room personalities, when they're optimistic and looking ahead.
Today eight seeded, stoical, well-niggled, but generally smiling players—Caroline Wozniacki, Sam Stosur, Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic—trooped into the low-ceilinged, college-schoolroom-style interview chamber at Melbourne Park to take their pre-Slam exams. Here are a few of the highlights, and not-quite-as-high lights. To start, virtually all of them stated that whatever ills and injuries had been troubling them were no longer a concern—or would certainly no longer be a concern by Monday, anyway. There’s nothing like a Grand Slam to get you feeling better fast.
Caroline Wozniacki
Naturally, the first question she received was, “Last year you thrilled us with stories about a kangaroo.” (Not technically a question, I know.) Wozniacki was a good sport, telling us she hadn’t brought her kangaroo with her, but that “he might show up later in the week” and that she would “keep us updated.”
Wozniacki said her recent wrist problem “will be 100 percent” OK by her first-round match. Most interesting, though, was her response to the inevitable, “How important is it for you to win a Grand Slam event?”
“You know, I’ve been No. 1 for a long time already,” Wozniacki humbly stated. “Now my main focus is just to win as many tournaments as possible and the ranking will get there.”
Not Slams, just "tournaments" in general. Is it better to go this route and take pressure off of yourself at the majors? Or is it better to admit how much the big ones really mean to you? Or does what you say in an interview room affect what you do on court at all? You simply react in the moment out there, don't you? Questions, most likely, never to be asked or answered.
Kim Clijsters
Two points of interest:
(1) Clijsters says her own injury problem—a hip spasm-niggle—is also behind her.
(2) While the other players sit straight ahead, lean forward, and keep their elbows on the desk in front of them, Clijsters turns sideways and curls up after a few questions, as if she’s on the couch at home.
Sam Stosur
Sam is pleasant and agreeable and perhaps the most likeable and normal of all tennis players. Even Serena Williams said this week that “she’s always rooting for her.” Which means, of course, that she doesn’t make good copy. But today there was some poignance to the way Stosur talked about her young countryman Bernard Tomic, and playing in front of the home folks.
Stosur was asked if she could give Tomic “any advice on how to deal with the expectations and the crowd support.”
“No,” the 27-year-old said flatly, with a slight smile. “I’m still trying to work all that out myself, get used to it. Bernard had a different personality to me. He obviously thrives on the attention that he gets.”
I had always thought that the effect of Sam’s nerves in Oz was a little overstated, and that she lost mainly because she can be erratic. It really is tough for her down here.
Roger Federer
His back is fine again, and he’s been practicing full out, with no fear, for the first time since Doha. He also said that Martina Hingis told him he should focus on winning singles and doubles at the Olympics, rather than adding in the mixed with her. “She basically took the decision for me, which was very nice of her,” Federer said.
Quote of interest about the change from the indoor to the outdoor season: “Indoors is based on a lot of shot-making, one-two-punches," Federer said, "which changes here. Conditions are much slower so you need to work the point more. It’s going to get much more physical, which I don’t mind, and be more mental, which I also don’t mind.”
Serena Williams
Her ankle injury? She's also playing full out again.
How many matches constitute sufficient Grand Slam prep for her? According to a smiling and seemingly happy Serena, the two that she's played in the last five months are "definitely enough." She said it as if any more would have been overkill.
Why didn't she play after the U.S. Open? Even Serena was unclear on the reason.
"I was training in L.A. every day after the Open," she said,"You know, just training, training, training. It was a lot mentally for me."
"Was it mental or physical?"
"It was definitely physical. I was in a little pain. I just wasn't, you know . . . yeah."