Roland Garros. June 3 2011 - Francesca Schiavone (pre - final press conference))

           

FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE

            Q.  Will you see Panda 2 next week, the film?

            FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE:  Ah, si, si, si.  Is coming the second one.  But I know that there are a lot of problems with the Chinese culture.  They said that they feel pissed because we are joking with their culture.  Did you read the paper?

            I read like this and was bad, because I think that movie cartoon can teach us not just for kids, but is for us, for other people.  So I hope is coming soon.

            Q.  You have been asked a lot about your age and how you were able to play so well at the ripe old age of 30.  Do you think it's good for tennis to have two women who are very experienced in this final?

            FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE:  I think is good, not just for tennis, but also for the younger players that are coming.  They can understand that the career is not just this moment or one, two, three years, but is long, so they have to control and to improve every day.  To be in the career is not so short like before.  So is good example, good input.

            Q.  There is a lot of speculation ‑ especially if Li should win ‑ the boom in China could really be very big.  How much did things change in Italy for tennis when you won last year?

            FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE:  Ah, change a lot.  Last year when I won French Open, the percentages of the people that sign in the tennis, tennis club, the young, the kids, are much higher than before.

            So that's good.  Of course, we are not millions and millions like in China, because we are totally ‑‑ how many we are?  Settanta millioni?  (Back and forth in Italian.)  70 million.  So it's big difference, but we are Italian.  We have big hearts.

            Q.  Last year you talked a lot about how much of a dream it all was.  How do you think you will spend this evening building up to the final?

            FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE:  This is easy, simple.  I go to take a walk I think this afternoon and then rest a little bit, get some physiotherapy.  Eating, enjoy with friends.  Nothing special.  I don't think now to Li Na.  I will think tomorrow.

            I think is much more important now to relax and take back some big energy and to be focused for tomorrow.

            Q.  Don't you think it's a good thing ‑‑ you were talking about the younger players ‑‑ that they see that when power is not everything, as it is on clay, when two women are in the final who know what to do with a ball, who know how to make it behave differently than just about power, don't you think that's an important lesson?

            FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE:  That's fantastic.  I start to say it from the start.  Why you do some results on the clay and why this age, or blah, blah, blah.  And I say from the first day that clay, it's a mix of everything.  So you have to be good physically, mentally, good tactic.  You can't play just power, because you have always the time to defense and to counterattack.

            So in one point on the clay, you can arrive to be in defense and then attack and then to the net and then again in defense.

            That, I think, is a good mix to keep going, to use the mind, the heart, the body, everything that you are.  So is good what you say, yeah.

            Q.  It's the classroom of the sport, right?

            FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE:  Si, I think so, yes.  But of course when you see a final like in Wimbledon, like Rafa against Roger, that is a class.  Big example, of course.

            So yeah.

            Q.  I just wonder if on clay when all people do is hit hard and they're having a bad day, it can be very ugly tennis.  I mean, women's tennis looks better on grass if the balls are hard hitting.  But I think this court exposes problems with players who just want to hit hard.

            FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE:  Yeah, because you have to use this (pointing to head) always every day.  Yeah.

            But when you're born with a different play like topspin or backhand, different way, you can't ask to hit the ball 200 per hours.

            But in the same times, if you born and if you play a great forehand or backhand like Dementieva was playing and hitting strong, that's fantastic.  But maybe when is windy you have to have another ‑‑ to find another solution, or when you are with big tension or you do like this (hands to face) every players are different, but for sure on the clay you can't use just the power.