V. AZARENKA/R. Vinci
6 3, 6 2
VICTORIA AZARENKA
Q. It was a very solid performance from your side today?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, I think I played very well. I started, I was serving well, you know, dominating, and trying to be as aggressive on her serve. I think she also started really well, and it took me a few games to adjust, because she has a little bit of unusual game but very, very solid for clay.
But I think I adjusted really well, and really started to dominate.
Q. Did you play your best match here this year at Roland Garros today?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: I don't think it was the best match, best performance. I think I can improve, and I have been improving from match to match, which is important.
So for me, it's taking it day by day, and every day I tried to do the best job as possible. Today what I did was, you know, was my best today. Probably could do things better, but I have time to work on and prepare for the next match.
Q. Can you just talk about the elbow injury, how long it took to recover, and how it's feeling now?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Elbow is fine. It was very unfortunate that I fell right before the match, and, you know, it's one of those things that's a little bit of bad luck.
Thank God it was nothing serious. I did the MRI and everything right away, and it just showed a little bit of a bone bruise.
So it basically took five days, you know, to fully recover. I didn't play. I came here earlier to just to try to prepare.
Q. Do you feel a bit unlucky given the number of crazy injuries and retirements and all that that's happened?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Um, I mean, I cannot complain, you know. I have been having great results. I have been playing so much, so the schedule is really tight. Sometimes it's expected, you know, maybe to get a little bit to get little things. To me it's nothing major. I'm one week later playing the tournaments, so I cannot complain.
Q. Talk about coming to the Grand Slam. You've gone to second weeks before, but obviously you're a more developed and better player now, so does it change your expectations of what you should do?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: No, I don't think I have my own expectations, you know. As I was talking about, it's not about results. Of course, everywhere you go, you're trying to win the tournament, but my expectation for me is to be the best player I can be and to do each day the best job as possible.
So when I know that I did everything I could, I have no regrets. And results is gonna come.
Q. Coming into a Grand Slam, though, and you look at the draw and you see Victoria Azarenka No. 4 seed, you know, you're ahead to your quarters, that's got to make you feel pretty good.
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, I think that gives extra confidence. That's just a number. I don't look at the draw. I just know I'm No. 4 seed, and that's it.
Q. You listen to music and dance until the last moment before the match?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, unfortunately.
Q. What normally you listen?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Different music. You know, it's more like dancing music, so I get really warmed up. It's fun for me. I don't know. That's how I found myself preparing to the matches.
Q. It's a way to have more relax before the match?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, I guess so. It just pumps me up, you know. I have to get my feet going, so why not dance? Somebody does different kind of exercise. I have my own exercise.
Q. Clijsters, Stosur, Wozniacki are out, is it maybe adding pressure to you? Because it looks like it's your opportunity for the top players remaining.
VICTORIA AZARENKA: The players you lost, you know, you should give all the credit. I mean, if they beat those tough opponents, they must have been pretty damn good.
So for me, as I said, I'm looking just one match at a time. I know my next opponent, and, well, they're gonna play soon and I'm gonna watch a little bit. But it's never easy, you know. Even if some top players are out.
Q. Do you think the tour is more open than the decade before?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: I don't know. I'm not sure.
Q. You know Caroline very well. She was obviously very upset yesterday. At least from the outside, it appears that there's pressure on her as she plays all the time. She's the top player from a small country. Can you just talk a little bit about that, how to contend with that type of pressure?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Well, I saw Caroline, and she really was, you know, upset and devastated about the loss. But I think she's well, she's 20 years old, you know. She's No. 1 in the world. I don't know how many matches she won this year and how many tournaments. I mean, one little slap, even if it is Grand Slam, it shouldn't bring you down.
I think she's an amazing player. You know, the criticize that she gets, I mean, people have their own opinions.
But I think she's doing a good job. They have their own way. Every player has their own way, and you shouldn't compare to, you know, oh, this player was doing this, so maybe the other one has to do the same.
Everybody has their own path.
Q. She plays a lot, you know, practices a lot, exercises a lot. Are you much the same way where you don't need to take mental breaks sometimes from tennis, where can you just get back on court all the time to say, Okay, I can keep on playing and practicing? Or do you need to go off sometimes and say, I need to forget about tennis?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Definitely. Yeah, I don't play that many tournaments. I don't like to play that many tournaments. I think I do practice a lot, yes. My coach makes me work really hard, but myself, I like to practice a lot, as well.
Definitely take some breaks off, you know, go home just to relax a little bit. Because the tennis is not only on the court. It's off court, you know, that you have to deal with a lot of different things.
