Day 8 - An interview with Ana Ivanovic - Sunday, June 3, 2007

Q. A little more difficult today, but what brought you through?

ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, definitely it was great match today. She played some really good tennis. And there was some stage where I think neither of us was making unforced errors. It was all, yeah, winners.

So it was a very tough match, but I'm really happy that I pulled through. And then she was also a little bit lucky but that's all part of the game, I guess. My serve was working really well, which helped me to get through. And I saved some break points I was facing through the match.

Q. How excited are you to get to this point, and how do you feel you're playing right now? Where is your level, do you think?

ANA IVANOVIC: Well, very exciting to be back in the quarters here. It's a great time for me, and I feel physically fit. So I managed to pull through this match. And obviously day off tomorrow will help me.

But I feel very good. And I won lots of matches lately, so that's all the things that give you confidence. So, yeah, I'm very excited to be back in the quarters and to have a chance to compete to get further.

Q. You obviously have been in the quarters before. How is your mindset different now than it was then, and do you have much more confidence going forward? Do you have more because of that experience?

ANA IVANOVIC: Well, that was amazing experience that, for sure, will help me in my match on Tuesday. And I feel much more mature, and also I have much more experience since then. Those are all little things that's going to help me to get through.

And also, I play Kuznetsova before, recently in finals in Berlin. So, yeah, I'm very, very excited to have chance to play again in the quarters, and I hope I can do better than last time.

Q. Do you actually now allow yourself to think, "Hey, I can actually win this thing; I'm now in the position where, you know, the match is close"?

ANA IVANOVIC: Well, it's very exciting, because as you enter the second week, it's much tougher opponent, but also you have more confidence winning matches and getting there. So those are things get exciting.

But I think it's important to still stay calm and focus on what you have to do. Because if you get too excited, especially myself, if emotions start to interfere, then it's not good. So I just don't want to get too excited and I want to try to play the best I can and the way I played lately. So that's the way I can get through.

Q. Did you notice that right from the beginning that Justine and Serena and Jelena are in the top half of the draw and you're in the bottom, and maybe most people think they're the three favorites. So does it make you feel better that maybe have a better chance? Coming from the bottom is a better place to be?

ANA IVANOVIC: To be honest, I haven't looked at the draw at all. Yeah, I mean, it's exciting. As I said there is, so many good players. Justine and Jelena and Serena, they're definitely the favorites.

But, yeah, I mean, that's the way it goes. Sometimes you have to play against them early, sometimes not. But they've brought so much to the tennis and it's going to be very exciting matches.

Q. I think some people think you're maybe better on hard courts. Do you feel you're just as good or better on clay? How do you feel?

ANA IVANOVIC: At the moment, I think I'm enjoying playing on the clay much more. I feel I improve my fitness a lot which helps on clay, because you have to do a lot of running. And now I feel comfortable, and, yeah, I really enjoy.

Q. A lot of people don't know your story growing up. Can you tell us what it was like growing up. You played mostly in Belgrade, no, more so than the other two? And I've heard stories about you were there during the bombing. I don't know if that's true. Can you just tell us what that was like.

ANA IVANOVIC: Yeah, well, I stayed in Serbia most of my career, and also during the bombing. That was, I would say, the toughest times, because it was very hard. It was going on for three months. It was very hard to practice. In the beginning, we wouldn't practice. Later on, we kind of got used to that and we would practice 7:00 in the morning and try to live as normal as possible. Those were all little tougher times, I would say.

Also after that, we had a lot of traveling and getting visa for different countries. So, yeah, those were really tough times. But, I mean, I got chance and I got managers from Switzerland, so I could practice there, spend a little bit more time there. Looking back, that was important part of my career and I'm really thankful to them.

Q. Back to the match, during the second set, there was a man who was crying a lot for Anabel. Did it disturb you because you lose after the set?

ANA IVANOVIC: No, not really, because it was great atmosphere out there today. I mean, I really enjoyed playing. The crowd was really fair and really good. But I guess in the second set, I had still chances and I broke her. I was 3-2 up, serving, and I had some chances. I wasn't as aggressive as I should have been. And I start playing a little bit more defensive and trying to play safe more than attack. First of all that was not my game. And second of all, it gave her chance to dominate.

And I think that's what made the difference. And she played some really good tennis then. I was really happy that from the beginning of the third set, I could regain my focus and still be conscious of what I have to do to win, yeah.