Sunday, January 25, 2009

Australian Open - View from the courts: Day seven

Reaction from the key protagonists on a busy day of fourth-round action at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

TENNIS Dinara Safina reacts after winning her fourth round clash at the 2009 Australian Open - 0

Jelena Dokic after rolling back the years to advance to the quarter-finals: "Every single match I've played has been three sets. I really had to come through in all of them. I'm just really fighting. I'm really determined and fighting. That's sometimes what keeps it going. I think (my coach) might have a few drinks tonight. I think I might as well!"

Dinara Safina after being forced to save match points against Alize Cornet: "I played like a junior today, it's just lucky that I went through. I guess she was just not ready to beat me. I was just hanging in there. I'm just a little bit disappointed about this match, playing against this girl and allowing myself to make these kind of mistakes. Somebody (should) smack me so hard in my head that something shakes and I put the cables together. (My coach told me) if I continue playing like this, he may as well just go home. I keep telling myself to hit the ball but my arm just doesn't want to, because my mind is just stupid."

Marion Bartoli after her straight sets win over world number one Jelena Jankovic: "I'm just so happy to be on Rod Laver Arena because usually at the Australian Open I'm playing that badly that I'm on court 21. I think I played amazingly. The last game of the match was pretty tough. I just tried to play my game. I served so well and I'm very pleased to have won. I knew I could beat Jelena on a good day, it was just a matter of executing, you know, play the right shot at the right time and don't make too many mistakes. But I was not overwhelmed by the situation, and I just went for my shot and everything went in today. It was just a great match."

Jankovic after her lacklustre fourth-round defeat: "I haven't played for a while. Unfortunately, me and my mother, we got sick, so it was very hard where I couldn't play some matches over there, which I wanted, just to feel the atmosphere, get the rhythm on the court. My opponent was really on fire today and she was hitting everything and really went for her shots. Most of those were going in. It was tough. I really enjoy being the number one. Maybe it will change, the number one ranking, but it's not important what you do now, it's the whole of the year. I think, at least for me, the most important thing is how you finish, not how you begin."

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley on the repeated outbreaks of violence among spectators, including Friday's fight between Serbian and Bosnian fans who hurled plastic chairs at each other: "It is hard to have people walk through the site in large numbers and not to have an incident between three or four individuals, but our action against that is swift and quick... We have a full security team that's constantly looking at surveillance tape and direct TV. If they recognise something that's going to be potentially disruptive they go through a management process with that... It's certainly damaged the image (but) we've been consistent in saying we've no intention of going anywhere. Melbourne is the home of the Australian Open."

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