You often listen to music before you get on court? What are you listening to right now?
Always. Right before I go on court I like to listen to a lot of techno music, just something upbeat to get my energy and adrenaline going. I like different kinds of music ? rock music, pop music sometimes, Russian music. A lot of new music this week actually. My friend is a DJ, and he gave me all of his songs, about 5,000 songs. It?s just a bunch of mixes, I don?t even know the names of the songs.
As you know Amy Winehouse died over the weekend. Were you a fan of her music?
Not really a big fan but I think she was very special and very talented in a different kind of way. And very artistic. It?s always very sad to hear somebody ending their life very early. Of course taking the lifestyle she had? it?s quite difficult to keep up, I guess.
Your 22nd birthday is Sunday. How are you planning to celebrate?
We?ll see. Hopefully I?ll be playing my last match in Stanford. [That would be the final.] But other than that I wanted to celebrate it with my friends.
The WTA?s ?Strong is Beautiful? campaign has gotten a lot of attention. Your thoughts on the campaign?
The concept was very smart, very marketable. It?s one sentence that stands out so much for women?s tennis. The videos with the different countries and the voices was a very intelligent move as well for people to see how many athletes are from different parts of the world and all that variation. I think it?s amazing.
You put up on an interesting new picture on Twitter yesterday. What?s the story behind that?
The picture is from a recent shoot in London with a friend of mine. Her name is Ana, and she?s one of the best photographers I ever worked with. We found the charisma, the look that is really me, not that someone wanted to create on me. It was funky, it was classic. I can?t wait for people to see it. It?s going to come out probably before the U.S. Open. It will be my portfolio that I?m going to share with my fans on my website. It?s going to be amazing.
You reached the Wimbledon semis. It felt like a big deal for us. Did it feel like that for you?
Yeah, of course. It was one of the biggest stages of my career so far now. I was really looking forward to play that semifinal. I think I did a pretty good job. Of course, I?m not completely satisfied. But it was another step, another learning experience. It was important to really play out there on those big stages. Maybe sometimes you can learn actually more with a loss than with a win.
Do you see Petra Kvitova as someone you?ll compete with and have a rivalry with, say, in five years?
Yeah, definitely. I think she?s a great player. I didn?t see her being very consistent on a regular basis, but it always can change. She?s been playing great this year. We?ll see how it?s going, but any day she can come out and play a hell of a match, as you can see.
Some say there?s a power vacuum at the top in WTA. Your thoughts on that? Does it feel like an opportunity, pressure, something else?
Honestly, as a player I think the tennis got way more competitive than it was before. You don?t see just three or four players dominating the tour all the time as you could see maybe 10 years ago. You could see top players winning 6-0, 6-1 prior to quarterfinals. I don?t think that?s really interesting to watch. Of course, all the biggest credit to them because they were so dominant and consistent. But now the game became so much more physical. Everybody?s working out way more than they were before. There?s the speed, the spins. And a lot of young players are coming, and they?re not very afraid of whoever is in front of them.
How are things working out with your coach, Sam Sumyk? What are some important things you?ve learned from him?
It?s going great. We always have some disagreements, but it?s normal. You cannot always just agree, and it?s just boring if you always agree on everything. What I learned about him is he never pushes me to make me do something. He explains to me why I have to do it, and I take my own decision to do it or not to do it. He says, ?Well I?m not going to take my racquet and play for you ? you gotta do it yourself. You really have to find that inner power to do things yourself and be responsible for your actions.?
Your WTA bio says you admire Federer?s professionalism on court and off. Can you give examples?
He has this look that he?s there on every single ball. He makes opponents work so hard to earn that point. And you can see so much Nadal doing the same and Djokovic too, now raising the level so high. It?s just amazing how much domination they have in their game.
Can you name a few specific players you?d pay to watch?
Of course Federer and Nadal and all those guys. And the girls, you know, Serena, Venus, Caroline, Maria and a lot of other girls. It?s just so much effort we put in. People don?t see all the hard work we do outside the matches. Sometimes I think they don?t really appreciate the amount of work we put in. I think everyone deserves [attention].
If you could ?steal? any shot/quality from another player, what would it be?
[The response is immediate.] Rafa?s forehand.
But you?re not a lefty?
Well I would be a lefty if I could have that forehand.
Caroline Wozniacki, a friend of yours, gets a lot of attention for not having won a Slam yet. Your thoughts on the stories and the attention.
The stories just became normal I guess. The same happened to Jankovic and Dinara when they were No. 1. They were given all this, I would say, crap. As many people there are in the world, as many opinions there are. You cannot say that everybody has to agree on something ? it would be boring. What would they all talk about?
Grunting is once again getting a lot of attention. Why do you think that is? You?ve said you?ve grunted since you were little. If you could do anything differently when you were little, would you?
No, I wouldn?t. I?ve been asked that about 1,000 times. I can put it another way. Are you married? [No, I?m not. Why? Know any good guys?] No, just an example. My dad and a lot of men, they snore, right? But they?re not conscious about it. And you ask them every time, ?Damn it, you were snoring the whole night.? And they?re like, ?Really?? And you say, ?Yeah.? And they can?t change it. A lot of people who ask this question? do they snore or not? Can they change it? I can ask the same question, you know. But I?m there busting my butt to win the point. That?s part of my game, that?s part of who I am, it?s part of my breathing, it?s part of my movement.
In the WTA you?ve earned the third most in prize money this year. More than Sharapova, Clijsters, Wozniacki. Did you know this?
No. Wow, it?s pretty good. My finances will be pretty happy. The money is always important, because I have a big team, I have a lot of expenses. You cannot lie ? that always makes you feel pretty special.
Source: http://feeds.tennis.com/~r/tenniscom-features/~3/PLcaPGEiRGI/
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