Battue par Clara Burel au deuxième tour l'an passé, Jessica Pegula a encore été surprise par une joueuse en dehors du Top 50 cette année, à Melbourne. La Serbe Olga Danilovic, soutenue par un certain Novak Djokovic, a profité de conditions de jeu peu avantageuses envers l'Américaine pour crucifier la n°6 mondiale en deux manches (7-6(3), 6-1). Un coup dur pour Pegula, qui ne dépassera pas le stade des quarts de finale, son record, malgré sa belle forme du début de saison. En conférence de presse, elle a analysé cette déconvenue, et également évoqué le sujet bouillant du moment... Danielle Collins et son chambrage vers le public australien. Un comportement qu'elle juge bon pour le sport.
Photo : @AustralianOpen
Photo : @AustralianOpen
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00:00Um, yeah, I mean, from three on the tiebreaker, she played some pretty good tennis, just kind
00:08of started going for her shots.
00:11I feel like a lot more, um, her serve percentage didn't really drop, like her level, I just
00:17got better.
00:18Um, you know, maybe had chances in this, that first game she served or second game she served
00:25in the second, but I mean, like she hit a winner on every break point opportunity I
00:29had.
00:30So, um, yeah, credit to her, she played really well.
00:33Okay, questions?
00:34I guess you're saying you think it was more a question of her just not giving you, getting
00:38you looks when you needed them?
00:39Yeah, I mean, she served like 80% first serves and when you're playing against a lefty, that's
00:43really tough.
00:45Conditions were so slow, I mean, it was slower than like a clay court, it felt like.
00:49The balls were so heavy and that totally, I think, favored her, um, for sure, especially
00:54with her lefty kind of whip beforehand up to my backhand, it's really tough.
00:59And then, um, you know, usually where I feel like I can get free points off of returning
01:02really well, I felt like because she was making a lot of high percentage first serves and
01:07then with the conditions being slower, like my ball just wasn't getting me any free points,
01:12it seemed like, um, and then, yeah, like I said, then she just kind of stepped it up.
01:16I felt like from literally from 3-0 in the tie break, um, her level didn't really drop,
01:21maybe just that one game, but again, she hit like two, three winners on every break point,
01:25so not really much I could have done.
01:32Yeah, I mean, I don't know.
01:33I mean, it's not even the same tournament from like my first round match, playing on
01:38Kane during the day, it's fast, and then playing there at night, it's, it's not even remotely
01:44the same.
01:45So, I mean, it's tough, everyone has to deal with it, um, some deal with it better than
01:49others.
01:50Obviously I prefer faster, I think everybody on tour knows that, so, you know, you could
01:55say the same for some girl having to go play me on Kane during the day, that's not gonna
01:59like it.
02:00Um, so it's just tough having to deal with those conditions, and playing against an opponent
02:04I think where it also favors her, but not just favors her, but also she played really
02:08well, so I think it was just kind of all those factors turning in her direction tonight.
02:15Was there a part of your game that frustrated you the most, or like you said, it was just
02:18one of those nights?
02:19Yeah, I mean, I, the first set, I mean, I, we were playing good tennis, like I didn't
02:22feel like I, um, played bad at all, I just, I wasn't getting the free points, and I wasn't
02:29able to kind of step in the court and kind of hurt her with my ball, and, um, you know,
02:34move forward as well as I would have liked, um, I mean, I was trying to, it just kind
02:39of wasn't happening, and then like I said, with the return, I mean, usually I'm able
02:42to hurt a lot of people with my returns, and, um, just couldn't really, couldn't really
02:47get ahead in a game, I mean, I think I got ahead 30-love like the first game, and I missed
02:52that short backhand, and now like looking back, I'm like, wow, that was a massive point,
02:56because it might have been the only time I maybe would have broken her in the first,
03:00and going up 2-0, um, now looking back, was, was massive, but obviously I wouldn't have
03:05known that at the time, so.
03:06I wanted to ask a little bit about, uh, Danielle Collins, who's been getting a lot of conversation
03:12the last, uh, 24 hours or so here, I know you two are close, and you've been a support
03:16for her, um, what, what, what is, what do you, who is, how would you explain to Danielle
03:20Collins, do you know, I guess, off-court, and then also what have you thought about,
03:24uh, all the attention she's been getting for being willing to antagonize sometimes?
03:28Yeah, um, I mean, I think I, as Coco said it best, Danielle's gonna be Danielle.
03:33I think that's the perfect way to put it, um, you know, I appreciate that she's honest,
03:37and she is who she is, and, um, I think it's honestly great for the sport, I mean, to have
03:42that entertainment, and to see her personality, it's something different, and tennis can be
03:47kind of stuffy, and so I think to have that mentality that she has, and I, she said it,
03:52she's like, it doesn't matter if it's a good crowd or a bad crowd, she's gonna feed off
03:55of it and try to use that to motivate her, and, um, not everybody can do that, not everybody
04:00likes to do that, not everyone's good at it, but, I mean, if, if you are, and you're out
04:04there, and you're trying to win, and that's what helps you win, like, you're gonna do
04:08that, so, um, obviously my personality is much different, but, uh, I can respect and
04:14appreciate that she doesn't really care, and, um, she's always been super nice to me, and
04:18I was just talking to her a lot today about a bunch of random different things, um, her
04:23renovating her house, and doing all this stuff, and I, she's always been great, so, um, you
04:28know, on court, she kind of has this little persona that she likes to do, and, I, I mean,
04:34yeah, I mean, when you, I don't know how to explain it other than, like, she's just gonna
04:38be herself, and, uh, I think you have to kind of respect that at the end of the day, and
04:42appreciate that, um, especially for a woman's sport, I don't know, I think it's, it's kind
04:47of refreshing to have that.
04:48Do you think, do you think the sport could, people around the sport could be less stuffy,
04:51as you're saying, or less sort of, uh, fragile about these things?
04:54No, I mean, it's always, it's always kind of been a little bit of a stuffy, uppity kind
04:58of sport, and I think you see that, um, even when, you know, people think Novak's the villain,
05:04or Nick's the villain, and stuff like that, and I think fans just like to assume that
05:09they know, and they put these people in these roles, but, I mean, at the end of the day,
05:12we're entertainers, and I think, I think it can help the sport having more personality.
05:17Um, I think it's refreshing to see, and, uh, I think nowadays it's just maybe tougher with
05:23social media that, you know, everything kind of comes back to haunt you, or maybe there's
05:26something out there that gets taken out of context and gets taken the wrong way, whereas,
05:31um, I feel like back in the day when social media wasn't around, you had so much more
05:34personality in tennis because, probably because those things didn't stick with you forever.
05:38Um, so, she's not afraid if it's out there, if there's a video of her, um, and I think,
05:45like you said, she's, or like she said, she's able to laugh at it, too, and kind of look
05:49back and be like, okay, maybe that was too much, but, you know, at least I was just out
05:53there being me, um, but yeah, I think it's just, I think it's nice for the sport, um,
05:58I do think social media and stuff has kind of maybe changed that, but I think the more,
06:02more personality, the better.