Champion speak: Winning words
Originally published on: 31/01/12 09:52
Forget the clichéd pre-match chat and the tired post match mutterings, the real golden quotes come in the aftermath of Grand Slam glory.
When the 2012 Australian Open champs came to press over the weekend, there wasn’t a hint of “at the end of the day,” no suggestion of “leaving it all out on court”, “hitting one more ball” or “guts-ing” it out. No, no, only entertaining words of ecstacy followed Grand Slam glory for these high-fliers.
Luke Saville
Australian Open Junior Boys champion
“This feels a sh**load better than last year. I’ll probably regret saying that word.”
Taylor Townsend
Australian Open Junior Girls champion
My mom was going crazy, and so was my sister. I was like, ‘hurry up. Call dad.’ So she called my dad. He was screaming, but he couldn’t hear me. I told him I was gonna call him later.
Bethanie Mattek-Sands
Australian Open Mixed Doubles champion
“It feels pretty good to have a trophy. Get our picture up in the hallway next year. So it’s pretty cool.
“Horia wanted to stay on the court. He was gonna have security drag him off. He’s like, ‘I’m just gonna stay here.’”
Horia Tecau
Australian Open Mixed Doubles champion
“It’s an amazing feeling. It’s very hard to win [Grand Slams]. I played two finals before, and really happy to break through and get my first one. Little rush right now because I have to go to the airport soon, but this will take a little time to sink in. I’m going to try to enjoy these few moments that we have now.”
Radek Stepanek
Australian Open Men’s Doubles champion
“There is one thing which is making us very strong, that we have great respect for each other as persons. We are great friends. He never let me down and I never let him down.”
Leander Paes
“The reason I can still win Grand Slams is, one, I know how to pick great partners and, two, I’m very passionate about my daily schedule. Every day I put myself on the line and that’s a lot of fun.”
Victoria Azarenka
Australian Open women’s singles champion
“I got messages [but my] calls don’t go through. I think there is reception and there is some Chinese lady keeps talking something to me when I call. I’m definitely not getting the right place.”
Novak Djokovic
Australian Open men’s singles champion
“I think it’s probably the longest final in the history of all Grand Slams, and just to hear that fact is making me cry, really.”
“These kind of matches – I’m sure any other colleague tennis player would say the same – we live for these matches. We work every day. We’re trying to dedicate all our life to this sport to come to the situation where we play six-hour match for a Grand Slam title.”
Vera Zvonareva
Australian Open ladies doubles champion
“If we’re fit enough to compete in singles and doubles, I’m sure we would like to do it. But we won’t sacrifice our singles to play doubles.
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Australian Open ladies doubles champion
“Well, because we focus on singles sometimes I go to Grand Slam, for example, and I don’t know if I gonna play or not in doubles.
“And here, actually I forgot and she forgot that it’s Monday close. It’s not our main goal. I was giving it a thought and I said ‘okay, let’s play’.
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