Australian Open Darren Cahill Artemon Apostu
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Australian Open Sunday, 14 February 2021 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Darren Cahill Artemon Apostu-Efremov Q. Fascinating to hear Simona after the game get Press Conference asked, How do you approach a match against Serena? What about from a coach's perspective, do you try to do things quite drastically different from previous matchups from what you learn or is it THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. literally as Simona says, you have to produce your best tennis and hope it gets the job done? Q. Tell us how you felt Simona dealt with tonight's challenge. DARREN CAHILL: Yeah, I don't think it's that simple. I think that everybody presents different challenges, and ARTEMON APOSTU-EFREMOV: Well, hi, everybody. you can't go out there and play everybody the same way. We knew from the beginning that this one, it's gonna be a Simona doesn't have that type of game. She's not the tough one, especially after the Roland Garros match. type of player that can power through any particular But we also believed that she had a good chance, opponent. because conditions are a little bit different here. The court is faster. Weather, it's much better than it was in The way she played Iga tonight was completely different Paris in October. to the way she played her at the French Open. As Arti said, one of the great things about Simo is she's actually And Simona, she's a player that she doesn't like to lose a real student of the game. She thought about that twice, so we knew that she's gonna come hard and want match from the French Open, thought about what let her the revenge. down, what she could do better, and went out there tonight and try to execute a better game plan. Was able DARREN CAHILL: I couldn't answer that any better. All to do that. That game plan won't necessarily get it done good. against Serena. Q. What is the stiffest challenge that you think So coaching has become an incredibly important part of Serena will present to Simona? tennis I think over the years, and especially the last five or six years with the analytics, with the help that we've DARREN CAHILL: Well, there are multiple. She's got to become better coaches, with the stuff that we can playing as well as I've seen her play for a long time. provide the players as far as technical advice, patterns, She's moving as well as I've seen her move and defend tendencies on big points, all that sort of stuff, the shot in the last four or five years. spin rates. It's all there for us. It just depends on how much we wish to use. Confident. She's Serena Williams. You know, it's all-encompassing when you play somebody like her, and The players these days, they want more and more of it it's why such a great challenge, because she got a so they can find ways to make their life a little bit easier chance couple years ago to play her in a Wimbledon on the court. final. That was massive for Simona to get over that hurdle. So she'll go into this match with belief, but the We will sit down, Arti and myself over the next couple of execution is something that depends on the day. And days, and we don't talk too much to Simona about it until she will have belief that she can execute but she has to maybe the warmup of the day she plays. I send her a go out there and play as confidently as she did in the last little bit of video she can watch over the next 48 hours. two sets of this match, play aggressively, have that ability I'm not sure how much of it she actually watches. You to try to push Serena off the baseline as much as she might be able to ask that in 20 minutes or so. can. But definitely we have to work a game plan to beat And obviously be fortunate or lucky enough or have a Serena because if you go in there, into the match against good read on the greatest serve the women's game has Serena just hoping your best is going to get it done, more ever seen, and try to get as many balls back as possible. 104683-1-1063 2021-02-14 11:55:00 GMT Page 1 of 4 likely than not it won't. five months ago, and it wasn't the same match. So that's what I'm saying. Q. You probably haven't had a chance to dive into Serena yet because you have been focusing on For sure she's gonna try to do as much as possible that different opponents along the way. Have you noticed went good in that day, but it's different conditions. We'll at all, if you have watched her, have there been any expect different types of situations and challenges. changes dramatically you've noticed of how she's playing? There's been a little bit of talk about she's Q. People look at Serena now as the tennis-playing returning differently. mom who is chasing Margaret Court, and I think people forget that she was once a 14-year-old pro. DARREN CAHILL: She's moving well. That's the thing We have seen throughout the years teenage that stands out more than anything is that she's able to phenoms that have just not, have crashed and defend more balls at the moment. She's moving as well burned. Why do you think she's had this longevity? as I've seen her move for a long, long time. If you can What is it about her, her game, her temperament? stay in more points and get more balls back, stay alive, then she's got the power to turn those points around. DARREN CAHILL: I think if you look at all the great champions in our sport, they have good people around I don't know the win and loss rate of her match today, but them and that gives them balance and that keeps them in quite often it's only a handful of points between winning a the sport. We talk a lot about the attributes to go to great match and losing a match. If you can turn around six to champions and Serena has many obviously. But the one eight or ten of those points over the course of a three-set thing that you look at that seems to be consistent and match, it's a massive difference. constant throughout her team, and you can go through Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Venus, you know, doesn't Even in that game, that last game when Simona was matter who it is, that they have good people around them serving for the match tonight, those first two points, and they are there for a long time. Simona with her legs was able to turn around two losing situations to have a 30-Love instead of a Love-30. It That gives stability. It means that they are able to get the makes all the difference. most out of their careers. I think that's really important, and really important that a lot of the players that go from So to me that's the big thing that stands out, just coach to coach to coach and keep changing, they'll never watching Serena. I thought that match between her and get to reach the potential they could possibly get to, Aryna today was exceptional tennis. because they're not trusting the voices that are coming from their coaches. They're looking for the magic pill all Q. Not that long ago I asked Simo if she -- the time. DARREN CAHILL: You're not allowed to call her "Simo" So I've been with Simona now for about five years. too, by the way. That's only her close friends. "Simona" Agassi was the same. Agassi was with Brad Gilbert for to you. (Laughter.) eight years before I came along, and I was with Andre for five years. And Pete Sampras was with Annacone and Q. I asked her if she knew if she had ever played the Gullikson for years and years as well. perfect match, and she said yes and then explained the perfect match she played was the Wimbledon You can go through all the great champions of the game, final against Serena. So can that come across to and they've got those people around them that they trust this, or is it just conditions are too different? and believe in, and there's consistency in the messaging that's coming across. ARTEMON APOSTU-EFREMOV: So actually, I was talking to Darren some days ago about players wanting Q. It's interesting you say that, because the other to reproduce a certain moment in time, and I don't agree day Naomi Osaka was asked about her relationship with that. You take the experience from those matches, with Wim Fissette, and she said she didn't trust him for sure. You take the positives, but it's two years apart in the beginning. She said now they have got more almost. It's different surface, different conditions. Both of a relationship going. But what you're saying is players, they didn't sit those two years in a bubble.