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A Family Circle Magazine Premier Event A POST-MATCH INTERVIEW WITH :Nadia Petrova defeats Patty Schnyder 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 Final Round AMY BINDER: Questions for your champion. Q. Congratulations, Champion. NADIA PETROVA: Thank you. Q. Nadia, talk about the heat, and looked like you were just about down and out there for a while. NADIA PETROVA: Yeah. I really had a difficult time today. Maybe has to do with all the matches I've played, so energy wise I wasn't really in the best shape, and also it was very hot for me today, and I just wasn't feeling myself well starting already this morning, and it became even worse as longer the match progressed, and because I think the heat, also the play, and it was very difficult. And at one stage of the match I wasn't really sure if I'm able to finish it, but after the ten-minute break, I went on court, and I had a very good start in the third set, and I had an early break, and then I was sitting on the changeover and I was a little bit thinking what's going on on court, and I was 3-0 up and I thought, you know, I have only three games left to win that match. Patty needs to come back and win six games in a row, so I found the last strength and my motivation and I finished off the match. Q. Yeah, you managed your energy level extremely well, breaks everywhere. You maximized every rest you could get all the way through, and that showed in the final set -- NADIA PETROVA: True. Q. -- where she broke down and you were able to keep going. NADIA PETROVA: Yeah. Actually, after winning the first set, I already felt that my energy is limited, and I wanted to try to do my best to close it in two sets, but it just didn't went my way, but I still was trying hard, and in the third set, you know, I gave it a shot, and actually I must say I was quite lucky because everything -- everything worked the way I really wanted it, the way I planned the final set. I was really playing dominating games on my serve and then broke her a few times, and that's all I needed to do out there. Q. When you were being worked on by the trainer in the second set, how close did you come to retiring at that point? NADIA PETROVA: Well, yeah, there are lots of things went through my mind at that stage, and it was extremely difficult for me, and I knew -- I knew, you know, I had a good chance. I just needed to win one more set, and I could have actually retire any time, but I just didn't want to give up, and I didn't want that hope, yeah, just let go, and for me it's the first time I won the Tier I tournament, so I didn't want to regret at the end of the tournament if I would have lose it. You know, I didn't want to feel sorry and bad about it, and I wanted to at least say I've done everything to do what I had to do during that match. Q. Nadia, you've done well at the French Open before, but how much more confidence did these last two weeks give you going into Roland Garros now? NADIA PETROVA: Oh, definitely gave me very good confidence, and I'm extremely happy the way I started the clay court season winning the two tournaments, and I feel very comfortable on that surface, and I feel my game is taking another level, and I'm looking really forward to the red clay. Q. You not only won your first Tier I tournament. You also became just the sixth woman to win both the American clay court tournaments. Did you have a good feeling after the Amelia Island tournament that you could come here and do it again? NADIA PETROVA: Yeah. I came -- I mean Amelia happened maybe I can say a little bit unexpected as well, and I came here with a very good feeling because I already was feeling, you know, I've done actually way over what I had to do, so I really had nothing to lose in this tournament. All I wanted to do is better because I've been a few times quarterfinals, and I know I had some difficult matches in the previous years, but this time everything worked in my favor. I did have some trouble in the first match, which could have went both ways, and I really survived that match, and I just picked my game, and we're getting better and better with each match. Q. Right now you look unstoppable. What's between you and becoming the top tennis player in the world? NADIA PETROVA: Unstoppable. That's a good -- well, that's actually a very positive way of thinking, and the only thing I can say, the best four women, five women were not -- four women were not playing here, so that made it a bit easier, and I didn't have to play till the final not one player out of Top 10, so that made it a bit easier for me. Maybe it would have been completely different if the other girls would show up. Q. How much did the crowd help you when you were feeling ill and hurting so much? NADIA PETROVA: That's actually a good one. I'm not sure who they were pulling at that stage. I heard a lot of time "Patty," and I was quite walking and feeling disappointing there, thinking, Jesus Christ, I'm almost dying here and they're rooting for her. That was a little bit unfair, but that's -- I guess, you know, each one of us there has the favorite. Q. What exactly was the trainer treating? NADIA PETROVA: Well, I started to get heavy legs, and she was a little bit releasing it, and I had to cool down. Otherwise I would get heat illness or she was rubbing me with ice and making me drink lots of fluid. Q. What does it mean to you personally to win a Tier I event? NADIA PETROVA: Well, the way I've done it today, that meant a lot. That showed me improved, no matter what happens out there, how badly I play or how badly I feel, I still can find the strength in me and win it. I will remember it forever, of course, and when I'll have a difficult time on court again, I'll probably think of this final. Q. She saved five match points at the end there. NADIA PETROVA: Yes. Q. What about that? Can you comment on that a little bit? NADIA PETROVA: Well, yeah, I would say the fatigue a little bit kicked in, and I double faulted. I wasn't as precise, and I didn't have that power to finish up with the winner, and all I was just trying to force her to make a mistake. I wasn't really dominating that game. I was quite lucky that on match point she just make an easy error. Q. Do you have a tennis player you pattern yourself after, you look up to? NADIA PETROVA: You mean somebody I look up to? Q. Uh-huh. NADIA PETROVA: Well, it's always been Steffi Graf. These days there's not a player like this because I feel I can be that player for myself. I can create a player I really like to be out of myself. I have still quite a long way to go and lots of work to do, but I always admired Steffi, the way she moved, the way she behaved on court, her great athletics and then look how she finished out her career. Now she has a successful family, you know. And that's really, really I mean she has everything she wanted and she could achieve in her life. Q. Nadia, do you wonder if you over-scheduled yourself singles and doubles combined to this point in the season, and could that have anything to do with today? NADIA PETROVA: Well, I haven't been playing many doubles, and with Anna-Lena we play few doubles last week, and she pulled out yesterday, so there were a few matches. Maybe they helped me to get a little bit the rhythm for the singles, and besides that it didn't took extra energy out of me. I think, you know, it just did everything into my favor. AMY BINDER: Thank you. NADIA PETROVA: Thank you. END OF INTERVIEW
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