Julia Goerges – Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You booted her off the court, didn’t you?

JULIA GOERGES: Well, I would say it was, yeah, a very solid performance but at the same time being aggressive and didn’t make that many mistakes. Well, I just didn’t give her any chance to get into the match and get into her rhythm, because if she has time she creates good balls and deep balls, and that’s what I tried to take away from her. That worked pretty well today.

Q. A very satisfying performance for you?

JULIA GOERGES: Yeah. Well, that’s what you’re working for, to play as consistent as possible and why you train every day, and it’s very satisfying to see the performance like this today.

Q. What is it about this court? Because the two times you have managed to beat Sveta has been here.

JULIA GOERGES: Well, I like Dubai. I have done a lot of preseasons here. Well, the courts suit my game pretty well. This one is a bit slower than the outside courts. At night it’s not flying that much.

It really suits my game. It really forgives you some balls when you don’t hit it in the middle and where you don’t move that much before.

Well, overall I can just say I’m very satisfied today.

Q. The last time you beat her you reached the final here.

JULIA GOERGES: Ah, well, I have a second round to do first, and that’s what I focus on. Every match is tough here. Doesn’t matter how the scoreboard is or not. Every match starts from zero, so I just need to be prepared for the next one, having some doubles, too. I get a lot of matches in, which is good.

Q. I was talking to Jenny from SAP and she was showing me the stats. Do you ever make use of these realtime stats, or does your coach ever bring it down or show it to you?

JULIA GOERGES: They do use those stats. I think it’s pretty important to see stats where like percentage of serve like where you made your points with and that’s very important to see. But I think also at the same time a player has a good feeling if the player has a lot of experience and sees where the points, where she’s winning the points with.

That’s also at same time where the player is growing a little bit with and really get the experience in. And, well, at the same time you need to know what you do in certain situations. Well, that’s what comes over the years.

Q. Is there a point sometimes where it’s like stat overload at all, though? Like maybe it’s not all about…

JULIA GOERGES: Well, sometimes the stats are not really showing what the match was, because sometimes one player won more points and at the end this one has lost the match. So it’s not always showing the right things.

But I think if you’re watching the match and seeing the stats, 95% it’s right. But as I said, in some points it’s not right. By winning more points and losing more points, it doesn’t mean that this one has won the match.

Q. What do you like about being in Dubai?

JULIA GOERGES: Well, first of all, it’s warm (smiling). In Germany right now it’s not very warm so that’s already positive thing.

No, just in general, I mean, the city is very nice. Everything is huge here, and it’s like just a great city. I love having the sun around, being warm. And like having those great places here with the hotels, very convenient, like having it on-site. That’s something for me I really like. You have short ways. You can go back and relax a little bit in the room. That’s everything very convenient here. They are doing just a great job.

Q. Hitting winners, sometimes the margins are small. Today there were less mistakes. Is finding that balance a crucial part for you? Is that something you have been specifically focusing on?

JULIA GOERGES: Yes, but I will be always be making errors at the same time. It’s not like you can play 100% and making just winners all over the court.

Just trying, yeah, trying to get it as leveled as possible, well, that’s what I’m focusing on. But obviously I always hit a lot of errors more than other players, but I always do more winners, too. So you try to have a good balance. If you do like 60/40%, you still win the match. That’s what counts at the end. Obviously you want to focus to bring your unforced errors down, yes.

Q. How far do you think you are from your best?

JULIA GOERGES: Well, if you want to compare it to when I was 15, like four years ago, I think I’m in much better shape, honestly. The game has developed over the years, and everybody got much fitter. You can see how many different players are going to a Grand Slam final.

So I think my game and my body is much better than it was in 2012. So that’s something which is very promising. It’s showing that we have now Grand Slam champion in our nation, so it shows us and motivates us even more to see who is gonna reach the final and who can win a title. That’s very good to see and that’s what we are all working for.