00:00Naomi, long time away, how does it feel to be back at Wimbledon?
00:07Yeah, it feels really, really cool. I feel myself constantly being surprised by things
00:15on the ground and it's just really nice to win a match.
00:20Questions? Molly?
00:22Hi Naomi, congrats on the win. You said on court that this was the first tournament that
00:29you watched after having your daughter. I imagine that time is a bit of a blur, like
00:34new motherhood, but I just wondered if you could give us some insight into where you
00:37were last year compared to being back on court this year.
00:41I mean, I was honestly, before my match, I was looking at my photo album and they have
00:48that feature this time last year, so I was looking at that and I was looking at myself,
00:54like photos of myself in the hospital, so it's really cool to be here now and I think
01:02my mindset last year was just trying to survive. I honestly didn't really know what was going
01:11on after I gave birth, but yeah, just trying to piece myself back together.
01:19Hi Naomi, you mentioned on court as well that it's your daughter's first birthday tomorrow.
01:24Have you got any sort of celebration lined up?
01:26She actually had a really big celebration a week or so ago. That's one of the things
01:37that I didn't want to miss, so that's kind of why I didn't play Eastbourne, just because
01:41I didn't want to miss my daughter's first birthday party. And then, yeah, she's going
01:48to have a cake and stuff here, but not like a crazy big event.
01:54What does it feel like to have a grass under your feet again in a seriously competitive
02:01match in this place?
02:05I mean, for me, it felt really fun and really stressful at the same time. It was fun because
02:11the crowd was so engaged and I honestly, I think I've played on court too before. I think
02:18I played Katie Bolter there, but I'm not, I'm like 80% sure, but I could be wrong. But
02:25it was just really fun. It felt like an arena and the match, I think, was a little up and
02:32down, but I think overall it was something that I can take a lot away from.
02:37Good stress or bad stress?
02:39All stress is not the best, but I think I just learned a lot.
02:47Hi, a little bit of a different question. If you could step back and would have the
02:53opportunity to invite three people in from the tennis world to a dinner gathering, who
03:00would those three people you'd like to invite be?
03:08Andrea Agassi, Lee Na, and can I invite myself? Because I kind of want to see. Ooh, okay.
03:17Andrea Agassi, Lee Na. Is it like a friendly gathering or am I learning from them?
03:31It can be friendly, it can be fierce, anything that you would like.
03:36Sharapova.
03:38Do you like Lee Na's sense of humor?
03:41I love it. I remember I used to watch so many interviews, on court interviews, any kind
03:46of interviews from her. I really think she's one of the best.
03:52Hi Naomi, Ava Wallace from the Washington Post. What do you mean when you say you're
03:56surprised being back on the grounds? Are you seeing new things that you don't remember
04:00or what are you talking about with that?
04:02Well, the last time I was here, there wasn't a separate transportation building, so I felt
04:09like I had to do a whole grand tour just to, I guess, figure out where things are.
04:14And when I say I'm kind of surprised, I just mean like, it's cool to watch Wimbledon on
04:22TV, but I think to be here is a whole different story.
04:25I know you've spoken a little bit about the Olympics before, but I wanted to ask, there
04:29are a lot of players who are kind of trying to get back on track and comebacks or just
04:33kind of find their form and are not going to Paris because it's so disruptive to the
04:37schedule. I wonder why you wanted to go back and play.
04:40Well, I mean, for me, the Olympics were so, well, they mean so much to me. Growing up
04:46as a kid, that's like the one event I remember just pooling around the TV with my sister
04:52and we mainly loved watching track, but basically all the sports were fair game. And I just
04:59love being around other athletes and I love, I guess, the team spirit of it all.
05:06Hi, I was going to say, I assume that you actually missed probably the sport because
05:12of the pop-up show, but you were there and I wanted to know how was your experience there
05:16because it was such a historical moment during that period of time.
05:19Yeah, honestly, I wasn't, I was kind of surprised to go. It was just like, Cordae had tickets,
05:28so I just flew in and he was like, oh, you're here. And that's kind of how that happened.
05:32But it was really fun. I think the energy was really cool. Everyone was basically wrapping
05:40every lyric. So it was definitely a memory or a concert that I don't think anyone will forget.
05:49In terms of today's match, can you talk about the relief of pulling through a free setter
05:53because I know that you've lost a few of those this year and also the challenge of playing
05:58someone with Deanne Parry's quite unusual game with the one-handed backhand?
06:03Yeah. It's really weird because I know I actually kind of have a good record with three setters.
06:15Maybe not this year, but I feel like overall I'm pretty decent at them. And I feel like
06:23today honestly felt very hectic just because of the way she played. I felt that I had to
06:29constantly tell myself to be in control of the point, but when she was slicing and stuff,
06:34it was a little stressful. But I feel really relieved to have won this in three sets.
06:41I think it will do good for my character development. So yeah, I guess I'm just excited to play my next match.
06:49Naomi, you know how kids when they're little hit against the wall over and over again
06:53pretending that they're playing at the U.S. Open or Wimbledon. As you've been in your retraining
06:58over the last several months, do you look back and think about your U.S. Open wins
07:04and sort of train along those lines to feel the way you felt at the U.S. Open?
07:09You know, it's funny because when I was just coming back from pregnancy, I was thinking
07:17that I was going to train the exact same way and I was going to play the exact same way.
07:24But I feel like that's the cool thing about life. You don't have to constantly revisit
07:30the past. And I think for me, that puts a lot of pressure on myself. And honestly,
07:35the way that I want to play now is an evolution of how I played before.
07:40And I know I would need the results to back it up, but I think certain aspects of my game are better.
07:47I just need to, I guess, put the pieces together. And I feel like as an overall athlete,
07:53I might be a little better now just because back then I would get injured.
07:59Some parts of my body would be hurting. And now, the way that I train, I don't have pain anymore.
08:05So, yeah.
08:07OK, we'll take one more and then we're going to switch to...
08:11Just to ask, do you think that tennis overall, the player circuit and championships such as Wimbledon
08:16are welcoming places for young mums and people who are coming back into the game after pregnancy
08:22and giving birth?
08:24I mean, I would say my experience has been going pretty well.
08:28I think that whenever I go to tournaments, there's like a little children's play area.
08:37And so I feel like they are taking that into consideration.
08:40And I actually do see a lot more kids on tour now.
08:44So that's something that's very adorable. And it's also something that's very reassuring.
08:50That's something that's very adorable. And it's also something that's very reassuring.
08:54And I hope that other parents feel the same way.
09:00We're going to take some questions in Japanese.
09:03Thank you.
09:05Tomorrow is Shai's first birthday.
09:09I think it was a birthday present a day early.
09:13How do you feel about that?
09:15How do you want to spend your special first birthday tomorrow?
09:22Yeah, I mean, I feel like the year has gone by really fast.
09:26And it's a little surprising that she's already one, but she has so much personality.
09:32It feels like she's older than one at this point.
09:36But yeah, I think, I don't know.
09:41Honestly, I'm just really grateful that she's in this world.
09:45And I want to throw her a very extravagant birthday party, but I'm probably not going to.
09:53Just because that's the way I grew up.
09:55We just had a cake and that was pretty much it.
09:58I feel like more than anything, she just needs to be surrounded by love.
10:03And I didn't, I bought her a birthday present.
10:07But I feel like I'm constantly buying her birthday presents.
10:10So right now I bought her a book.
10:14So hopefully she's satisfied with the book.
10:16What's the book?
10:18I like buying the classic children's books.
10:21So I bought the Tale of Peter Rabbit.
10:26And I like collecting Rainbow Fish and all the classic books.
10:35So what changed the momentum after the first match, I mean first set?
10:39And what did you do to adjust to what she was trying to do?
10:43I think, honestly I feel like I came out really, really strong in the first set.
10:50And then not being too hard on myself, I think she adjusted a lot better in the second set.
10:56And I know I had my chances in the first game.
10:58And if I think about it without being in myself, I know that I didn't play bad.
11:08I think I just put too much pressure on myself that I need to win all the games that I can't be broken and things like that.
11:18So when that eventually happened, I felt like I doubted myself even though I knew my game plan going in.
11:28So yeah, that's kind of what I adjusted in the third set.
11:31I just knew that I can only play this way to get the result that I want.
11:36And even if I don't win, I can go out seeing that I at least developed a little bit as a player.
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