00:02Hi Lena, welcome back to New York.
00:06Obviously the last time we saw you on court was Cincinnati
00:08where you had that unfortunate injury.
00:10Just wondering how you're feeling physically
00:12heading into this tournament.
00:14Yeah, now I start to practice so I feel
00:17well we're still making some adjustments
00:19but overall I'm happy
00:22how we dealt with the problem
00:24and yeah we worked hard
00:28and likely it's all good right now
00:31and it's just a matter of a couple more practices
00:34and then yeah going on the match.
00:40Hi Elena, you know New York during US Open
00:44is so busy and chaotic
00:46and there's so much going on off the ground, on the ground
00:48you have practices with tons of people and stuff
00:51how do you balance as an athlete
00:53dealing with all the obligations of sponsors
00:55and doing all of that stuff
00:56but then also focusing on your tennis for a Grand Slam
00:59which is a really important competition for you.
01:02Well, in the beginning of the week
01:04I was not here on site
01:06so I kind of had more time
01:08doing some different things
01:10but I have to say that I have
01:13very good sponsors
01:15and team around me
01:17that we are making good scheduling
01:20and I'm not getting too, too tired
01:23and of course the priority is always
01:25the recovery
01:27the training process
01:28so with these kind of things
01:31I have no issues
01:32so yeah and as I said
01:34just this time around
01:35I had a little bit more time
01:38of the course
01:38so I could manage it even better.
01:42Hi, we people
01:44or maybe we media
01:46have been talking about
01:47your possibility of being number one
01:50but how much do you know
01:53is that your concern
01:54or do you calculate the points or something?
01:57I don't check the ranking
02:00exactly the points situation
02:02but from media mostly
02:05I know where I should get
02:07how the others should play
02:09it's all the different scenarios
02:11but for me especially now
02:14when I had this injury last week
02:17I feel like the most important
02:18just try to stay healthy
02:21play much at a time
02:23because this is not the last tournament of the year
02:25of course it's a Grand Slam
02:26and you want to do well
02:27but you have plenty of opportunities after
02:31and if you're healthy
02:33and you keep on playing
02:34so yeah I'm trying not to think about it at all
02:38and just play much at a time.
02:43You mentioned that you're starting to feel good
02:45you've been practicing
02:46what has been the process since your injury?
02:51Well I didn't play for exact week
02:54and we consulted with different doctors
02:58I've been doing the recovery
03:01and yeah slowly started to go on the court
03:05and yeah just a lot of gym
03:09and it wasn't easy
03:11because we didn't know exactly
03:13how the foot is going to react
03:15since it was very painful for me
03:18to go and surf on that match in Cincinnati
03:20because I wanted to try once more
03:23and then for a couple of days
03:24it was painful to even walk
03:26but yeah after we managed to do everything possible
03:31for it to get better
03:33and I'm glad how the process is going for now.
03:37What questions do you have in your mind
03:39as you progress from practices to matches?
03:44I don't actually have any questions
03:46I'm quite confident
03:50with the decision we are making each day
03:53how to practice, what to do
03:56and especially what can happen
04:00worst case scenario
04:02and so all these things
04:04I feel quite confident
04:06it's just to also start feeling better on the court
04:10moving wise
04:10and since I didn't play for almost
04:12not almost the whole week
04:14and yeah that's kind of things
04:17but yeah I feel like it's just a few more days
04:21and I should be very fine.
04:24Debbie?
04:25Hi Alina, to that point
04:27when you are dealing with that kind of pain
04:29so close to a slam
04:30how much does experience play in
04:32involved like you knowing
04:33that you can recover from these things
04:35but also knowing that you have
04:36kind of a strict deadline?
04:38Well I didn't know how it's gonna
04:41be going to be honest
04:43and since in the moment it happened
04:45it was very painful
04:47and as I said
04:49I couldn't even walk for the next few days
04:51without pain
04:52so of course I was already upset
04:55and no one knew how it's gonna go
04:58so we were just waiting day by day
05:01and being here today
05:03in this situation
05:05it's really an amazing improvement
05:07and no one expected
05:09so we'll see what's gonna happen
05:12in the next few days
05:13but for now it's been well
05:14and as I said
05:16I always want to go on court
05:18when I'm 100% sure
05:19and it's the last slam of the year
05:22so I think everyone would want to try
05:25and yeah try to compete
05:30All the grand slams are special of course
05:32but what is it about the US Open
05:34that you look forward to the most
05:35or that stands out the most?
05:37I feel the crowd here is quite different
05:40from other places
05:41it's very loud
05:43and it's really a lot of people
05:47so I feel just the atmosphere itself
05:51it's more
05:53not chaotic
05:54but it's really a lot
05:57compared to other slams
05:58Last question
06:00Speaking of the injuries
06:03recently many top players
06:05have been talking about
06:07that you know
06:08injuries and the tough schedule
06:09the consequences of the schedule
06:11and the injuries
06:13so recently
06:16WTA changed the schedule
06:18of like many big tournaments
06:20like you know
06:21Cincinnati became almost two weeks
06:23and you know
06:24all these big Masters tournaments
06:26get longer
06:27so how do you think
06:29that kind of schedule
06:30affect your
06:31you know
06:31like a body situation?
06:33Well but as you see
06:35on my
06:37let's say path now
06:39for the couple
06:40of last tournaments
06:41and maybe some other players
06:44yes the tournaments became longer
06:46but at the same time
06:48first week
06:49you basically play
06:50maybe two, three matches
06:52maybe two
06:52and then the
06:53next week
06:55where actually
06:56it's getting
06:57supposed to get harder
06:59of course
07:00with tougher opponents
07:01you play
07:02every day
07:03and especially
07:05a lot of tournaments
07:06want to
07:07put matches
07:08maybe in the evening
07:09so you don't really have
07:10that much time
07:11to recover
07:12and
07:13even
07:14like Cincinnati
07:16being a little bit longer
07:17I had to
07:18not only me
07:19ego of course
07:20we had to come
07:21and play
07:22straight away
07:23in Cincinnati
07:23they gave us
07:25extra day
07:25which basically
07:26we shouldn't be having
07:28but we had extra day
07:29and then we played
07:30two matches again
07:30in a row
07:31so
07:31for me
07:33that's the
07:35toughest thing
07:36for the recovery
07:38it's not even
07:38amount of hours
07:39you stay on the court
07:40it's just
07:41all these changes
07:42travel
07:42and then
07:43yeah it's becoming longer
07:45but at the same time
07:45you're still playing
07:47a lot in a row
07:48and especially
07:48these late matches
07:50thank you very much
07:51thank you
