WASHINGTON — The Mubadala DC Open media day weekend is in the books.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the past three days, several WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz stars addressed reporters in their pre-tournament press conferences as the Hard-Court Swing continues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here are the top quotes from those media sessions:<\/p>\n
Venus Williams<\/p>\n
“I think that that final was a dream come true for us, for all the things that we had been preparing for and the things that we dreamed of. So from a personal standpoint for our family, it was all the stars aligning.<\/p>\n
“From a personal standpoint, I was really happy to have won the match. I think I felt like she was getting so good, it was going to be hard to win those matches and hold her off, and I was right.<\/p>\n
“We saw what happened.” — Williams on approaching the 25th anniversary of her 2001 US Open win with both herself and her sister, Serena Williams, still playing today<\/p>\n
Top quote:<\/p>\n
”
\n The only way to go forward is growth. There’s always so much to learn, and there’s always still much to learn about myself, new hurdles to get over. I think that sport just keeps you honest, keeps you humble, because every single day is a new battle. I think it keeps you hungry, too.
\n ”<\/p>\n
— Williams on any new mindsets, and things she’s learned at this stage in her career<\/p>\n
Jessica Pegula<\/p>\n
“I didn’t have a lot of prep. I was traveling a lot and had a lot of other work stuff to do that wasn’t just on the court, a lot of off-court stuff, and a lot of commitments that I had set up.<\/p>\n
“I wasn’t originally supposed to actually play here. I ended up adding it to my schedule just because I felt it’s so close to me. It’s not that far away. It’s an easy tournament to play, especially before we go to Toronto and Cincinnati.<\/p>\n
I went to a couple of weddings, had a lot of fun, and then did a lot of work in between. So it was a busy week. Not going to lie, my prep probably hasn’t been ideal, but it is what it is.” — Pegula on her time after Wimbledon and preparations<\/p>\n
Top quote<\/p>\n
”
\n Oh my gosh, I’m sure we’re much better now than we were at episode 1 where we didn’t know what to do. Our editor is also probably thankful that we’re better at our jobs now than we used to be.
\n ”<\/p>\n
— Pegula on how the Player’s Box Podcast has evolved over 50 episodes<\/p>\n
Leylah Fernandez<\/p>\n
“I definitely think back on those memories, on those feelings, the positive feelings, the fight, the energy that the crowd brought. I try to use that to my advantage and try to go back into that state, and hopefully I can reproduce that here.<\/p>\n
“I do know that one year is a long time, so a lot can change. I’m just going to try to go out there with the mindset of figuring things out and enjoy my time competing in D.C. where I’ve had some good success here.” — Fernandez on returning as defending champion<\/p>\n
Top quote:\u00a0<\/p>\n
”
\n 100% it is, [Shake Shack] is in the cards. Just last night I returned to one Mexican restaurant, Mi Vida, and it was great. I remember eating there last year, and I absolutely loved it. This year there’s definitely an Italian restaurant that I’m going to go back to probably tonight. Then the next few days maybe Shake Shack. It depends how the body reacts, but Shake Shack, it will be in the menu.
\n ”<\/p>\n
— Fernandez on her food staples for the tournament<\/p>\n
Naomi Osaka<\/p>\n
“Being a tennis player, I could probably sit in front of this mic and talk about tennis for a really long time because it’s a world that I’m used to. Kind of branching out, doing the fashion stuff has made me talk to people that I’ve never met before and things like that.<\/p>\n
“So, yeah, just trying to, I would say, go into worlds that I’ve never imagined myself sort of being in before.” — Osaka on her introverted personality<\/p>\n
Top quote:<\/p>\n
”
\n Ever since I had my daughter, it means a lot to see young girls and boys looking up to me. I think I take the responsibility really seriously now. Obviously role models are really important, and for me, I had a lot of them growing up. It’s because of them that I’m able to be here now.
\n ”<\/p>\n
— Osaka on being a role model for the new generation<\/p>\n
Alexandra Eala<\/p>\n
“It’s definitely been a lot, but a lot of really eye-opening experiences back home. You know, it was just an experience that was more for tennis than me.<\/p>\n
“I don’t get to go home a lot. I don’t go home very often, so every time I go home, it’s super meaningful. The fact that I’m able to really interact with the people who I know support me through my journey, it really meant a lot.” — Eala on visiting the Philippines after Wimbledon<\/p>\n
Top quote:<\/p>\n
”
\n It was lit! I don’t know how else I would describe it. It was super fun, super energetic, and I was absolutely freaking out when he passed by me. I was screaming the lyrics in his face. I don’t know what he saw, but it was like a two-second eye contact, but it was enough to make my whole week.
\n ”<\/p>\n
— Eala on being a part of Bad Bunny’s La Casita<\/p>\n
Qinwen Zheng<\/p>\n
That’s a huge challenge, because right now in my stage [of my career], I would say the most important thing is more about myself, how I’m able to control myself on court, and to really achieve the level. — Zheng on maintaining form<\/p>\n
Top quote:\u00a0<\/p>\n
”
\n After I came back from injury, the [biggest] challenge for me actually is the mind. The body, the fitness actually I could recover, but the mind, you only can do that during the match, which I didn’t have after I got injured. We’ve been working hard together with my team, trying to practice a lot of hours with a good focus and trying to not let myself down. I’m trying to be the same every single day.
\n ”<\/p>\n
— Zheng on the importance of mentality since returning from injury\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON — The Mubadala DC Open media day weekend is in the books.\u00a0 Over the past three days,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":828064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747,83],"class_list":["post-828063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}