Interview with Women's Doubles Champions
Vania King and Yaraslava Shvedova of the Wimbledon 2010
Final
Wimbledon 2010
By LadyDragon
WIMBLEDON, United
Kingdom --(LadyDragon.com)
03/07/10--Interview
with Women's Doubles Champions Vania King and Yaraslava
Shvedova of the Wimbledon 2010 Final
Q. Is that your
best feelings in tennis?
VANIA KING: Yeah. I think that whenever we win you're
always excited, but for me it hasn't sunk in yet. I'm
sure for both of us it really hasn't gotten in our heads
that we just won Wimbledon.
But maybe tomorrow or maybe next week. So, yeah, I think,
I mean, right now, I don't know what to say.
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: We're shocked.
VANIA KING: We're so shocked. We really went in every
match to play each match. We weren't thinking about,
like, winning or winning the tournament. We were just
enjoying every match, trying to fight and win each match
at a time.
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: No, I was thinking because we decide
to play three tournaments. Birmingham we did semifinal,
's-Hertogenbosch we did final. After the final, I said,
Now we have to win Wimbledon.
VANIA KING: Yeah.
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: And we did it.
VANIA KING: It was our platter, so...
Q. You seemed to be enjoying yourselves the whole
time. Why was that? No pressure?
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: No, we just like the way how we
played and we enjoyed the way how we played. We had fun.
It's a game.
Q. Were you aware of the emotional difficulties that
Vera was suffering from at the other end of the court?
VANIA KING: No.
Q. You didn't see her crying or anything?
VANIA KING: No. I mean, we look at ourselves. Did you?
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: No. I saw she was crying because when
I went -- after first set, I went toilet. When I come
back, I saw on the screen they were showing her face like
full and I saw that she was crying.
VANIA KING: I didn't see it.
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: I didn't look because I was so
focused on the game.
I was watching the ball.
Q. What was the feeling of going out on the main court
there, just the atmosphere and the whole thing?
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: It was different because the first
time I saw the Centre Court ever.
VANIA KING: Yeah, me, too. Our first time seeing it and
first time playing on it.
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: Yeah. I never like even from the
juniors. Like we had tickets so you could get access
there, and I never went there.
Q. Vania, how does it feel being Wimbledon champion?
VANIA KING: Kind of scary. I mean, I don't know. It
hasn't sunk in yet. I mean, this is what we work for, you
know. I've loved doubles. I love playing with Slava.
She's a great friend of mine.
Every time we go on the court, that's one of the reasons
we have such a good time on the court is because we're
such good friends. Every time we go on the court, we
enjoy spending time together. Our games come together so
well. It's the best to have this title with her.
Q. Vania, is this better than singing the national
anthem at a Dodger game?
VANIA KING: Definitely, definitely. And the paycheck's
not too bad either (smiling).
Q. How does it compare with being the WTTMVP?
VANIA KING: It's a lot better.
Q. On a serious note, you're still a young player, but
you've worked very hard. You don't have some of the
physical size or attributes of some other players. Is
this kind of redemption for all those long hours you've
put in?
VANIA KING: I think that for everyone that makes it on
the tour, there's thousands and thousands that don't.
Obviously, like if you look at other players, I'm one of
the smallest players. I think everyone is working really
hard.
Yeah, I'm just happy that we came out this time, because
I'm not really looking at other people. I'm just focusing
on myself.
Well, everyone went through a lot, but I've gone through
a lot in the last four years. I'm 21, but I feel like
I've been playing quite a long time. My career has been
pretty up and down. I feel like in the last two years
I've been kind of on the rise.
So, yeah, I mean, hopefully this means a lot of good
things in the future.
Q. Have you ever set foot on Centre Court in juniors
or anything?
VANIA KING: No. Like she said, I never even saw it
before.
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: Only from the restaurant, like
outside.
VANIA KING: Yeah.
Q. When you walked out, what did it feel like?
VANIA KING: Well, my coach did tell me that it was quite
the same size as Court 1. I did play on Court 1 a couple
times. So, I mean, size-wise it felt like Court 1, but I
think just because it was the finals...
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: It was a little bit difficult in the
beginning because the sun was on one side. It was like
into the eyes. It was tough to play like against the sun.
And then after like -- and I was very nervous. I was
shaking. It was the first time...
Q. What is it about you two? You look like you're
having more fun than any doubles team I've ever seen. Is
it that much fun?
VANIA KING: We just enjoy being together. We're friends.
Every time that we're together, we enjoy spending time
together. For us to come together on the court with our
job is even better.
Q. Will you be playing the US Open together, can we
assume?
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: We gonna talk after.
Q. In all these years of trying to progress in a
challenging sport, what has been the toughest part and
what's been your greatest breakthrough or success before
today?
VANIA KING: I think the toughest part was my commitment
to the game, because my dad coached me for a while. It's
a long story. But when I broke through in the Pro Tour,
it was quite fast. Then I stopped working with my dad. I
worked with my dad for a long time, and then I didn't
really want to play for a while.
So the last two years, I mean, I started to train in
Florida. Now I have an apartment in Florida. I kind of
got away from, you know, everything and just focused
myself, rededicated myself to tennis.
I think that was the worst part and the best part.
Q. Where in Florida?
VANIA KING: I work with Tarik Benhabiles. His academy is
in Boynton Beach.
Q. Are you no longer the pride of Long Beach?
VANIA KING: I'm still a California girl. I call
California my home. I don't really like Florida, but for
tennis it's best.
Q. What is it about the Bryan brothers and you, SoCal,
sun and fun?
VANIA KING: I don't know. But Southern Cal always had the
best players, right?
Q. Speaking of great players from Southern California,
a player named King was surpassed today in terms of
numbers of career Grand Slams who came from Long Beach.
Are you the new King from Long Beach? Talk to us about
your relationship with Billie Jean.
VANIA KING: There's a club that's named after Billie
Jean. When I was five, she kind of opened the club. I
have a picture with my sisters and I with her. So that
was the first time I met her, when I was five.
Since then, she actually went to the high school that I
did, Long Beach Poly. I mean, we have a lot in common.
But she's such a great champion. She's done so much for
the sport.
We all wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her, you know,
fighting for our rights. I don't think I could ever
compare myself to her.
Q. Did you notice her watching your match?
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: Yeah, I saw her because I always see
everything outside.
VANIA KING: I see nothing (laughter).
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: I was like, it's so nice, like,
Billie Jean watching Vania King. It's a big honor like
she was watching us. I was like feel also like more kind
of confidence and very nice. I was like wanted to show,
we can show the great tennis and show fun more.
Q. I talked to the Bryan brothers last year about
doing a song with you. They said they would love to do
it. How about, We Are the Doubles Champions of Wimbledon?
Can you do a little - it's not a duet, whatever it is?
VANIA KING: I don't think I can compare myself to the
Bryan brothers just yet.
Q. You're a champ just like they are. Long Beach Poly
is a pretty strong sports school. Where do you and Billie
Jean stack up?
VANIA KING: Well, I think she's probably No. 1. I mean,
we have such a great like football team, track, baseball.
We've had so many athletes come from our school. I don't
think tennis is that popular in Poly. I'm probably one of
the ones at the bottom. Cameron Diaz also went to Poly.
She's way, way up there.
Q. You had a lot of vocal support today. Who was there
for you?
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: You tell.
VANIA KING: Our coaches, obviously. I think maybe they
were more nervous than we were. Her coach had a beer
before the match to relax, which is funny because he's
the more calm one.
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: And I have my friends also. I met
them at the French Open. I was like have seats available.
I sit down with them and I talk to them. They are from
England.
Also we have like a couple different friends, like local.
We just met them during the tournament. Anna, she's from
the local pub. We were sitting, watching football. She
like once helped us because one drunk guy coming to us
and she sent him away.
Then we went on Saturday out because it was Sunday day
off. We went to the club and we met --
VANIA KING: -- some ballet students.
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: -- some ballet students. They came
every day. Every day they were coming. But today we have
plenty of tickets. We give it to everyone. So they're
like helping us.
VANIA KING: Cheering for us.
Q. How long do you think you'll remain on Cloud 9 from
here?
VANIA KING: I haven't reached Cloud 9 yet, so I'm not
sure. I have two matches coming up, actually, starting on
Monday. So I don't know. I got to think about them.
YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: We have the champions' dinner. We
have to go to the ball.
VANIA KING: That's right, the ball.
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