WIMBLEDON: N. Cavaday Interview – Day 10

Q. Are you overall pleased with how you’ve progressed during this Wimbledon despite the defeat today, or is it sort of a big loss?  

NAOMI CAVADAY: Uhm, well, obviously, I’m incredibly disappointed I lost. I thought I had a really good chance. But she’s a great player, but she’s definitely beatable. Uhm, yeah, I mean, I’m happy with my performance overall in the last two weeks. I’m pleased to get my name out there. People know who I am now. I’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve learnt so much. I’m really looking forward to going on from here. 

Q. What are your plans now tournament wise? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: I’m going back on the clay, which I’m looking forward to.  

Q. Where’s that? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: I’ll be in Austria for group one. I’ve got a week’s training on clay then a group one in Austria. I’m going to do the junior circuit through to the US Open basically. I’ll have under 18 Europeans after that in Switzerland. And then I’m gonna take a break, have a week off, and then I’ve got, uhm, the British nationals under 18s on clay, and then group one in Canada, and US Open.  

Q. Tell us about the match from your perspective today, what made the difference?  

NAOMI CAVADAY: Uhm, it was a bit of a funny match, really. There wasn’t there wasn’t anything majorly obvious except that the biggest point for me was that my serve was just it was so bad today. I think first serve really was the worst it’s been for a long time now, which really let me down, because you have to be hitting your spots and you have to be getting that first serve in consistently to give yourself a chance, let alone win. So, uhm, that was a big disadvantage for me right from the start. So I was struggling to get on top of the points. And then if I did manage to get on top of the points with my forehand, which is other my weapon, she was very, very good at countering. She kind of just neutralized the point straight away or even turned into the attacker on the points. She was just in control of the match the whole way through. I just struggled to get my rhythm. She played well, served well, and was smart.  

Q. Talking about your serve, though, I think you’ve been clocked at 115, is that right? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: Yeah, yeah, that’s my best.  

Q. Is that something you worked on with James Trotman, or is it something that’s from pre James? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: Uhm, well, I’ve definitely my serve has definitely come on amazingly since I’ve been with him. I’ve changed my action. I’ve changed a lot about it. Working on it really, really hard. It did start to come good this tournament. Just in that match, it just broke down for me and couldn’t quite put it right. Uhm, but, you know, that will come with practice and, yeah, we’ve been working on it really hard. 

Q. Just wanted to get you to talk a bit about your school. You got a scholarship. Is it a tennis or general sports scholarship and what are the facilities like? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: When I was at Queenswood, it really was amazing. It was the perfect setup for me. Now, I know recently it’s changed. I don’t think it’s quite as good for the tennis anymore. But I think it did it’s got unbelievable potential. The facilities were amazing, unbelievable. They had, I think, 12 outdoor clay courts, green clay, and they had two indoor courts, access to a club around the corner, a gym, you know. It was all there. And I was on a tennis scholarship there. And, uhm, yeah, so I was coached there. It was really good because it worked around my lessons. So if I had I would be in maths in the morning and then I would go and I’d play. Then I’d like shower, change, get back to lessons. I could fit just maximum tennis in, but also give myself enough rest and keeping up my school work really well. 

Q. Do you think that’s given you an opportunity that maybe, uhm, makes you stand out and that’s something that other players could potentially benefit from if it was expanded to more schools? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: I personally think it’s a brilliant scheme that they had there. But, obviously, you need the facilities. The facilities there were great. They had good coaching staff. They had a really dedicated team. I think if you get that, all that in place and you have a great school like Queenswood, and it really was great, you know, they were very lenient with me taking time out of lessons, but I was a boarder, I lived there, it was easy for me to catch up on work. It just made everything I wanted to do as easy as possible.  

Q. It’s one word, isn’t it? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: Yeah, yeah. 

Q. What’s the place where it is, in Hertfordshire? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: Potters Bar.  

Q. You said one of your objectives was to get your name out there. How confident are you you can sort of keep it out there and what’s going to be the key, apart from the obvious winning matches of tennis?  

NAOMI CAVADAY: Well, I think that I got an awful long way to go with my game. I think I am kind of playing catchup to these girls that I’m playing against at the moment because I haven’t been out there like they have. They’ve been competing at that level all the time. I haven’t. I’ve been at school, you know. So, you know, so I’m confident all I can do is improve. I think I’ve got I think I was discussing this with my coach, I’ve got eight or nine massive areas that I can improve in, and not many people can do that. I mean, it’s gonna be really hard work but I know that I can do that. My serve can get so much better and it’s already causing a lot of people a lot of trouble.So everything, everything’s looking good. I’m really excited. But it’s gonna be really, really hard work. 

Q. Do you see your serve as your strongest weapon? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: Uhm, one of them (smiling). I like to say. 

Q. What else do you think is good about your game? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: Well, my main shots are my serve and my forehand. That’s my set play, really. Use the serve to get the forehand to knock away. That’s what I look to do at the beginning of every point, and then just generating power on both sides, I think they’re my strengths.  

Q. Is the experience of this Championships shown you that you’re on the right line with respect to, you know, you’re going in the right direction, do you think? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: Yeah, I’m definitely going in the right direction. Everything’s improving in the way I want it to. Everything’s happening the way I want it to. I just need it to happen faster now. I need to speed it up. I need to say you need more discipline when I’m training. I’ve got to say, Okay, let’s go. 

Q. Forgive me for saying this, year after year we see certain girls get so far and fall away. What sort of do you think will make you any different?  

NAOMI CAVADAY: You’re talking about British girls, yeah?  

Q. Yeah.  

NAOMI CAVADAY: Uhm, again, I never really like to compare myself to British girls. I think that’s probably one of their downfalls, they constantly compare themselves to each other. I think that’s wrong because, unfortunately, they’re not the best. You know, I compare myself to the best. If that’s what you want to be, that’s all you can do. Yeah, that is generally what happens. They reach a point and then they just they stop. But everyone’s different. 

Q. Are you looking at it more from a global perspective rather than a domestic one? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: Yeah. 

Q. That’s not going to be enough for you to say, I’m the best in Britain? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: No, not at all. Best in Britain doesn’t mean anything to me. I don’t even look at the British rankings. I don’t know what my ranking is. I look at WTA rankings, ITF rankings. If there was a British player, a female British player, who was in the top 5 and was a great role model, sure, I’d compare myself with them. But unfortunately, there’s not.  

Q. Just quickly on the Queenswood, what age were you there for? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: I went 13 to 16. 

Q. And before that you were at Bromley High School? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: Yeah. 

Q. Do you live in Chiselhurst now with your parents? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: Yeah, yeah. 

Q. You train at Queen’s Club, is that correct? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: Yeah. 

Q. And that’s under Trotman. Are you in a squad with other girls? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: Me and one other girl. He coaches two of us. 

Q. Who’s that? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: Georgie Stoop. She also played the Juniors. 

Q. Are there any plans for you to you’re talking about the limitations of the British scene. Are there plans for you to go to a more international training setup? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: Not permanently. Not right now. I really am enjoying my coach. I think everything’s going well. I think we got we’re on the same wavelength. We know where we want to go, it’s just a case of doing it now. I’m definitely I think I’m gonna make some visits to some places maybe, couple of weeks maybe Bollettieri’s, things like that. I spoke to Nick Bollettieri while I was here. He liked the way I play. Wanted me to come out. 

Q. Florida could be an option in the future? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: Not really. I don’t think not right now. I’m not really thinking about moving from Queen’s and the setup I have there ‘cause I’ve got tremendous support. I think for me right now that’s the right thing, where I want to be.  

Q. Have you completed your education, or are you just have having time out to concentrate on tennis? 

NAOMI CAVADAY: Uhm, at the moment I’m not doing any education. I finished my GCSEs last July but I am keen to pick up some things on the side. I started to do some things, some A levels, but I decided I didn’t like them, didn’t really get on with them. So I’m finished really.  
I will definitely continue to do some more.  

Q. Have you ever seen The Little Mermaid? Apparently the baddy in it is Ursula.  

NAOMI CAVADAY: No, you know, she’s a really nice person, actually. I get on with her quite well. She’s a fighter on court. You know whoever you’re playing on court, they’re always the baddy. You’ve got to just give it your best shot and just not hold any feelings back for them.