Transcript: Jelena Ostapenko/Erin Routliffe def. Caroline Dolehide/Desirae Krawczyk, 6-4, 6-2

Jelena Ostapenko/Erin Routliffe def. Caroline Dolehide/Desirae Krawczyk, 6-4, 6-2

Final

MODERATOR: Congratulations to you both. Can you share your thoughts on the week that you had we’re here and the win today?

JELENA OSTAPENKO: Yeah, it was an amazing week, especially for us playing only the first time. I think we played better and better every match. Thanks, Erin, for playing with me. It was a great week. And, in general, I think this tournament is one of the best tournaments. I really enjoyed coming here.

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: Yeah. We’re really happy, obviously. We played a lot of good teams, and yeah, like Jelena said, we got better every single match. So we’re really happy it. It’s awesome. So many people watch doubles here, and we love it in Charleston, and we love this tournament. So we’ll definitely come back next year.

Congratulations. We talked a little bit about it the other day, but you guys obviously take it lightly. You have a lot of fun on the court. It’s fun to watch. Just talk about that dynamic.

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: Yeah. I think it’s important. I think both of us when we’re smiling, we’re probably playing our best tennis, I think. Some people, I think, it’s more like business serious, but I think both of us are lucky because when we’re smiling we play our best. So we just try to keep that going and keep the energy going. Yeah. Like I said yesterday, we said at the begining of the week that we’re just going to have no pressure and have a lot of fun with it, so I think we did a good job with that.

What made the difference today against this particular team?

JELENA OSTAPENKO: I think we were playing well. Just I think for me, I don’t know for Erin, maybe also it was very tough was the shadow, to return the serve especially on the shadow side. So we had tough times with that. But I think otherwise we just were a bit more aggressive today and took our chances.

And how does this title feel? You’ve won on the singles court. You’ve won on the doubles court. Just talk about what it feels like.

JELENA OSTAPENKO: I mean, of course, my priority was always singles, but I feel like the doubles titles also give you kind of confidence. And I know so many like players were playing doubles and became to number one in doubles. Then they finished playing doubles, and then they had big success in singles. So hopefully for me it will be my big motivation also to play in singles.

Now you have sort of a quandary because you guys have had different partners before, but now you’ve only won together. Do you play together again or do you understand that when your partner is healthy and everything, that you —

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: Yeah. We’re both set with other people for the rest of the year, or I guess for a long time. So, yeah, definitely this was like a one-off week that we played together. Obviously, we know that we’re good together and our games match well, so who knows what the future holds. But, yeah, we’re definitely are committed to our partners for the year.

And are you surprised by how well you got along? You’d obviously played against each other many times, but not together. Are you surprised how quickly the dynamic came together?

JELENA OSTAPENKO: I honestly thought we always could play pretty well together, and especially we know each other from juniors. We just never had a chance to play together.

ERIN ROUTLIFFE: Yeah. I don’t think surprising, but it was nice to enjoy it while also have success.

End of Interview