Interview: Shelby Rogers – 2R (lost to Veronika Kudermetova (7-6(5) 6-4)

April 4, 2024

Round of 32 – Shelby Rogers (USA) lost to Veronika Kudermetova (USA) 7-6(5) 6-4

MODERATOR: Shelby, obviously a tough loss today, but always great to be back in Charleston. Your thoughts on your week here. SHELBY ROGERS: First, I kind of lost my voice. So sorry if I sound a little weird. Yeah, I mean, I had a lot of chances tonight, obviously. Very untimely double fault is frustrating.

Yeah, I don’t know. I thought I did some good stuff out there. It’s just you gotta win the right points at the right time, I guess.

Q. Shelby, are you feeling okay? Do you have a cold? SHELBY ROGERS: I’m struggling, y’all. I really — I don’t know. I thought it was just allergies, and then it’s just progressively getting worse. So I tried to go out there, I just wanted to leave it all on the court, and I think I did that, including my voice. So I don’t know.

Q. (Indiscernible).

SHELBY ROGERS: Yeah. I mean, again, I’m just trying to, like I said before, enjoy competing, enjoy the moment. That’s tough when you’re not feeling 100 percent, for sure. But also just trying to get stronger, keep the body healthy as much as I can. Probably not playing a super full schedule this season. And, yeah, just trying to play some of my favorite tournaments, I think.

Q. I think you called for the trainer once. Was that —

SHELBY ROGERS: Cough drops. She’s like, please don’t play with these in your mouth. I was like, okay, got it.

But just on the changeover or something, because I felt like I was coughing and then not recovering in those points. I don’t know. It was wild out there.

Q. (Indiscernible)?

SHELBY ROGERS: Oh, yeah. I feel like the level of tennis is definitely trending upward, which is encouraging, but it’s just frustrating that all the other girls are really good, too, you know. And they’re not just going to roll over and give the match to you. You gotta really take it. So I think, you know, just fine-tuning a few things that. I felt I didn’t execute quite good enough tonight in certain moments, and then you’re kind of clawing your way back into games or in the set. Just make things a little easier on myself if I could just play a little bit cleaner sometimes. But first round was awesome, a lot of positives to build on. Yeah, some good stuff out there.

Q. Playing two nights in a row had something to do with it, I think.

SHELBY ROGERS: Yeah. Maybe. Maybe a little lack of sleep. And today was a long day, for sure, but everybody is dealing with it. We’re used to adapting to different things every week. Tennis is hard. The scheduling is hard. It’s hard to prepare and know when to eat, you know, all those little things. When you’re away from the game, you gotta like figure out how to do all that again. And it can be a little tricky.

Q. Anything, your leg bothering you at all? I thought you didn’t run for a lot of shots.

SHELBY ROGERS: Oh, man. That’s a tough critic, man. Come on! No. I mean, I felt okay tonight. The knee, you know, there’s still good days, bad days. I gotta do a little work there still. But overall it’s all right.

Q. Just overall, when you are playing at your best, do you feel like you’re like Shelby Rogers at her best when you’re at your best and you’re healthiest right now?

SHELBY ROGERS: Yeah. I think so. I think I hit the ball pretty darn well. It’s just when my brain is telling my body to do something and it’s not quite getting there, it’s frustrating, but we’ll keep working.