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AEGON CLASSICJune 14, 2014Barbora Zahlavova StrycovaBIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND B. ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA/C. Dellacqua THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Congratulations. Grass court final. Can you quite believe it given the way you were feeling a couple days ago? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: I can't believe it. It's great. It's something I never did before, and I am very pleased and overwhelmed that I could pull it through today. Q. What are your thoughts about facing Ana tomorrow? I think she's beaten you twice in the two matches you've played. BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: Yeah, I didn't know. Thanks. (Laughing.) Q. What will you have to do well against her? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: I don't think we played on grass... Q. No, that's true. BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA....so it's going to be different match. My thoughts are Ana is a great player. Such a champion. She was No. 1 in the world, and I expect it to be very challenging and I'm looking forward for this. Q. Congratulations. Tough ordeal for you. Twice off in the first set? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: Yeah, twice off. Q. How was that? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: It's never easy to go on and off, so I had to stay focused all the time. I broke her and it was 4‑2, and then I lost easy my serve. So it was not that easy. 4‑5 and we went off again and I had to serve it to 5‑All. I did a great game there, but I broke her back 6‑5, and then I lost easy again my serve. The tiebreak I was just fighting point by point and I was losing 5‑1 actually, and I am very happy that I pulled the first set through. It was really important. I think was the key of the match. Q. Certainly switched the momentum from that point on. BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: Yeah. Q. Because once you won the tiebreak, you basically ran away with it. BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: Yeah. I played really good tiebreak, I have to say. Since 5‑1 I was fighting every point, and I thought I was also playing very clever. I took my confidence and I was playing really good second set. Q. Biggest final of your career. BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: Yeah. Q. What does that mean to you, to get that? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: It means a lot to me. It means that I was working hard with my coach. I just don't want to talk about it like it's done. It's not done. Tomorrow is another day. It's a final. You don't play the final, you win the final. We say this. But it's good. I am so happy about it. But tomorrow it's‑‑ I will talk about it like it's finished tomorrow. Q. Did you have any idea this was coming? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: No, no, not at all. Well, you're waiting for such a results and it comes and I'm very happy, but I didn't expect it. Q. You were down 5‑1 in the tiebreak; you went the other way around the net and you seemed to sort of ‑‑ what were you thinking at that point that helped change that tiebreak? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: Well, I was a little bit grumpy. (Laughter.) But maybe it helped me to put it out and to talk to my coach a little bit some words. And then I get back with my head and with my physic and like I said, I fought every point and I pulled the tiebreak through and the set. Q. Were those nice words to your coach? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: Um, yeah. (Smiling.) Q. Yeah? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: Yes, they were. (Laughter.) Q. You mentioned getting frustrated in the tiebreak. Are you trying to not be frustrated, or is it just like a matter of you letting the frustration work for you? Have you just kind of embraced the grumpiness? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: I mean, frustration, for me, I'm very emotional player and person. My character is very emotional. Being frustrated on court is never good. I mean, sometimes can help you to put it out, but you have to know where is the limit to finish it. That moment when I was losing 5‑1, I felt like I needed to put it out to my coach because he's the closest person there, so I was talking to him what I did wrong and this. It helped me, but then I went back and played the game again. Q. When you do that, when you kind of get it out of your system, does it feel like a release? Does it feel like it's just bottling up and you have to get it out? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: Sometimes feels like a release, but then you have to know that you have to stop it. You take it out and then that's it, and you focus on next, next point. Sometimes takes too long when you're frustrated thinking about it. That what actually happened when I had 6‑5 and missed the volley. I was thinking too long about it, and then right away it was 5‑1 in the tiebreak. So you have to know you have to be quick right away. Q. You described your performance yesterday as perfect. How about today? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: Well, perfect. No, I was playing again a good match today. I was focusing on the tactic we were talking with my coach, and I followed. Maybe yesterday was a little bit better match, but I'm happy because it was the semifinal and it's sometimes the nerves are working. So I'm happy I mentally pull it through. Q. A match like this, is that the perfect preparation for what you might face at Wimbledon? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: It is the perfect preparation for Wimbledon. I'm playing next week again a tournament in s'Hertogenbosch, but I'm focusing for the final tomorrow. I can't have a better preparation like this. Q. I think Martina Navratilova was watching today, and she will potentially be watching tomorrow. How does that make you feel? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: It makes me feel‑‑ how to describe? I know her so long and she is a legend. If she's watching me, I feel nervous. She also sometimes give me some tips. It's going to be nice I can play in front of such a champion. Q. What's your relationship with her then? Have you spoken to her for technical and tactical advice? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: Well, not so much. Sometimes I don't see her‑‑ I see her just sometimes on the Grand Slams. But if she sees my matches she tells me some tips, what I can do better maybe, but we don't talk about my game at all. Q. You won't speak to her tonight about tomorrow? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: No, not at all. Q. Can I ask about your ban and what it was like for the six months you were away from the tour? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: About my what? Q. About your six months that you were away from the tour. BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: First two months was tough. I didn't want to play anymore because I felt like it's really unfair what happened and I didn't have motivation to come back. But thinking about it, I was also doing different things. I was living normal life, and I felt like I miss it. Then I start to practice, and I missed adrenaline, I missed the feeling of playing matches. Then I decided to come back. It was a good decision, and I see the tennis right now a little bit different than before. Q. In what way? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: The way of it's not everything. Before it was everything for me and I put so much pressure on myself. I know that there is another life and the life is more important than this one. I see it that way. Q. Does that help you now? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: Yes, very much. It helps me, and it also helps me to see the things different. Because like I say, this is a part of my life. It's going to be maybe five more, and then I will live much more important life for me. It was also ‑‑ suspension gave me some things, yeah. Q. In light of that, when you have these kinds of successes, do you appreciate them more now? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: Oh, I appreciate everything much more. I appreciate being on tournaments like this. The people care about us so much. We get laundry, drivers. I appreciate this. Before it was like, Oh, another tournament, blah, blah, blah. But these people work for us, and I want to give them something. I appreciate everything what they do, because it's not just like something you can see every day. So I appreciate the matches, the going on practice court every day. I try to give it back also to my coach and to tell them that I appreciate all the things. Yeah. Q. In terms of giving back, do you sort of try and do stuff back in Czechoslovakia for youngsters? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: Yeah, I do some things in Czech. I try to help a little bit in my home club, so I hope I give them some good tips. Q. You played this tournament before, I believe, right? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: Yeah. Q. So you've been here before and it was smaller. This year's it's a Premier. Does it feel still a little bit less daunting than when you go to one of the bigger Premier tournaments? Still feels a little bit more comfortable here? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: This tournament? Q. Yeah. BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: I don't see if it's Premier or international. I take a tournament like same. I mean, Grand Slams are a little bit different, and the money‑wise it's also a little bit different. But I don't like at it this way. Oh, it's this is Birmingham. It's a big tournament. No, I play matches, and doesn't matter if it's international, Premier, or a Grand Slam. Every match you have to play the same and you have to have the same procedure. Q. Speaking of prize money, you've already won at least... BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: I don't know. Don't tell me. Q. You don't want to know? You sure? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: I don't know how much money I made; I don't know how much points I made. I don't want to know. Q. It's a nice number. BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: I know, but I just don't want to know it. Q. Okay. Have the players been okay with you since you've been back? Your relationship with your colleagues has been good? BARBORA ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA: Oh, yeah, they were actually very nice to me. The first tournament I came was Stuttgart, and not so many people were talking about it with me. I don't mind to talk about it because I know where the truth is. They were very nice to me, yeah. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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