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APIA INTERNATIONAL SYDNEYJanuary 12, 2015Jarmila GajdosovaSYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES J. GAJDOSOVA/A. Petkovic THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You must be pretty happy with that win? JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: Yeah, I thought, you know, it's the first time I beat on her. We played a few matches before and we had few battles and unfortunately I came up short. So very happy with the win considering the conditions and who I was playing on the other side. So definitely a good start. Q. What do you feel like you did better this time? JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: I think I just cut a little bit on the unforced errors when it mattered. I think I served pretty good first serve percentage of my serve; kept her always under the pressure so she had to come up with her shots. It wasn't just me and missing and kind of giving it away. So I think I played pretty solid. I think I handled maybe a little bit the conditions better. It was pretty windy, so it wasn't easiest match for both of us. Q. What were you telling yourself when you were down 4‑Love in the second set? JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: Well, I was winning for a reason, so I was just trying to figure out what I was not doing as well as I did the first. Just tried to come back and stay calm and just keep do what I was doing. Eventually got me back to the match. I was just trying to get my margins back, you know, play big parts of the courts. As I was saying it was very windy, so difficult to play exactly the way I want to play. I was just trying to pretty much beat here in her own game. Q. Pretty difficult last few years. This must be a real boost for you going into Melbourne next week. JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: Yeah, I think it's the first time in like three years that I feel physically fit and that I'm playing well enough that I'm pretty comfortable with it. I had a lot of ups and downs physically and mentally kind of on and off court a little bit. So it's definitely very positive this year. I'm kind of going with the fresh start. I'm trying to work as hard as I can and hope that my game will be good enough for this year's Australian Open. Q. What do you think has come together for you to allow to you produce this form now? JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: Again, I think my body started recovering after almost year, year and a half. When I was sick, I didn't know quite sure how soon or how well I will be recovering. So I think I had really good off‑season training from Brisbane, and I felt that I got prepared pretty well. I felt physically fit. I felt like my body is recovering the way it's supposed to and I didn't have any niggles or pains. That part was really about good. Then it gave me time to practice the way I used to when I was 25 in the world. Hit a lot of balls; work hard; work on my movement; and I think eventually my off‑season kind of reflected my matches. Even when I played Ana last week I still thought I played pretty well. Overall I think it's a good start, and I hope to keep it up and play a bit better. Q. Best result since Hobart in the Fed Cup four years ago? JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: Not sure. Last year in Asia I beat Pennetta, who was 11 in the world. Made third round; lost to Wozniacki in the third. So I still had pretty good results against top players. Beat Daniela. Results‑wise probably she and Pennetta would be the highest I beat in the past two, three years, or whatever it was. I'm very happy with that win and I hope it's not going to be my last one. Q. When you were recovering from that illness, was it the fatigue that was lingering? JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: Pretty much. I did something one day, and the next day my body was in kind of pain really. Like I felt like a normal person who kind of decides as a New Year's resolution to go to the gym and they do the first workout. That's how I felt doing ten sit‑ups. I was like, Okay, that's good. That will do me for today. It wasn't fun. Even when I played the playoffs and tried to play in January, I mean, my body was just in pain. I had to somewhat make it through. I was happy that in the second part of year I start feeling good and fit and I could play the matches the way I wanted and I could play nine, ten matches in a row and I was happy with it. This year I feel even better. So far no injuries, which is good. No sprained ankles. Nothing like to so far. Q. Just been a gradual improvement? No turning point? Just slowly? JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: Yeah. I think me playing the matches and giving me some time to work on the things‑‑ you know, I had to start pretty much from the beginning, from literally ground zero. I had to start learning how to make 20‑minute jog and then start doing sit‑ups and two kilos dumbbells and shoulders and silly things like that. I literally had to start from the beginning, so it took a while. Then you have to play matches, so you don't really have time to recover, you don't really have time to train. My ranking was like 330, so I had to play a lot of little challengers and a lot of matches for me to get my ranking back up. It took a while. I didn't have the time or opportunity to train the way I wanted. That's why the off‑season was very important. I think people in Brisbane, they did a very good job with me. Q. When you were ill, did you have any concerns that you may not come back? JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: Yeah, that was what I been told in the beginning. My doctor pretty much said that he can't promise that I will ever be able to compete. He said pretty much that, yeah, I will recover, but if I will be able to ever be on the level I was considering what I do for a job, he just said only time will tell. You can try and see how it goes. I still have to go for blood test and everything to keep up and vitamins and proper sleep schedule and all sorts of things so it doesn't come back.  It stays with you. It doesn't go a way. It can come pretty much any time it feels like it if I am not careful. In the end, I guess ‑‑ it took me a year to recover, so in that year I got kind of content with the fact that that may be it. I may not play. Like I used to coach and help little kids, and I struggled to be with them 45 minutes on the court, let alone for me to try and play tennis. So it was kind of an unknown thing, and I just took it as it came. Then I tried and built up slowly. As I say in January, it was pretty hard. Like even here, full body cramps and just silly things were happening to me. The way I feel like now it's amazing. I feel like a new person. Hopefully it stays that way. Q. How do you feel about being moved from the center court yesterday to Court 3? Do you prefer the bigger audience? JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: I think I still had a lot of people who came to watch on Court 3. If I'm on a center court or Court 3, doesn't matter. The people who want to watch me will find a way to come. Obviously be nice to play on center court. I enjoy playing on it. It was very unfortunate with the rain that I got moved. Then I had to play doubles, so I couldn't play on the grandstand and I couldn't play on the center court. I couldn't be too late. So it was unfortunate, but I'm sure I will make it there one day. Q. What kept you going when you weren't being offered a lot of hope that you could get back? What kept you trying? JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: I do love playing tennis. I enjoy it. So even if I was going to retire, I still probably would do something with it one way or the other. So I started coaching actually juniors and traveled with one of them. She [Peggy Porter] started playing challengers and everything. I actually got a warning for coaching. I wasn't very subtle. Q. Where? JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: She was playing a wildcard playoff for US Open so she was playing in Texas. Unfortunately I know all the linesmen and the chair umpires, so I kind of get away with it.  But they had to be, Oh, come on Jarka. You can't do that. You know that. That probably kept me in the game. Then because I enjoyed it, I tried to hit with them and actually play with them, not just tell them what to do. Eventually, I just ‑‑ if you are used to exercising for 15 years of your life, it's really weird when you can't do it. Even after the first week that I've been told that I'm sick, it was so hard for me not to do. I kept trying and trying until I actually couldn't physically get up from bed. I had to wait, and then I just got tired of doing nothing. I decided I wanted to try exercising, and eventually my coach helped me through. He started with me from the beginning. He was patient. We started an hour a day, slowly start doing side to size. It wasn't pretty, but it got me here. Q. When was it you first became ill? JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: It's now 2015, so it 2013, the whole year. So I came back January 2014 I started playing. I won mixed doubles and then I stopped. Apparently I was already sick since November the previous year, which I did not know. I just figured that when I fainted like six times they say, Oh, there is something wrong with you. Q. Your Twitter is back open. Are the fans being kinder to you? JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: Yeah, I did open my Twitter again. I decided that I think three years ‑‑ we been long time since talked to them, so it will be nice to be back. So far so good. I only did have 500 followers. They can't be that bad. We'll see when I get more. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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