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MUTUA MADRID OPENMay 9, 2015Svetlana KuznetsovaMADRID, SPAIN P. KVITOVA/S. Kuznetsova THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please. Q. Tough luck, but it's a great week for you, is it? SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: Well, yeah, of course. The week was great. I even surprise myself how I could handle everything, because I think I've had the most weird schedule in my life. Like some days I felt like I was basically sleeping on the court, not in my room. I just come there to take a nap and then I go back. I played first day at 11:00; second day I had a night match. Then in one day I have again night match. I mean, I had all the schedule possible. I was really tired, especially Safarova match. I was convincing myself to try to fight a little bit, and like if I win I pull out next day because I was totally destroyed. Next day I say, Okay, I try to go out there and play and I beat Maria. I did my best hanging out there. Today I was a little bit off and Petra was playing amazing game. It happens, you know. It's quite a good week, and I will take positive stuff out of there. Q. At the I end of the first set you took a medical timeout for an injury. Talk us through that. SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: It's a same injury I had after Fed Cup. I pull out of Stuttgart. It comes to me sometimes. I hope I can recover it before next match in Rome. Yeah, I just have a little bit problem with my leg. Q. When you felt the pain, do you feel it yesterday or this morning? Did you ever consider pulling out of the final? SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: No, I mean, it's hard to say. It's a final. I still tried to hang in there and play. I mean, it was sad to pull out because I still always see a chance that I can make it. I was not at my best and Petra was at her best. I think she played amazing. Yeah, I didn't think I should pull out of that. Q. Petra played amazing, like you said, so what was going through your mind when she returned winner after winner? SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: I knew exactly what I had to do. I had to hang in there and be more aggressive and be faster and serve better. But your body always have limits. I guess today I reached a little bit my limit of that tournament. Q. If you play, can you make the injury worse? SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: I tried not land so much on that leg. I tried to protect it as much as I could during the match. Yeah, I mean, it's tough to pull out of a final. It's tough, because then you go out thinking, Oh, maybe I could keep going. The leg was not getting worse, so I was keep playing. Q. I don't know how these things work, but I saw you today and you seem really physical bad. Do you think it's the best option with the French Open in the final month to go to Rome and another big competition?  Don't you think that could harm you physically? SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: It's not decision to take right now for sure. I think I can have a Tuesday start in Rome. I have two days, so I will look at it. I have to go there anyway because even if I don't have to play I have to do everything for the tournament. So I'll go there. I have to check. I hope to play, but you never know. Q. Did you ever have any doubts that you would get back to this place, even just like the smallest doubt that you thought maybe you wouldn't be in a big final, wouldn't be able to beat people like Sharapova again? SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: I saw many people doubting me, but I didn't have doubts that I'm able to do that. After I won US Open people were doubting me that I can win another slam. After I won slam, people were saying, Oh, you should retire and stuff. Nobody can decide it but me. I love the game. I work hard. The people who talk that, they have no idea. Also, then I look to Roger and people say he should retire, you know. I mean, look, these people have no idea what they're talking about. There is lots of opinions. We don't have to look at the opinions of that people. The people were saying that Roger would never win French, and I can go on and on what people say. After the players show opposite, so I don't care what they say. I didn't doubt myself and I was fighting hard and I was playing, you know. Again I always say so, it's small difference. Like this tournament, maybe I could have lost to Stosur or Muguruza or Safarova. She was match points up. So it's tiny change from being somewhere to nowhere. These changes I beat Kerber in Miami that year and Kerber won Charleston and Stuttgart. I mean, it's crazy, but this is a game. Every day you have new opportunity and each week can change you something. I came this week from Czech Republic. I lost first round to player I normally beat. I was like feeling bad, but I was just playing and just one week totally change everything. I woke up yesterday after my nap and I was like, Is it for real? Am I in the finals? Because I haven't been here for a long time, and I feel like I can do this and I belong here. When I see like I be losing and I have no opportunities I would maybe stop. As long as I enjoy and I can bring on the court great game, why not? Why don't play? THE MODERATOR: Questions in Spanish, please. Q. Normally you didn't play well here in Madrid. What happened? SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: I missed you. First of all I wanted to say that. I have missed you. Well, you know, my career has a lot of up and downs. We've already talked about this in other press conferences. They asked me you want to be there and win titles or be really regular. I prefer to be the way I am. Yes, I've had up and downs unfortunately. I finally played well here in Madrid. It's been a long time since the last time I played well. I'm very happy. I worked for this. I hope that I'll go have a good run now for the coming tournaments. Q. Do you think you can be in shape also in Roland Garros, and do you think you're one the favorites to win Roland Garros after doing really well here in Madrid? SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: Well, it's not my job to consider myself the favorite, it's yours. After that, I don't care whether you consider me a good candidate or not. I'll be out there and I'll play well. I'm not thinking about the best candidates to win. We're just talking about matches between us. Because whatever goes on the papers, we really don't care. It's only for the supporters. They read it in their kitchen or in the living room while we are out there playing. We really don't care about that. And talking about my shape, I think I have possibilities of playing well. And not only in clay. Perhaps on clay I have more possibilities, yes, but hopefully these tournaments will give me confidence to do better in other surfaces, too. Q. Now with Carlos Martinez, how is your relationship? You started training in Barcelona; now you live in St. Petersburg. Where do you train with him? SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: Well, I have two trainers. Well, actually three. I have Carlos, which is the majority of the time with me. He doesn't travel all the year so he can come to Moscow with me for some weeks. Normally we do the pre‑season in Barcelona. Emilio let's us use his club to train. We only use the courts and the gym over there. After that, for the States I travel with Hernan Gumy. Anastasia Myskina helps me in Moscow. She is captain of the Fed Cup and my friend. With Carlos, we just travel and I try to convince him to come to Moscow and train. It's much better for me training over there. Q. What do you think has changed in this tournament so you played so well? SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: Well, whenever I say I'm not consistent, it's to explain that sometimes I lose matches that people think I shouldn't lose. But I of course try to be regular. I go out every single day and try to train and work hard. But not many things have changed. Just a little bit more lucky, more confident, I fought more. It's just small things that make the difference. I'm working a lot on me as a person, as a player. One day things just turn around. This is what happens in tennis. Sometimes they just turn around. Q. With the result you're again in the top 20. Is it important for you or not really important for you? SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: You know what I say? Finally, finally. Because I'm tired of being within the 20 and the 30. I don't like it because I think I don't belong in those positions. I want to be more than in the top 20. But this is not the really important thing, where I'm going to be in 2015 or I was in 2014. I've been second and won slams. For me the important thing is to have a good game. If I play well and win matches and make it deep in the tournaments, things will come on their own. I will continue working. That's all. Q. I saw that Blanca had a message on her skirt. Can you tell us something about that? SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: It's from my sponsor, and Carlos should also be wearing some of those t‑shirts, but I forget to bring them. They just try to do t‑shirts with a couple of massages, and really like it. I like my sponsors, and it just says, We can't, but you can. They're sitting with the people and they can cheer us up. That's the message. For me, sometimes I just do t‑shirts where I have a picture of my dog on my shirt. I just like the support of my sponsors, that's all. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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