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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL PRESENTED BY SUNCORPJanuary 3, 2016Andrea PetkovicBrisbane, Queensland, Australia A. PETKOVIC/T. Pereira 6-1, 6-2 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How happy are you with that start as far as the scoreline, but then also how you played? ANDREA PETKOVIC: Yeah, I'm much more happier with my performance and will way I played, because I really worked on a lot of things in the off-season. I was able to transport them here into practice, and I wasn't sure how it's going to go in the match. Everything was in place. My serve is much better. My shot selection was much better. So all in all, I was really happy with everything coming sort of together at least for the match today, yeah. Q. The end of last season was tough for you. How was the reset process over the off-season? ANDREA PETKOVIC: It was very tough. It was very tough. The first week I was basically just at home. I didn't go out at all. Then I actually thought about canceling my trip to New York because I was really not feeling well. Then I did go, and my best friend who went with me, she kind of dragged me through the first three days. After three days I felt my energy coming back, and then by the fifth or six day I felt like I was myself. But there was one moment at the airport. She had to check something with her luggage because it got lost on the way in. There is one point where I just took my wallet and I looked inside of it and I had hundred bucks left. I was like, I could just stay here. I could make it in New York. I could just leave my life behind and take a cab back. It would be enough to get back to the city and just stay here and see where life takes me. It was just a little three-second moment. My friend came back and said, Are you ready to go? I was like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. That was kind of the decision to go back to my old life. Now I'm here, but I'm happy about it. Q. What are those things in your game that you were really focusing on in the off-season? ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, I worked on my serve. I can serve much faster now. I served few times 170. I don't think I did that in the last season at all. Then basically most of it was shot selection. Just picking the smarter shot in certain situations. We just did a lot of work on transferring from defense to offense and trying to play a little more aggressive and hitting different targets; when I was aggressive, trying to, yeah, just to go for different targets, I guess. It's been working fine. Just Jan has a really good approach to me. Just the way he talks to me just really comes through. So I'm really happy with the choice I've made to be coached by him, yeah. Q. Assuming everything goes as planned you're going to meet Maria in the second round? ANDREA PETKOVIC: Yeah. Q. What are your thoughts on that matchup? ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, that's a great challenge for me. I think those the are the matches you want before a Grand Slam, and especially here where it's so nice to play. I'm just very excited. Today I really had a little more time in picking the right shots. Against Maria it would be a lot more pressure, so it would be really nice to see for me if I have things automized already and if things are already in my subconscious and coming automatically or if I still have to work on some things. I think that will be really great to see what more things I can work on or if everything is already there. Q. You beat her in the Australian Open in 2011. ANDREA PETKOVIC: Yeah. Q. Do you draw anything from that, or is that ancient history? ANDREA PETKOVIC: That's a long time ago, but I did -- that was one of the matches I watched in the off-season to try to motivate me to come back. Just that was also one of the matches that I tried to remember how I was playing when I was having fun and really enjoying being out there and embracing everything that comes with tennis that I had lost in the past couple or three, four months maybe. But not because it was against Maria, just because I played really well. Yeah, she just came back from injury, so a lot came together in that match. Yeah, still, I think it helps if you have beaten somebody as Maria once, and we'll see. We just see what happens. (Smiling.) Q. If you were to take $100 and run off to New York, what would you do and where would you go? ANDREA PETKOVIC: I think I would go to the West Village (laughter.) Q. Schwanky. ANDREA PETKOVIC: Yeah, you know, the thing is, I was in Williamsburg as well, and it's too much for me almost, you know what I mean? I didn't feel comfortable 100% there. It was like -- I'm probably crazy, but not that crazy, you know? It was over the top for me. West Village was kind of the little elderly -- not elderly, but older generation that's still artsy and sort of sophisticated. I felt better there. I would probably end in the Bronx or something, because with hundred bucks where you going to go in the city? I mean, come on, let's be honest. Yeah, I would've made it somehow. (Smiling.) Q. Just talking about your family here, do you stay with them? ANDREA PETKOVIC: Yeah, I did. I'm staying with them, which is really nice to not stay at a hotel. It really relaxes you. I am on the south side, so really far away from everything tennis related. It's actually quite nice. I really get my head off things when I'm there. There are a lot of people in the house. Always something to do and a lot of action and great food, Serbian food. Q. And cousins or who are they? ANDREA PETKOVIC: Yeah, they are cousins. In Tuzla where I come from it's not a very big town in Bosnia. I think everybody is kind of related. We're not like directly related, but I just call everybody aunt and uncle and cousin. I wouldn't check the bloodlines, but there is something going on there. (Laughter.) Q. The start of the season is quite different. Most players fly halfway across the world. The big tournament is right around the corner from the beginning. Are you a fan of this? ANDREA PETKOVIC: I don't know. It depends. It can go either way. For example, every time when I played well here I played really well at the Australian Open as well. But when you lose -- sometimes -- last year, for example, I lost first round to Kanepi who's a player that can beat anybody basically. So wasn't like a match and I lost 6-1 in the third. It wasn't a terrible match. So it wasn't like I got off to an awfully wrong foot, but still, I felt not prepared for the Australian Open and I lost first round in the end playing another in-form playing with Madison Brengle. It's just very -- because you haven't played matches before and you come here, if it goes wrong and you lose a match, however, then it's kind of close, I have to admit. I don't go to Sydney most of the time because it's then too close to Melbourne. Everything is pushed together. If you get off to a good start here I think it's perfect. Q. Is that extra pressure in the off-season then knowing you can't really make a mistake? ANDREA PETKOVIC: Yeah. Well, I just come really early here. I always arrive almost eight, nine, sometimes ten days early. Try to be Christmas at home, and depending on when the tournament starts, then I flew off. I flew on Christmas day and 26, so I was here exactly a week before. That's just what I try to do. Q. You and Angie are playing doubles together. ANDREA PETKOVIC: Yes. The worst doubles in the whole world. Q. Is that a gear towards Rio? ANDREA PETKOVIC: Definitely. Yeah, we talked about it. We always loved playing doubles together, but last year Angie didn't want to play so much because she was doing really well in singles. Yeah, the Olympic Games are right around the corner, and so we decided to give it a shot as the worst doubles in the world. Q. Are the Olympics, especially in Germany, are the Olympics bigger than a Grand Slam? ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, I wouldn't say bigger, but definitely up there. I think it's on the same level. Everybody is already asking, Ah, the Olympic Games, the Olympic Games. For me it's still far away kind of. I am kind of excited, especially because I missed London. I was injured in London, which is not so bad because it was on grass. So I think it's okay. Now I've never been to Brazil, so I'm really excite about. That going to be great. I think I will blend in well with Rio. Q. What do you expect from Serena this year? ANDREA PETKOVIC: Oh, that's unexpected question. (Laughter.) I really don't know. But she's playing, right? Hopman Cup? Okay, good. I don't know. I don't know how tough she took the loss at the US Open. Then again, she had a break, so I think she could regain some momentum. It's I mean, crazy. I'm sorry, but you guys, you put so much pressure on her at the US Open. If she had won I would've put her in my idol list forever and I would bow down in front of her, because that was amazing what was going on. She was on every cab, every bus, on every TV, on every store. Even if she wanted to, she would've had to lock herself in a tiny room and never get out again if she wanted to get away. So it was so much. I have never experienced something so close. Actually I'm amazed that she got to the semifinals. Let's not forget that Roberta played an incredible match. Maybe with that experience she's still going to take another shot at the Grand Slam. Maybe the golden slam. Who knows? Steffi did it. Q. I think it was Hamburg that voted the Olympics down recently. What did you think of that? ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, I was very sad, but actually I thought it was going to get voted down because I know Germans. The problem was with everything going wrong in the FIFA with the terror attacks, everything coming together, the Germans are very careful people, I would say. Just wasn't the right time. There was no momentum whatsoever. I felt like it was going to be like that, and it ended in the end they voted no. I felt it was going in that direction, so I wasn't wrong. It was just a very bad timing. And sports politics, they just didn't splatter around with glory enough in the months before, and the Germans takes matters like that very seriously. It was sad, but I could understand it also. Q. How important are the Olympics for you compared to the slams? ANDREA PETKOVIC: For me it's very important. I just feel like -- I don't know what to expect at all, so I think that's so-so exciting. I think it's going to be a totally different event. I'm very excited to see all the other athletes. I've always been someone who loved to watch the Olympics. No matter summer or winter Olympics, I watched every kind of sport and just hang in front of the TV all the time. So going to be very exciting to be a part of it. That's what I have to say about the Olympics. (Smiling.) Q. Olympics mixed is pretty tough to get into. Small draw. Who would you want to play with? ANDREA PETKOVIC: With Roger Federer. (Laughter.) I'm Swiss now, can't you tell? Tommy Haas I probably would love to play with just because we probably get along best maybe. All the other players have -- Petzschner would be great. Phillip Petzschner or Tommy Haas. Just don't know them that well. Q. Getting back to the whole New York thing, would you say you have rediscovered a love of tennis now? ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, the thing was I was definitely hating it. Then in New York I figured, Okay, I mean, the Olympics probably saved me. It was clear in my mind I wanted to do the Olympics, so I knew I'm going to play this year. It was up to me to sort of rediscover my love for tennis. I knew I had to change everything around me so I changed my tomorrow, coaches, everything. Then I start to -- and I was 100% certain that I'm not going to pick up the racquet before I really wanted. So I was also prepared to cancel the whole Australian summer if I wasn't ready yet. So it was the longest time I took off, I think. I didn't play for five weeks maybe. After three weeks my energy started getting back. I felt like I wanted to move again, so I went for a little run, a little gym. Then I was like, Yeah, I want to play tennis. Then I was really happy with all my friends and family around. Then the question was I was happy because I was at home and not playing tennis, or if I was just generally happy and I could transport it into my tennis life again? So the decision I made is to confront myself with the most difficult situation. So I went to boot camp for four weeks in Halle where the tournament is. It's nice when the tournament is there. When the tournament is not there nobody is there. That's all they have. I figured if I can make it for four weeks there without any temper tantrums, I will be fine. I did make it and I got really excited, because Jan had just so much input and worked on so many things with me and challenged me so much that I was just very motivated to try and fix things and get them better. And then I felt like I was getting in to a better shape again and everything came together, so I'm here and 100% here. I made the decision and I'm going to go through with this. Hopefully by the end of this season I won't sit in Zhuhai crying, but I'll be happy. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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