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AEGON INTERNATIONAL

June 21, 2016

Kristina Mladenovic

Eastbourne, England

K. MLADENOVIC/T. Bacsinszky

6-1, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Very happy about the win?
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Yeah. Well, obviously Eastbourne is a very tough tournament. A lot of best players are committing here. From the first round I had a very tough opponent. And today, as well. I mean, Timea is a good player. She's very consistent throughout last years, and I'm not sure if she's top 10 but she's obviously close.

We never played against each other before, but I was expecting a tough one. She's very tricky. She has, I would say, all shots in her game.

I mean, I was watching her last year in Wimbledon. I think she made it to the second week, and she has a lot of variety in her game. It's not easy, especially with the conditions here. Sometimes the wind can blow pretty strong.

Yeah, I'm just very happy about the way I played today. I think it was very consistent, as well. I was trying to use my powerful groundstrokes, but also, too, to be patient and to use also the geometry of the court and tried to play smart.

Q. Did you sense she was a bit tense at the beginning? Because you completely controlled the first set, dominated.
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Yeah, I think I was serving good, really serving good. I don't know if she had any break points in the first set. I didn't check the stat. But I was feeling confident in my serve in the first set especially and just in the game.

As I said, I was mixing up with very strong flat strokes and also in between slices and dropshots. Obviously second set I knew it's not gonna stay like this because, as I said, she's a great player. And I thought she played much better, especially on the forehand side, and she was trying new things. I think second set was a great battle.

Q. You obviously finished the French Open on a real high and got to make a very quick adjustment to the grass. Can you talk about how you came down from that great moment?
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Yeah, Roland Garros was obviously amazing. It's a big thing. You know in tennis how it is week by week. You just start from zero. So when it's negative, somehow it's positive because it gives you straightaway a new chance. But in the other hand it's very difficult, because when you win something big like this you don't really have time to kind of celebrate or even realize what happened.

For my example, the next morning we were driving to get to s-Hertogenbosch, and of course you have the choice to commit or not straight the week after, but I love so much grass that I didn't want to miss any minute of it. So I make the effort.

And to be honest, it was very surprising the way I managed to just win that first match like two days later, especially against a great opponent. And then just make it through the finals in s-Hertogenbosch. I was really not expecting to win that first match coming there without any practice and being still on clay on Chatrier with my partner, you know. (Smiling.)

It was very tricky one, difficult. I have no clue how I made it, because I promised this is going so fast and I was already in Holland on grass.

But as I said, I love grass and I think -- you know, I'm just enjoying my game, like I don't have any surface that I don't like. I feel comfortable and I can adjust my game on all different surfaces, and that's what I'm trying to do on grass.

You know, I like to come forward and maybe try to play more often volleys that maybe I don't have the opportunity on that much on the other surface.

So, yeah, I'm just enjoying my time on grass. It's not as long as the other seasons, but definitely it's a great period.

And just to speak again about Roland Garros, it is something very big to win a Grand Slam. And in doubles with Caro, we are just 23, we are French, and to win a slam and especially the one at home for us is such a big thing. Especially that we kind of showed that we could handle all the expectation and nerves, because especially from the beginning of the season, we can say a lot of people were expecting us to do well.

Q. You tweeted a picture with very heavy weights. Have you been training pretty hard? Anything different?
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: No. That's nothing new, nothing different. Obviously my type of practice I'm working a lot physically. And, you know, there is different kind of workouts. They are weights and like all the bending and stuff. These are running and cardio. Then you have more like core and et cetera.

But I'm a girl that works a lot outside of the court even during tournaments. I mean, yesterday I had a day off and obviously I was working out in the gym.

Yeah, maybe I don't look like this when you see me.

Q. I didn't say that.
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: No, no, no, (laughter). No, I meant you said I put a lot of weight on the bar.

Q. Weight on the bar.
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Well, I actually received a lot of comments like this, like, I mean, obviously I don't have super big legs, strong, and so a lot of people, even my friends, they are surprised how much I can lift.

I said, Yeah, legs can be thin but very strong. When you specialized in fitness and you're good at it, you can understand.

But, yeah, it's maybe one of the secret. But I think I -- yeah, I'm not competing with the girls. I don't know, like -- you know, tennis is priority but obviously all the exercise around are very important to develop and you can use on the court to get stronger, especially on grass, to be low on the legs. I don't know if other girls can lift that much.

Q. Seems like your generation of players have had some really good success within the last six, seven weeks or so with Caroline, you, Madison, Coco, GarbiÃ±e. Do you feel like there is a bigger push from this generation, kind of a transition in terms of getting the titles, moving up the rankings? What's your take on that?
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Yeah, you are obviously right, because that's what's happening. On the paper we can see results week after week. Well, you know, at some point it has to happen, I guess. Time is passing, flying, and cannot be always the time the same. Some are getting older. We also are getting more mature.

I'm very happy. It's very nice to see. Sometimes we just like hold on and we are like, wow, it's very nice, because like most all of us we know each other since -- like even before juniors, you know. And to realize, wow, great job. We all made it, first of all, a career professional.

Right now we feel like we're doing great and we start to, you know, make our road to the top and challenge the best ones on the biggest stage. It's very exciting. I hope we can all continue like this. From my opinion, it's a great competition and atmosphere to have all these, let's say, younger generation push and go of course still battling with the big, top ones that are there already for longer.

Q. Pennetta won the US Open and Kerber won the Australian Open, a bit of the older players, but then Muguruza...
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: You're mean. (Laughter.)

Q. Angie would agree with me and I think Flavia would, as well.
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Flavia? (putting cell phone to ear.)

Q. Obviously with GarbiÃ±e, obviously much younger, were you surprised that she won in Paris? What's your reaction to it?
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Well, it never can be a surprise when you win such a big tournament. I think she has been consistent the last, I don't know, few years, like already last year she made it to a final of Wimbledon. I think she's doing great.

But like you said, like recently we could notice that all the last Grand Slam champion were 30, over 30. So this really kind of a mix of like very experienced players still winning -- tennis has improved so much compared to a decade ago, I would say. It isn't that easy anymore to win, I don't know, as a teenager or you really have to be very special. I think that's going to be very rare.

So it's very nice to see the mix that GarbiÃ±e could win already at such a young age a Grand Slam with, let's say the older, like you say. But of course we have an eye on it. And I also, on the last few Grand Slams, proved myself either with US Open or Roland Garros when I played a good match with Serena that things can be very close. I just keep working hard to try to be more and more consistent and better.

I think what's interesting in women's tennis is there are a lot of great players and it's always kind of open in slams.

Q. With a title of last week, Caroline has passed you in the rankings and you're winning so you're likely to pass her again. Does it seem like you're pushing in singles and not only in doubles?
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Well, I'm just very happy that we are both doing great in singles. I don't know if we can really say these are rivalry. For my part, I'm very focused on achieving my goals on international plan. You know, I don't want to be French No. 1 if I'm like 18th in the world. That's not my goal. I'm not competing necessarily with the girls of my country. That's not my goal. That's not the goal of my sport.

I want to do great week after week, hold trophies if I can. But obviously at the end of the day, of the year, of course it's nice to be like represented No. 1 of your country but that's really not my focus at all. Has never been and never will be, I guess. I'm more focused on the kind of 30 girls that are there ahead of me in the WTA rankings.

But I'm just pretty sure that our work in doubles and all the experience, big matches, big stages, playing, winning lately helps us a lot for doing great in singles.

Q. With both you and Caroline playing great tennis in the last six weeks, was it extra motivation with all of the kind of like French media stuff? Did you guys talk about, Let's go out and show them? It's all coinciding?
KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: Wow, you kind of maybe realize they are not that nice with us, I guess. No, because like I said previously there was a lot of pressure, expectation, and we are kind of -- you know, we are not scared. We like the challenge. We want to be great. We want to be champions.

If you want to be great, you have to challenge all this, you know, the big crowd, the big moments, pressure on the court or outside media as part of the job.

Like from the beginning of the year we are trying, you know, to be maybe more respected in our country either with what happened in Fed Cup or -- yeah, like Roland Garros is a great example, because I think we were doing very great in doubles in the three tournaments we won just before. That was a big, big fight, big challenge to go all the way to the trophy in Roland Garros. I mean, first time we were ever also playing together on home soil, like it was our first Roland Garros together.

So it's not easy, but we noticed that much more French crowd were coming to watch us and support us. Before, when we were both playing with foreign players, they were not really into it or involved as much as today, so it's a nice part to see. Of course you also have to deal on the other hand with more pressure and stuff, but that's also what we want and what we like.

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