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ROGERS CUP

July 28, 2016

Kristina Kucova

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

K. KUCOVA/E. Bouchard

3-6, 6-4, 6-3

An interview with:

KRISTINA KUCOVA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You seemed pretty elated. How does it feel now?
KRISTINA KUCOVA: Yeah, I'm very happy. Also I'm very tired. But it's a very good feeling. This is my best moment so far in my tennis career.

Q. What is your reaction, beating Eugenie Bouchard here in MontrÃ©al?
KRISTINA KUCOVA: Yeah, it's unbelievable. I felt that people were supporting her very much. I knew that before the match. I tried to focus on the game. I didn't see the ball very well in the beginning because of not many experience with my night matches.

But then I used to in the next few, like, rallies. I used to that. It was better after.

Q. How did you manage to win your last three matches when you lose the first set?
KRISTINA KUCOVA: I must give credit to my fitness coach because I feel very good on the condition preparation. Yeah, I changed fitness coach in the beginning of the year. We worked very hard.

I feel now on the court that when it's coming to the third set, I still have energy for that. I'm very happy about it.

Q. Do you feel tired right now after all those long matches?
KRISTINA KUCOVA: Yeah, for sure, my legs feel a bit tired. But this very good feeling gives me so much power. It's giving me more power for next match.

Q. It might still be too early to tell, but do you think this might be life-changing or career-changing, this event?
KRISTINA KUCOVA: Yeah, with this match I broke to top 100. I was working for this moment all my life. I'm just so happy about it.

I don't know if life change. I don't think so. But I will remember this moment, that tonight I beat Genie in MontrÃ©al and I break top 100. It means a lot to me.

Q. How do you feel about playing in the quarterfinals against Konta tomorrow?
KRISTINA KUCOVA: I don't know. I will come and I try to see videos of her, how she was playing now recently. I will come there and I will try to fight for every point.

Q. How did you turn the match around? For about a set and a half, she seemed to be playing incredibly well, very aggressive. How did you stay in it and how did you think you got the win?
KRISTINA KUCOVA: Also during first set and also in second set I tried to change the rhythm because I think Genie likes to play very aggressively, going into the court. But I tried to change the rhythm like with topspin or slice. Maybe it was not working, but in the end comes to the point that she start to missing the points where normally she hits the winner. So she start to think. Maybe she felt the change, my changing rhythm.

Q. Your sister plays on the tour. Is she giving you some tips or tricks for helping you?
KRISTINA KUCOVA: Yeah, my whole family are watching me from home. In Slovakia is now I think 5:00 in the morning, already like 6:00 in the morning. She was watching. She giving me tips. She was helping me recently.

But now she's doing final exam in the school. So she's preparing for this. But she will come with me on the tour later on.

Q. Can we get the short version of the story of how you met Genevieve?
KRISTINA KUCOVA: I don't understand.

Q. What is the story behind your friendship with Genevieve?
KRISTINA KUCOVA: We met during the Fed Cup in QuÃ©bec when I was also playing against Genie. They were looking in our team, taking care of our team. There was Genie and Pierre. We got very good friendship. This week was very good. We lost against Canada, but we got new friends, a new friendship with her. That's why I came first time after this to Canada. So she is now with me.

Q. Coach?
KRISTINA KUCOVA: She's my friend. I don't have coach here, so I take her as a coach for this tournament.

Q. The way you played, it seemed the more the game went on the more confident you were, hitting the ball with more strength. Did you feel you were getting better as the game went on?
KRISTINA KUCOVA: Actually, I didn't felt that great in the court because I didn't see the ball very well during the night matches. I didn't play many matches in the night, so I'm not very used to that. It's very different.

Maybe at some point I was just putting balls more in the middle, just to get the rhythm a bit in the match. But, yeah, I used to that. In the third set, I played much better.

Q. You're a former junior champion. Now you're breaking into the top 100. Talk about the path from being a great junior, and has it been difficult or has it taken longer than you thought?
KRISTINA KUCOVA: Yeah, it was very long journey. As winning US Open junior Grand Slam normally should give me a lot of confident. In the end, I didn't have after this success very big confident. It was strange for me.

After I try to break into women's tennis, I was 103, my best ranking. Then start many injuries. I had to stop for half year. It was difficult to come back and always find the balance between working hard and resting and be healthy, stay on the tour.

So now as I'm older, I try to take care of my body also, and I'm very happy that now is the time that I broke the 100.

Q. You played two hands on both sides. Talk about how that started. Why do you still play with two hands on both sides?
KRISTINA KUCOVA: When I start to play tennis, my parents give me heavy racquet, so I couldn't hold it in one hand (smiling). That time was playing Monica Seles, also later Bartoli. My father said is nothing bad. When I get older, I can change it for one-handed forehand.

Also I didn't pay attention to it. But later when I was about 10 years old, I figure out that I play differently when I see the other girls. I said to my father, I want to play one-handed forehand.

He said, Okay, now we change.

We tried to change, but it didn't work at all, so we stayed with the both handed. He said, like, Monica Seles was also very great player. Is nothing that we have to change or stop tennis because of that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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