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QATAR TOTAL OPEN

February 14, 2017

Karolina Pliskova

Doha, Qatar

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Usually Fed Cup is quite an emotional few days. How did you maybe wind down from that, and how do you feel heading into this tournament?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, little bit emotional. Was tough weekend for all of us, especially for me and Barbora. But we were really happy that we made it in the singles, and then we didn't have to play the doubles.

Overall I think I had a good week there with the practices, with two wins in the weekend, which was important. Now yesterday I was traveling. I had a day off. Today back on court practicing.

I felt quite good. So excited to be here in Doha, ready for the tournament.

Q. You will play in the next round Caroline Garcia or Madison Brengle. What do you think about them?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I don't know the winner yet. They didn't play it. Maybe I will watch a little bit of their match.

But I played both of them. Caroline I played last year in Fed Cup last year. She was playing very well there. Obviously tournament is a different competition than Fed Cup. Definitely will be a different match.

And Madison, I know she beat my sister in the quallies here, so she has to play well. Obviously she won three rounds in the quallies, so she's kind of probably used to the conditions here. I think she's playing well.

So both of them is going to be tough. But, like I said, I'm ready for the first round or second round. Hopefully I can get the first win here.

Q. You said you arrived yesterday. Do you think the rain delays have helped you because they're pushing the games back? Is it beneficial for the games to be pushed back?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, I don't know yet. I just had my practices today, which was important for me. I was trying to start early so I can hit on the court and get little bit used to it because we were playing indoors. It was a little bit different.

I don't know if they can still finish today, the matches. I don't know how is the forecast. Probably not really good. So let's just wait and see.

I think even if they don't finish today, they still have to play this match tomorrow. So that would be definitely advantage for me if they playing two matches in a day.

Yeah, but let's see. They still have some time to finish today. I think they are second on from two. If it's not raining, I think they will make it.

Q. Is the weather somehow weird to you? You probably expected something different when you got here. Doha, it's probably the worst weather they've had in 25 years. The atmosphere, for that reason, is worse because the spectators aren't used to the rain so they don't come here. What do you think about that?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, I heard already a few days ago because my sister was playing the quallies. She told me the weather is not really good. It doesn't look it's going to be better during the week. So I was expecting it.

Obviously the weather can change so fast. In Czech is minus 10, so with me this weather is fine. Just the rain is not good for tennis, so hopefully it can get better and we can finish all the matches on time.

Q. How is it to have a sister on tour? I think you're in different hotels, aren't you? How could you describe that? My second question would be, how do you describe your game? You have a big swing, big serve, huge potential. We saw you at the US Open final. Tell us something about that, please.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: So first of all, it's good to have someone on the tour so close to you, I mean, like my sister. There is no one closer to me on the tour, so I don't need any other friends than her. We always talk about everything, not only about tennis, but about all the other stuff around tennis.

Yes, unfortunately she was in quallies here. She's in quallies in Dubai. It's still not that we see each other that often, but it's better than before. Now we are in the same tournaments, but different hotels. So hopefully it can get even little bit better and we can see each other more often.

But like this, it's better than it was. Hopefully I can see her in Dubai. I didn't see her here because I came late and she left quite early.

But definitely she's going to Indian Wells, Miami, so there's going to be more chances to see her in the next few weeks.

Yeah, definitely about my tennis, I think my tennis improved so much in last year. I had some good matches last year. Obviously my best year so far, ending with this final of Grand Slam in US Open. Unfortunately lost to Angie, but still was a really good tournament for me. Since then I think I still improve little bit. I'm trying to improve my game.

I change coach, so few new things happen. I think everything is still, like I said, improving in my game. My movement actually is the worst part of the game, but still improving. Everything is going well so far.

Q. Back to the subject of Caroline Garcia. She has chosen to not play the Fed Cup this year. You are still a strong player, improving your game, like you say. At the same time you are a strong member of your national team. What do you think about her choice?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: About what?

Q. Her choice, to not play the Fed Cup any more.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, it's tough always to decide if to play or not. We played this time, we played home, which was much easier for me, you know, to play. So we didn't have to travel anywhere far. But still I came here pretty late.

I don't think it's a bad idea that she didn't play. Sometimes it can help you, but sometimes, like I said, it's difficult to put it in the schedule because there's lot of tournaments. Not always is the week of Fed Cup easy. You can have lot of matches, tough matches, and it can really took you some power away.

Yeah, I think both decisions are fine. Always there is something positive about it. But I think this week what I've played was good. I had two wins. But maybe it's also good to prepare for the tournament like she did.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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