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AEGON INTERNATIONAL

June 26, 2017

Dominika Cibulkova

Eastbourne, England

H. WATSON/D. Cibulkova

7-5, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How hard is it playing against an opponent and about 4,000 spectators?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: It was okay. I didn't really pay attention to the crowd, and of course she's home. So they were on her side.

Yeah, she was playing really, really well today. She was serving especially good. I made some mistakes. I was trying to go for it, you know, and I was trying to be aggressive and play my game.

She was just picking up the balls really well and defending. It was just not a good day for me today, and she was serving really, really well today. I need to give her credit for the serve. And the rest, it was all in my hands.

Q. Are you fully fit since the wrist injury and everything like that? I mean, physically, is everything...
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, I mean, physically I'm fine. I just need some matches to get into, because now I lost few matches in a row, and it's not easy for confidence.

It's not about physically. It's more about to be more confident or to get some matches on my side, and it will be a different story. Because right now it feels like the situations go against me in the match, and it just doesn't go my way.

Q. Are you one that looks back on results or do you look forward, and now you have Wimbledon coming up with a clean slate?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I mean, you cannot do much, just to do your job, you know. I cannot say, Okay, I don't feel good, I don't feel good on the court, and now I will just not play for three months.

You know, it's not like that. I'm still trying to fight it, and I'm doing everything I can, practicing and working on the things I have to.

I'm just waiting for the moment it's going to turn around for me in one or two matches and it's going to come back. That's tennis.

Q. How are the practices right now? Is everything going the way that you want them to go in practice and it's just a matter of the confidence to execute it in a match?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I would say so. I would say so, because I felt really good here, also, practicing. Also the week before in Birmingham, we played such a great match against Safarova and I had two match points.

These are the things, you know. I lost that match, and here I was playing quite okay, just didn't do the right things in the right time and I lost another match.

That's the way it goes. So, you know, I'm still trying to stay of course stay positive and work hard. It's going to come, you know. I was in this situation before, and this is the only way how to deal with it.

Q. You looked like you were going to able to come back in the second set, the point at 30-15, forehand drive up the middle? Do you feel like that was maybe a big moment?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah. You know, it was -- you know, this is something that just happen, you know. I had ball right here and I was going 400% in the middle because everybody is stepping the side.

She stayed in the middle, you know. You can say I was unlucky or I could go to the forehand, to the backhand, but I choose to go in the middle because that's how I sometimes play that way and she was just there.

No, at that game I felt like it was my game, and in the end I lost it. These are the little things that need to go on my side, these chances. And I felt like she gave me a chance to come back in the second set. I felt that, and I knew, okay, it's going to be on her now to finish the match, and she gave me the chance and I took the chance and it was 5-4, my serve, and, yeah, I lost it again.

Q. Seems like you're sort of happy with how you're playing at the moment. Is it just you're waiting for the break in the game?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, I mean, I could serve better, because the serve was something that was not 100% today, and, you know, my groundstrokes, I was playing what I had to play. I was playing aggressive, I was going for it. And just sometimes I made wrong decision or I was playing to the wrong side or I missed a few very easy shots that should go my way.

You know, in a match like this, this is just the difference, you know. The small differences, the small details makes -- of course it's about the confidence, and I have to say she was playing pretty well today, but I was expecting her to play well.

Q. Is it a good thing that Wimbledon is now...
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I mean, yeah, it's a fact. Yeah, it's here. It's going to be here in one week. And I love playing on grass. I really love it. I just try to get as many matches as I could, and unfortunately, it was just one right now.

Yeah, you know, there is another week of practicing, so it's not that easy, you know, because right now I had a lot of trainings, and I want to play matches and matches, and that's what I need.

But it's now going to be the situation I'm going to practice for another few days, and Wimbledon is coming. I'm really looking forward for it.

Q. A lot of times players -- and maybe people on the outside looking at it think that you guys are in control of everything all the time on the court, but do you think it's underestimated a little bit how small the margins are? Like last year there were a lot of those three-set matches that you were winning, saving match points and very tight matches that were going your way. Sounds like you feel this year they are going a little bit the other way.
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yes.

Q. Do you think that's an underrated aspect of the sport or that little piece of luck?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I don't know. I mean, it's hard to say, because this year there was a lot of matches that I knew I could do better, I should have been more brave, and I should have gone more for it, you know, like I did it last year, and I didn't. And these kind of matches, I felt like I could do better, you know.

But right now I'm in the situation that in the right moment I needed, you know, one, two points to be confident and be like, Okay, I'm going for it, and the ball just going...

Yeah, this year I had different kind of matches. I lost matches I could win, and I knew I did wrong because I wasn't enough strong and I wasn't enough going for it like last year.

And matches like this right now, when the opponent is playing really well, it's just really about -- yeah, today I felt a bit unlucky, but yeah, that's the way it is. Sometimes you up and down, but I'm sure I will find my way.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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