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U.S. OPEN

September 4, 2017

Karolina Pliskova

New York, NY, USA

K. PLISKOVA/J. Brady

6-1, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How do you feel? Pretty good?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah (smiling). Yeah. I was just saying, like, my first good match, actually. I think one of the best, even this year. The opponent was not the best today. Definitely she can play better than she was playing today. I think she was kind of nervous, and also, with the shadow, I think she just didn't feel well.

That's nothing change on my game today, so I was feeling great.

Q. What was the difference today compared to your first three matches? Did you feel different walking out on court today?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I would say the first match was okay. Was not definitely the best, but was okay. The other two were a little bit shaky. Especially the last one where I was playing before yesterday was -- I think because of this match I felt like this today, that I went through this one.

Sometimes you just need to have some of those matches where you can just really get through it. You don't even know why, but the game improve so much. So I didn't change anything. I didn't even practice yesterday. So there is nothing really what I did different. But I just felt much better.

Q. Were you aware of how quickly things were going?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yes (smiling). Yes. I felt like even -- I felt like it's even faster than it was the time on the board there.

Yeah, I felt like I had a chance even in those two games what I lost, so, yeah -- did I lose two? One? Yeah, like I said, she didn't play well. I was just trying to, you know, stay in my zone as long as I can and didn't wait for the moment where she can maybe get back in the match, but that didn't happen.

Q. Of course we don't know the results of the next match that will determine your next opponent, but if it's CoCo, given the tough matches you have had with her, what do you think the key to a match with her would be?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: First of all, I'm not sure about her, if she's going to win today's match. But I just saw a little bit of her playing against Radwanska. I think she was playing very well, this match.

I guess she just loves the crowd and the big stage, so she's going to always play well here on center court.

It will be tough. I played her last time in Stuttgart, I think, so it was clay, a little bit different story. Obviously she has a big serve.

Different match or opposite matches what I had so far this tournament, so it was not many girls which are playing that fast and with that serve and that speed.

I have to prepare. I have a day off tomorrow again, so I will just prepare for it.

Q. What are the biggest similarities and differences in your game and hers?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, obviously I think it's the speed of the shots, but otherwise, I would not really put me and her together (smiling). Like not even personally.

Like with the game, like, we both have the plan to play aggressive, but I think she's a little bit -- not messy sometimes, but she's just going for her shots. Even if she just miss like five meters out, she doesn't care, so it's different. It's not my game style.

Q. Last year you saved match point obviously against Venus and went on to make the finals here. Another match point saved being possibly a good omen?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: It's a good sign to save match point. No, it's always -- I think in every tournament there is somebody who is going to save a match point almost.

And like I said, it's just good sign if you can get through this match, and then you can, you know, feel much better. Even though I was not playing well the first three matches, I just felt great today. Definitely gave me a lot of confidence that I got through this one.

Hopefully I'm going to feel much better and much, you know, like enjoying the tennis what I was doing today. So I was not really enjoying myself the first three matches. I'd like to start to enjoy a little bit more.

Q. If it's not CoCo and it's Lucie, what would you expect from a match like that?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I just talked to her in the locker room. We played so many times already, few times last year. This year I think we didn't meet yet. Lefty, so definitely she's going to be tough.

When she's winning, she's playing always quite high quality of tennis. She's playing fast. She can serve pretty well.

But I believe I always get a chance against her on the serve if I serve well. Just better for me.

But it's gonna be different story. She's from Czech, so there will be different kinds of pressure and emotions in that match. But let's wait who's gonna win.

Q. How much do you take out of the French Open run? Because there, if you recall, you were quite frustrated every day with how you were playing and you were scrapping your way through it and ended up playing a great match in the semifinals and finding your best level there. How much did you learn from that tournament? Do you think that applies to your summer and this tournament, as well? Just kind of the game will come?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, with me, it's tough. I'm frustrated almost every tournament, almost every match. Even on good matches, I still find something what was negative and what was wrong.

But I will try to learn, you know, from all those matches what I'm playing. Even though I'm not playing well, even though I maybe lose the matches, I will try to learn and take the good things to the next one.

And obviously, the French Open run I had when I was not feeling great, as well, but a little bit different than here, because obviously clay is not my best surface, but here I felt like I can really play well.

I played well in last year's. But in Paris, I didn't play well, so I didn't have the expectation what I had here. Actually, with my team, with David, we were talking about French Open that I was not playing well and I got to semis.

So it's a little bit similar here, but, yeah, I think I played my match there in quarterfinal against Caro. So I started to play better here in fourth round.

Q. Can you take a moment and just talk about what a player goes through when they are match point down? What goes through your head? What do you say, knowing so much is on the line?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, you don't have that much time, you know. There is 20 seconds, 30 seconds between the points. I just -- you know, the main thing is just to have some plan, and on this match point when I was down, I really had a plan. I just wanted to be aggressive as I knew I'm not that aggressive in that match.

So I just thought that this is my last chance and I thought, like, I'm going to go for it and it paid off. And the match, by this point, I think start to feel much better. She started to do mistakes. It can change quickly.

Q. Talk about that frustration, feeling every week you're maybe not the best you can be. Would you consider yourself a perfectionist? Is that something that held you back earlier in your career?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, a little bit, but I'm not always like 100% in my practices and those kind of things. It's a little bit different. It's not like perfectionist. I would not call it like that. I just always find the bad things, you know, on everything (smiling). That's how it is. I don't think there was that many bad things today, so that's positive, actually.

Hopefully, like I said, I'm going to enjoy more the next matches what I'm going to play here.

Q. What feeling have you had about Petra's comeback which was sort of climaxed last night when she beat Muguruza?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: For me, no feeling about this. But obviously I was watching a little bit on TV after my dinner when we came back. I saw a few games. I think she was playing very well, Petra, as she can play, still.

But obviously it's tough, I think, even for GarbiÃ±e, on the other hand, that Petra didn't play well for last few matches when she came back. I think, like, she felt like she's going to play a little bit worse, but she's still a big player, Petra, so she can play those big matches like she played yesterday.

Night session is a perfect time for her. I think she was just much better in that match and GarbiÃ±e was not her best. I think the games also doesn't go that well together. Yeah, I think important win for Petra.

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