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U.S. OPEN

August 30, 2017

Svetlana Kuznetsova

New York, NY, USA

S. KUZNETSOVA/M. Vondrousova

4-6, 6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Could you tell us what's going on with your left wrist because you had a lot of treatment on it during the match, a lot of ice wrapped around it.
SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: Well, I just had one time. Sometimes I have many treatments, really many. I did not have. For me it's really unusual to call physio. I never call it. So it was a bit weird.

I felt that it would be pain on the wrist, it was really painful to play backhands. Then physio came and taped my wrist, and I took a pill, like ibuprofen or whatever it was, whatever doctor gave me.

Next changeover, I still felt like I need more support. In few games, the pain went away because I guess the pill started to work. So far I think it's a little bit inflamed. I just put ice. I will evaluate it later.

Q. Is that the first time your wrist has hurt?
SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: Yes.

Q. That was a close match you played today. How did it feel to win that tiebreaker?
SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: To save three match points, I think it was crazy. Especially I was another day in the locker room talking to Petkovic, yesterday, and I was saying I played Osaka in China last year, I won, I was facing match points.

She said, Yeah, you always have these kind of matches.

I'm like, No, no, no. I just had this one.

She said, No, Riske, this year.

I said, Yeah, that's it.

It's typical. When these talks, that's what happen to you. It was a tough one. I'm happy I survive. But I'm definitely not happy with my performance today.

Q. You said nerves played a big part in this match, it might have affected your performance. You said at the French Open you were not quite happy the way you played. You were quite nervy at the slams. Anything that makes you feel nervy, anything about this year, or is it just...
SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: I guess it's not something about the year. I guess it's just different tournament, different times. You face different situations.

Like in Wimbledon, normally I don't expect anything. I'm not thinking about much. But this year I felt so good at Wimbledon. I enjoyed it so much. I played some great matches. Normally this is what happens to me here and French.

But here first one is rough, and I hope tomorrow will be better.

Q. She's very young, has had a really good couple of months. What do you make of her game and maybe her potential?
SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: I mean, you know, definitely I saw her cramping in the end. I thought she's 19 or 18, and I'm 32. I was sore a little bit, but not that much.

Definitely she has lots of potential, lots of work ahead of her. But only time will tell us how it will go through because there is so many girls with potential who can do well, and only few becomes really champion. So it's a lot of work ahead.

Q. How difficult is it to regroup for tomorrow, after waiting part of the day yesterday, having such a tough match? What will you do between now and the match tomorrow?
SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: You know, yesterday was not so long for me. I was so relaxed. I came to the locker room and I slept a couple hours. When I woke up, it still was raining. I said, Okay. Then they cancel the matches. I went to do some workout in the gym, I head back to the hotel.

Today I came. I didn't wait a lot. My matches before was very quick.

Yeah, I mean, today was very long, very physically tough match. This is going to be only one issue for tomorrow. But I didn't feel like that tired. I felt more nerves, which got me tired, my body, and tense. But I don't feel physically tired. So I'm looking forward. I will see for tomorrow, but I'll try to relax as more as I can.

Q. With Sharapova back in with the wild card, there's been a lot of talk about doping, whether the field is clean or not. Where do you think we're at with that?
SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: I mean, I've been asked this question 20 times. It's really hard to give a clear opinion.

There is, I think, first of all, different doping cases. You can take steroid, take some other ones or do mistakes. I've been always supportive to Maria about that one. She did her time. I think now it has to be over, the talk. She can just concentrate and play. For her it's been tough. She paid her mistake. Now it's time to play.

And it's great to have her back because, you know, the tennis misses her. Tournament directors, people around, they would love to watch her play. You can see after her first match how the crowd welcomed her back.

So, I mean, it's great for the tennis. It will be silly to not let her play after some mistake, especially she did one and a half years.

Q. Do you feel conditions here are playing quickly this year? Do you feel it's slower? How do you feel it's playing after one match where it was pretty warm?
SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: It's very hard to say. People always try to say something, fast or quick. I never can judge. Especially it's not like I played here one year ago, and I haven't played any tournaments, now I can compare. I played every week. Maybe I'm slower, faster, I don't know. Just take it as it comes and let's see.

Especially all the courts play differently, you know.

Q. Did you watch the Halep-Sharapova match?
SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: Yeah.

Q. What did you think of it?
SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA: I think Maria just went for it. She went full power. She played great. Simona's serve was not there. I felt so sorry for her because she fought as much as she could, but it was not her best day, and Maria played amazing.

You can see in Maria, like, how much she was willing to play and how much she missed that sport. Like, she gave everything. So it's really hard match by match after such a long break to play back-to-back, you know.

I think Simona played a little bit too short overall. But both fought very hard. It was nice to see emotions of Maria in end, to see how much it's important for her, because normally she's quite discreet on everything.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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