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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 23, 2018Elina SvitolinaMelbourne, Victoria, Australia E. MERTENS/E. Svitolina 6-4, 6-0 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. What was your game plan for today's match? ELINA SVITOLINA: To play my game, you know, just as I always do. Today was very tough for me physically. I was not ready to produce a good level of tennis. You know, she's a great player, so, you know, she has a good level, so, you know, I couldn't match it, because, you know, physically it was very tough for me. Q. Can you put your finger on why you weren't ready? Just tired or... ELINA SVITOLINA: Going into the tournament, I had a few issues with my health. Yeah, it was very sad that today I was not feeling great. Q. You have obviously mentioned it, but can you just clarify if it's illness or injury? ELINA SVITOLINA: No, it's injury. Q. It's injury? Can you say what it is? ELINA SVITOLINA: It was my hip. Q. You were feeling that in Brisbane, as well, or during practice? ELINA SVITOLINA: No, I start to feel it actually after the final in Brisbane. Then it was getting worse and then was up and down. You know, I always had the tape, like, a heavy tape under the shorts. So, you know, sometimes, you know, it was fine, but today she's playing good level, so I had to push myself. She didn't give me opportunities. All the credit to her, because she played really good tennis and was only today, so I couldn't really match it. Q. Do you think you need to stay a little bit away from the tour to recover, or... ELINA SVITOLINA: Yeah. I will see what I have to do. Speak with my team. You know, I didn't speak with them. Of course we tried to do our best to prepare for the Grand Slam. It's not every day I'm playing quarterfinals, so, yeah, I had to give everything. Q. Is the feeling right now kind of bad luck, you know, having come in with good form and just to come up with the injury that didn't allow you to play your best tennis, or what's kind of the feeling? ELINA SVITOLINA: Of course it's tough that I couldn't, you know, to play my game. But it's like this. Yeah, probably unlucky a little bit. Q. You played her before in Istanbul. Have you seen something change in her game now? ELINA SVITOLINA: Of course, you know, she has confidence. She played great from the beginning of the year. But, you know, when I give her opportunities to play and to play a good level, then of course she gonna play. She gonna go for shots. She's in quarterfinal. Now she's in semifinal. Now she's not just a player that's up and down. She's quite consistent, and we can see this. Q. Quarterfinals is your best performance at Grand Slams here and I think overseas, as well. What do you feel like you have to go away and do now to be able to take that next step at a Grand Slam? ELINA SVITOLINA: Probably to be healthy. That's the goal (smiling). We are at this point that I couldn't now play my game, because my tennis is, like, so physical. So, you know, I have to be ready 100%. Q. How bad has the hip been? Has it been giving you trouble, like, in practice, that sort of thing, or just today? ELINA SVITOLINA: No, it's been there all the time. I had pain all the time. But with painkillers, it was fine. But now just... You know, she played great tennis. Long rallies. I couldn't push on the serve. Today the serve was very bad. I gave her this chance to play well, and she did it. Q. Besides the serve, which other shots was the hip troubling you with? ELINA SVITOLINA: Just -- yeah, sometimes it's because of when I'm returning. Rotation is making the pain worse and worse, and today was much worse than I expected. So, yeah, it's tough to say, you know. There is sometimes when I rotate too much, because tennis is, like, random shots you can hit, different ones. Sometimes more; sometimes less. Today was, yeah, she was playing really good, so, you know, she's just playing good and I was playing so bad and gave her all the opportunities to play well. Q. Right or left hip? ELINA SVITOLINA: Both. Ah, right. Q. Do you think she can make it till the end with that typical game? ELINA SVITOLINA: I don't know. It's tough to say, because there is good players in the other semifinal, as well. If she plays well, of course she has a chance. Q. You're clearly incredibly upset and understandably so about what's happened here. How do you possibly go away to process this now? ELINA SVITOLINA: We'll see. Maybe do the scan and then, you know, just break down everything in small pieces what I have to do and just see how bad is it. Yeah, recover. Q. I know you're not playing Fed Cup, but is there any plans to play tournaments before Doha/Dubai? ELINA SVITOLINA: Yeah, there is a plan to go to Taipei. We'll see. I need to sit down with my team and, yeah, just go from there. Q. Did it hurt so much this morning that you thought of withdrawing, or were you just going to see how it went through the match? ELINA SVITOLINA: No. Sometimes it goes away. With the painkillers it was up and down all the time, but at one particular motion, it could go and I could feel so much pain, so, you know, today was the day. Q. In Brisbane I think you had mentioned you had some kind of, even during the preseason, some kind of injury issues come up. Was this one of them that you were dealing with in the preseason? ELINA SVITOLINA: Yeah. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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