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NATURE VALLEY CLASSIC

June 23, 2018

Magdalena Rybarikova

Birmingham, England

M. RYBARIKOVA/B. Strycova

7-6, 6-4

MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Barbora said you guys are good friends. How difficult is it to play against somebody that you know very well, both the game and the person?
MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA: Yeah, we are really good friends. When you go on court, you don't focus on that. You just focus on yourself and on the game and not killing each other. You don't do anything back to each other. So she's a really good girl and we talked normal after the match, so this is very good. The friendship is quite important on tour.

Q. It was a tight first set. Talk us through how the momentum switched to her and then obviously you closed it out.
MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA: Yeah, I was leading her 3-1, but I knew it was going to be difficult because Barbora is such a huge fighter and returning quite well. I didn't help too much with the serves. I knew it was going to be difficult and I have to focus on my serve, but I lost the serve. I knew again it was going to be difficult to close the set, as well for her. She was 5-4, 30-love and I played a couple of good points. Then the in tiebreak I think she did quite a few mistakes. That helped me a lot. When I won the first set, I was really believing I would win this match. Then again she had a break up and I was still fighting and still believing I can win it and I won that one.

Q. How much of a relief is it to finally beat her after losing several matches in a row?
MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA: Well, I think we've played first time on grass, so maybe I'm little bit more confident to play her on grass than maybe clay or maybe hard court, because grass is my favorite surface. But she's great player on grass also. She has great results on grass. She's super skillful. She's very talented. So I knew it was going to be difficult. And I had nothing to lose. I said to myself, okay, now is maybe the time to beat her. I knew it was going to be tough one. At the end it was tough one. So I'm very pleased the way I was playing today.

Q. Were you doing anything differently this time?
MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA: I wouldn't say so. I would say maybe I was returning quite well today. So I put a lot of balls back and maybe she wasn't helping with the serve that much like before with our matches. But the thing is that we played last time in Linz, we were both super tired. It was like in the final and I was a little bit injured and she was also kind of. So it was little bit weird match. But then I played her in Tokyo and I lost 7-6, 7-6. So it was very close matches. It could go either way. But I'm very happy that today was on my side.

Q. On the grass, you move very well on it. You look very sure on your feet compared to a lot of other players. What do you think that is? How different is it for you to move on grass compared to moving on clay or hard court?
MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA: Maybe I'm just lucky that I move quite well on hard court and also on clay, especially with my height. A lot of players with my height don't move that well, so that helped me for sure. I think sometimes I read it well, so I'm there before the point ends. So maybe I'm just quite lucky. Especially I'm trying to be also careful on grass because one time I had a very nasty injury against Azarenka. Since then I'm always thinking about it because it was like a momentum, very quick. I was three months out. Grass is very difficult. You have to be careful. That's what I'm doing. But sometimes during the match, like, yesterday I fell, but it was okay. It was nothing bad. But you have to be really careful.

Q. You said last week you were frustrated with the results. You didn't make the adjustments last week from Nottingham. What did you learn from that week in terms of, Well, I'm not playing grass court tennis, maybe I'm still maybe one foot on the clay?
MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA: Well, yeah, last year was different because I only played Roland Garros on clay and I do not adjust that fast obviously. I was playing ITF tournament in Japan. I didn't even know what was the surface. It was kind of grass, but synthetic grass or something, but it's more similar than clay. Then I played hard court which is more similar obviously than clay. In Nottingham, I didn't feel that well. I didn't feel still my game on grass. I was playing little bit more clay court still. When I came here, the first practice was really good. It was much better. Maybe here it's also bouncing a little bit lower than in Nottingham. I felt since the beginning good on grass. I mean, the first match, that was amazing match for me, to beat Karolina. It gave me a lot of confidence. I beat her quite easy. So then I started to believe it could be a good tournament for me.

Q. The Wimbledon semifinal last year was your biggest result ever in terms of your ranking points for sure. Does it feel good to get a lot of points here to have them in the bank to take a little pressure off Wimbledon?
MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA: Definitely that helps I guess. But I think I was doing quite okay also. Before I had after fourth round of Australia, third round of Roland Garros, I did some quarterfinals. It wouldn't be that bad. I wouldn't drop out of 200 or something. I would drop down around to 50 or something, not that bad. But for sure it helps even more and it's great for me. Maybe I can be a little bit more relaxed in Wimbledon. But still, you know, I would like to do good result there. I would like to play obviously, I don't want to say like last year, but I would like to play well and have good matches. And you never know, we'll see. I just have to somehow believe.

Q. You play Petra in the final. Thoughts about facing her in her current form.
MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA: Well, Petra is really one of my best friends also on tour. She's really amazing girl. We know each other so long. It's going to be quite funny to play her. The funny thing is that we played against each other only in semifinals or finals. So that's pretty funny. I only managed to win one. So, yeah, Petra, when she's on fire, you can go shake her hand and say, Okay, I just want to leave from here. She plays absolutely amazing. For me, Petra is one of the best players when she is playing really on fire. So we will see how it's going to be her day tomorrow. Hopefully she is not going to be on fire. But if she is, then for me it's a great tournament. I will try my best. During practice we played here today. It was quite okay. But, you know, during the match, it's going to be something totally different. Like I said, she's a really great player and she's the favorite of this match.

Q. It will be your second semifinal and against Kvitova. Would you say this is one of the biggest matches of your career?
MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA: Definitely not. I would say the biggest match of my career was semifinal of Grand Slam. It's a kind of funny thing because this is my second premiere and the final I played against her in New Haven. So that's a funny thing. I was little bit injured that time I have to say (laughing). But, yeah, I mean, as I said, it's great match for me. It's great to be in the final. So I guess I can be relaxed. We'll see what's going to be on the court. Hopefully it's going to be a good match for the crowd and we going to enjoy it.

Q. You've had a couple places in your career where you've had success, here and Washington. What makes for a happy place for you and your tennis?
MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA: You mean like a tournament?

Q. Is there something in common where you come year after year and sort of have repeated success?
MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA: Well, I think here it's most because of grass. I really love to play on grass and I feel so good and comfortable on grass. I just love all the tournaments on grass. Like I said before, I also like this tournament. Everything is great here. So Washington I won twice in a row and I think I lost twice in the first round. But so also a very nice tournaments and great place to be and I like kind of stuff about the tournament. Maybe it's because of memories that comes to your head, how great it was before. But, you know, for sure I have some tournaments where I never played well and it's like I keep going still in some tournaments. But, yeah, I mean, I guess you have to enjoy every tournament because we are on such a high level and we're really spoiled with the tournaments so we have to appreciate these kinds of things.

Q. And you talk about Petra, who are the other players -- I presume that's kind of how people in the locker room see her across the board. Who are the other players that have that aura, that if you walk out there and they're playing at their top level, you know it's going to be a very, very, very tough day?
MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA: Well, Serena obviously, that's kind of very similar. Then Wozniacki for me is quite difficult. I think I beat her only once and obviously she's a great player. I played her in the Australian Open and she was playing amazing tennis. She won the Grand Slam. She's also one of the toughest opponents. I don't know. I don't know who would I pick. But this is kind of known about Petra. I think a lot of players would agree with me. I'm really happy for her, that she's doing well, what she has done. She had very tough moments before. I'm happy for her. She's a great girl and she deserve it, definitely

Q. Do you think there's a reason why so many Czech and Slovak players are good on grass?
MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA: Well, I mean this is true, too, also, I think Navratilova. That's true.

Q. Novotna?
MAGDALENA RYBARIKOVA: Novotna, that's true. That's good question. I don't know. I think from Slovakia, also, I mean, Hantuchova was playing very well on grass, definitely. Dominika Cibulkova on any surface definitely. To be honest, I have no idea why it's like that, but it definitely fits to my game. It's kind of obvious the way I play my game, it really fits on grass so for me, it works well. But I don't know, maybe some genes in that area, but I don't know (laughing).

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