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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 9, 2018

Dominika Cibulkova

Wimbledon, London, England

D. CIBULKOVA/Hsieh Su-Wei

6-4, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you talk a little bit why you think it's all coming together here.
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, you know, sometimes you don't know when it's coming. As I said before the previous matches, you know, I was really training well, working hard in last few months. I was just waiting for actually really this one tournament that all the things going to start to come together.

Yeah, it's just here. I think it's because, you know, I was doing the right things. I'm really happy it's happening here in Wimbledon.

Q. The top 10 seeds are now all gone, which means that people are going to be getting familiar with many more players, including you. How would you describe yourself as a person and a player?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Well, that's tough question.

I think a lot of tennis fans know, if they are really tennis fans, my game. They saw me playing before. I really like to play aggressive. I just use my energy on the court. Yeah, no, I like to play on the big stages.

Q. Two weeks ago you were upset that Serena Williams was seeded and you weren't, despite her having a lower ranking than you. She is playing really well this Wimbledon. Seeing her play so well, do you now think her being seeded represents a step forward for women and mothers in tennis?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I'm not going to comment this any more. This question I've been asked so many times this week, last week. I just don't want to talk about it any more, about the seeding thing. It's over. It was over one week ago for me, so I don't want to talk about it any more.

Q. Through the first week, today you got broken a little bit, but overall you've been serving very well in the tournament. What do you think that is? Just hitting buckets of balls before the tournament?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, my serve is always the toughest part for me during the match. Always something I can really struggle with, even I practice my serve as I do my forehand, backhand, even more sometimes.

For me, it's a lot about the timing. If I get nervous, I'm missing the timing, I cannot get back into the good rhythm in the serve.

I had the best serve against Konta, really unbelievable match for me, for my serve. This particular match, I think I got broken many times because I had a low percentage in the first set, and she's really returning well. I think her best shot is return. I knew it before. It didn't make me nervous. I knew I can break her serve every time when I will be focused and playing well. So I was calm.

Q. There have been so many upsets, all the top-10 seeds are out. What do you think this year has caused that?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I don't know. Just sometimes it can happen. I think it's showing that all the girls, top 10, top 50, top 100, the tennis is really, really even. The girls are playing well. I think if you just relax for maybe a little bit, it's really close, all the matches.

I think you have to play on a high level to win first rounds. I think it's happening also for the best players right now. I think that's why this is happening.

Q. During the first set, probably one of the longest disputes over a point that I've ever seen. Can you say how you saw it?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: This is another thing I really don't want to talk about because I would get really upset and angry about that, because it was ridiculous what happened there. It never happened to me in my career that this would happen. Just a player is complaining. Sometimes I'm also complaining because I think it was a wrong call.

But it never happened to me that the umpire changed the decision. It was really ridiculous for me. I think it was really bad decision from the supervisor and from the umpire.

Q. They did seem to change their mind.
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yes, they changed their mind. The umpire told me she don't remember what happened after the ball.

Is it my fault you don't remember if she hit the net or if she put it on my side?

It doesn't matter. The call was after when she played the ball. She made a decision. After she was complaining, they were talking in Chinese, whatever language, I don't know. It was all wrong I think. It really messed with me for two balls, then I tried to just calm down, to play my game.

Q. Do you think the right decision was arrived at in the end?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: The right decision was, of course, to keep the decision. I mean, how many times it's happening that a chair umpire is changing the decision?

I think there should be, like, maybe one rule for this because you never know what's going to happen. It's only about the chair umpire, what he thinks on his mind. Sometimes they can be wrong or right.

Even if they are wrong or right, they are not going to change. I'm just talking it was not right to change the decision that she made.

Q. It's not the first time you've done well here. What about the surface brings the best out in your game? How does that work for you?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, I love to play on grass because the balls, they are jumping pretty low. That can be my advantage. On the other hand, I'm not a big server, but I return really well. That's one of my favorite shots.

Here I just feel like, even I play against big servers, I feel like I can return better here. I don't know why it is. The second serve sometimes when I play on the clay or on the hard court, the kicks, when it's really high, for me it's hard to return. Here it's just not jumping so high.

Maybe these small details, they are coming together for me, and that's why I can play so well on the grass.

Q. You seem so focused in moments of pause during matches. What is your approach during changeovers, mentally and physically?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: This is something I'm really working on through my whole career. I'm working on my focus because I think you are winning the match in this breaks. When you have time to think, this is sometimes the most important -- not sometimes, but for me most of the time is the most important thing, what I put in my head, how I feel before the ball.

That's why I try to stay really focused and put the right things, the positive things, in my head. If it will be that easy, then I would be playing well all the time.

When I get in this mood, when I do it, this is when I can play my best tennis.

Q. What do you tell yourself? Anything specific that helps keep you focused and calm?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Sometimes I need to not get calm, but to do opposite. I pump myself a lot. It just brings my thoughts on the right thing, to be aggressive, to go for the shot. I play aggressive tennis. I need to be, like, Okay, I'm going for it.

Q. Do you want to talk about Ostapenko? Very young, strong.
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, you know, I've played her before. She won a Grand Slam, so she been on the big stages before. She won a Grand Slam, so she know what it takes.

Yeah, you never know what to expect from her. In this tournament, she seems to be in the right mood. Yeah, she's playing aggressive. She's playing with no fear. She just going for it. I think it's going to be a match with a lot of rallies, aggressive rallies, a lot of winners.

Q. I understand you were pretty upset about that, you didn't do anything wrong, it was the umpire's mistake. Did you have some sympathy for your opponent because she hit the ball back? If that had been you, surely you would have been just as outraged.
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: No.

Q. She didn't do anything wrong.
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I was not upset with her. I was upset with the chair umpire.

Q. You can understand why...
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: This happened to me so many times that I had exact the same point, and the point was given to the other player. I had no sympathy because it's just about the chair umpire. It happened to me many times.

I'm a fair player. When I feel like this is something that should not happen, I would be maybe sympathy with her. For my opinion, this was not right what they do, what they did.

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