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U.S. OPEN

September 3, 2018

Lesia Tsurenko

New York, NY, USA

L. TSURENKO/M. Vondrousova

6-7, 7-5, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How are you feeling now?
LESIA TSURENKO: I'm feeling much better. I feel much better. I've been into the ice bath. I think it was some type of heat illness or something like that. I have to say that I've never felt so bad on court. This was something new for me. I usually handle any kind of weather without any problem. But today was one of the toughest matches in my life.

Q. What did it feel like?
LESIA TSURENKO: The worst for me is that I cannot control my body, so I start to do some easy mistakes. At some point I just thought that it's over for me for today.

But then at the beginning of the second set, I could feel like a breeze, like a little wind, and it was cooler. Then I saw the shade, and I thought, Okay, I will try. I give myself some hope.

I think the good thing that I decide to keep fighting, and then I was feeling better and better, and I came back to the match.

Q. Were you close to quitting at one point?
LESIA TSURENKO: Yes.

Q. Do you remember when?
LESIA TSURENKO: I think 1-Love in the second set.

Q. Did you prepare for these kind of conditions? Did you do the same regimen today?
LESIA TSURENKO: Yes, yes. I don't know why, but from the beginning of the match, from the moment when I went on court, I thought, like, Wow, it's so hot. But I think first day when I played my first-round match, it was much hotter. I don't know why I had so much trouble today. I don't know.

Q. Did you feel sick or you were cramping?
LESIA TSURENKO: No, no cramps. Just really dizzy.

Q. Marketa said she thought it was an act, because you were playing normal, then you came out really strong. How do you respond to that?
LESIA TSURENKO: She said it was what?

Q. That you were acting.
LESIA TSURENKO: Oh. I don't know what to say. No, it wasn't, unfortunately.

Q. How proud are you of yourself for surviving that match?
LESIA TSURENKO: Yes, I'm proud of myself. I didn't expect that. As a tennis player, I know that we play in different type of conditions. Sometimes it goes like this. You need to survive.

Q. When the medical team was out in the first set with you, what were they saying? Any concern they had if you kept playing?
LESIA TSURENKO: The physio asked me few times if I want to stop. She saw that I cannot breathe well. She said something wrong that my eyes were -- I don't know what she said exactly, but something wrong with my eyes. She thought I cannot play. She ask me a few times if I want to stop.

Q. She took your temperature or blood pressure?
LESIA TSURENKO: Yeah, probably the temperature was quite high, but blood pressure was good. I don't know. I had medical timeout just for cooling down. They tried to cool my body down. But I did it myself. I don't know why I had this problem today. Every changeover since the beginning of the match, I did everything necessary for being good on court.

Q. How did this heat compare to last week? Is this the hottest you ever played in today?
LESIA TSURENKO: No, no, I don't think so. That's why I'm even more surprised. I played here on Tuesday, was much hotter. I played Acapulco many times. Acapulco is much hotter. It's even higher humidity.

Q. Fourth round of the French, now your best slam result ever. Do you feel like you're playing the best tennis of your career? What has made the difference for you at these big tournaments?
LESIA TSURENKO: I feel that I play more confident, I play more calm, and I feel that I have, like, a good spirit now. I'm ready to fight. I'm ready for any kind of challenge on court.

Q. There was someone in the crowd yelling, Who is the best? Did you hear it?
LESIA TSURENKO: Yeah, I heard it. I heard it many times. I wanted to say, No, no, no, you are the best today. Not me, you.

Q. Talk about the next matchup. How much do you know about your next opponent?
LESIA TSURENKO: We played once, but many years ago, I think in some small tournament in Mexico, and she beat me. I was impressed with her serve and forehand. Nothing really change in her game. She's just more consistent and even more powerful now.

I think she likes to play on hard courts. She likes to attack all the time. I'm playing a little different style of tennis, so we'll see.

Q. How do you feel now? Are you feeling totally normal right now? Then tomorrow, what will you do? Will you take it easy, further recovery?
LESIA TSURENKO: Between matches, these days off, they look kind of similar. Some easy session on court, 45 minutes, maybe one hour, not more.

I'm always try to focus on serve and return because I think they are important in the match. Drinking, eating, more of the ice bath, just normal stuff. Nothing special. Sleeping well, for sure.

Q. Would you have stopped if it wasn't fourth round of a Grand Slam?
LESIA TSURENKO: I think it was one of the reasons why I didn't stop. The second one was, yeah, I saw the shade. I was speaking to the court, I was speaking to the God, I said, Move, move faster, please.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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