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U.S. OPEN

August 28, 2018

Petra Kvitova

New York, NY, USA

P. KVITOVA/Y. Wickmayer

6-1, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Obviously, it's a tough first-round match and you got through it quite easily. Great way to start this campaign?
PETRA KVITOVA: Well, I think the score just looks easier than the match, probably. We both played great. We were, like, pretty aggressive from both sides. It was really about the kind of missing one easy shot.

I just felt good from the beginning when I played really good game. I took her serve, and I think that's help me a lot to win the first set.

But in the second, she came back. She took my serve. I didn't really play that great probably, and the chance from her serve came, which I was very pleased, obviously. And I took it, and that was really important for me to stay mentally in that match.

I really tried hard not to play the third one in this kind of heat (smiling).

Definitely was a great first match. She played semis here one year, so for sure she loves to play here.

Q. Great results this year coming into the tournament, I know I think it was a shoulder injury coming in, but are you feeling right now really ready for a long haul, for the long run here?
PETRA KVITOVA: We'll see how my body will handle everything. Hopefully I will not fall apart a bit.

Mentally I'm ready. That's important. We'll see what the body will do. Yeah, in the last couple of years, I think I kind of formed a love for New York City, so hopefully will be same this year.

And, yeah, the first rounds are always like the worst for me. Today was a great one. So hopefully I gonna continue in the good performance.

Q. You mentioned the heat. I know you sometimes had trouble before in the heat and the humidity.
PETRA KVITOVA: I still do (smiling).

Q. How was it today? How did you find it?
PETRA KVITOVA: I think I was pretty lucky to play first on today, definitely. I knew it's going to be very hot, but I couldn't imagine how horrible the heat was in, so it was pretty difficult conditions.

Luckily, as I said, didn't play third one, but from the beginning was okay. But, of course, when we played longer, it was hotter and hotter and was tougher.

Yeah, the ice towels helped a lot, of course. When you are playing, you are not just really thinking about it. But when you stop for a while, then you feel the heat like from the ground, as well.

Yeah, it was the humidity, as well, was there. We didn't really play, like, long rallies. I think that was kind of helpful.

Q. Did you take any extra precautions before the match to maybe get yourself as ready as possible for this heat? Late in the second set, did you feel a little extra pressure to try to get it done in two?
PETRA KVITOVA: Well, I didn't really do anything special or anything. Just drink a lot of water, as always. But it wasn't really the case of the heat.

And I didn't feel the pressure in the second, but, of course, when I was down and I was thinking, Great, okay, I have 10 minutes before the third set, it's fine. Hopefully will help me.

But then when I hold my serve on the 2-4, break her, then, of course, the mind was a little bit setting differently. Then I was really fighting to make it in two.

Q. Are you still doing the thing where you don't come to the site on off days in New York?
PETRA KVITOVA: Well, I think we gonna do that, yeah (smiling).

Q. Is that the biggest, I guess, schedule or adjustments to how you approach New York the last couple of years?
PETRA KVITOVA: But I have been here yesterday.

Q. Okay.
PETRA KVITOVA: Yeah, I think it's big improve.

Q. I'm not saying you're lazy.
PETRA KVITOVA: Well, you never know. I mean, of course, if I feel weird or I need to practice something, I come and work on it. But I don't think it was something really special that I couldn't play today. My body, of course, it's just a lot of matches this season. I do feel it.

So it's a bit tired. And I think that one day off will help myself to kind of recover.

Q. Along those same lines, have you always stayed in Manhattan when you come and play this tournament, or had you ever thought of staying in another borough or on Long Island?
PETRA KVITOVA: Actually I always stayed in Manhattan, but last couple of year we are in the hotel which is just next to Central Park. That's probably feeling a bit different, not like Manhattan, but you do have, like, a quiet place next to hotel, so it doesn't feel that crowded for me over there.

Q. Have you ever heard of players who don't stay in Manhattan or is it pretty much everybody is in the city?
PETRA KVITOVA: Well, actually, I didn't ask them that much, but I think some of them are really staying nearby the courts. Because from Manhattan, it's a pretty long drive. But I do think they have like apartments or something like that.

I don't know. I like to go outside for dinner or to restaurants, to go shopping, kind of this stuff. So I prefer stay there.

Q. You said after Wimbledon, after you lost there, that you blamed nerves. You felt nervous there and you thought it was a problem you were having at Grand Slam tournaments. You felt better at other events. Is that something you thought about a lot since Wimbledon? Is there anything you did before arriving here so the same would not happen again?
PETRA KVITOVA: Well, of course that you are thinking about, but Wimbledon was just kind of disaster for myself. But, you know, always when you're lost, you are trying to learn something from it, and of course it's not that easy.

But luckily I played good in the tournaments before, so I think the pressure kind of fell down a bit. I know it's not the strongest part of the year and still I played good tennis. I think that's maybe it can help, help me to kind of play a little bit free here.

But of course that as a seeded player, the pressure is always there. So far I had a great season, so of course that everyone is watching, but I don't really feel it, like, here. Maybe I did a bit in Wimbledon, but not straight here.

Q. You play Wang Yafan. You played her a couple of years ago in Asia.
PETRA KVITOVA: Okay.

Q. I don't know if you remember anything from that match, what you'd like to replicate today in the next round.
PETRA KVITOVA: Okay. Thank you. Well, probably I don't remember, so it's fun. But I need to look for that. But of course I think it's a good one to have the game like I do have that. Most of the time it's depending on me, how I'm feeling, how I'm playing. So, of course, when I do play well, it's about me and that's probably same. I try to play my game, play good and we'll see.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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