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WUHAN OPEN

September 24, 2018

Karolina Pliskova

Wuhan, Hubei, China

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What do you make of the way you managed to up your level last week?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, I had four good victories there. None of them was easy. For sure for confidence it's a huge thing. Also getting the title, doesn't matter how I was playing or who I was playing, it's always a good thing. Also for my race for my end of the year, it's very important.

I was just happy that I find a good tennis. It was indoor, which I like to play indoor. The conditions were just good. It was a little bit slower, but I just felt good there.

I was fighting back from some tough moments in the matches, some match points. Once I was losing 4-1. Yeah, to win matches like this, I didn't win many of those matches this year, so I was just happy I could get those victories.

Q. What do you think you were doing best on court? What are you most proud of?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Actually, it was not the tennis, but it was the fighting spirit which I had this week. It was just tough tournament I think for everybody because the surface, because the tournament changed. It was a lot of different things compared to the normal Tokyo.

You know, even though I didn't play really the top players, except Naomi, I think the matches were super tough. Somehow maybe because of the surface or I just don't know, maybe they just played well against me, the matches were not easy.

Sometimes I was almost I won the match, then I just went back to the third set. So, like I said, just the attitude, I think it was very good from my side this week.

Q. How big of a motivation is Singapore? Are you following the points?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I'm not really trying to follow. I don't want to know much. But I know I'm eighth right now. There is lot of people which tell you this stuff around me (smiling).

Yeah, but whatever. I don't care about how they play. I don't pray for somebody to lose, it's about me. I have to play good. I have to win matches. Then I'm going to be in Singapore. There are two, three tournaments left, so I have a big chance.

Q. Speaking of playing Naomi, what did you make of her US Open, also in the final match in Tokyo? I don't think she necessarily played poorly there.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I was actually prepared for this match. We played few times. I saw a little bit. I didn't see any of her matches in US Open. I didn't really want to think about US Open because it was completely different tournament. I felt like I also had good matches there.

It's final. Everything is possible there. I believe, like, I have a chance to beat her. Doesn't matter how well she's feeling right now. I just try to took her weapons.

It was only one break in each set. I think she was just little bit better on the serve, with the speed and aces and everything. I held the percentage of the first serve pretty high, which I think she was struggling with. I had so many not really aces, but just points from first serves, which was important. I didn't want her to get any second serve, any really balls which she can attack.

She was missing quite a lot. I don't know if she was surprised that I'm not killing her with my speed. It was just my plan just to be patient. The surface, it was good for that. I just tried to hit some slices, to get some points from that.

Q. I know the season is not over yet, but if you reflect on the first nine months of the season, what do you think the story of your journey this season is?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: What is the question?

Q. How do you describe the journey of your season so far?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I think it's actually not bad season. In the end, I have two titles which only last year I did three, so it's not bad. I have two quarterfinals of Grand Slam, three times again I went to the second week of Grand Slam. It's not bad.

I had some better weeks, some not-really-great weeks. But I'm still top 10, which is my goal to stay in the top 10 the end of this year. We will see. Of course, the biggest dream is to get to Singapore, but we will talk later about this (smiling).

Q. The last couple years it felt like your rise in the rankings, into the top 10, No. 1, was relatively fast from before. At this point, this is your third year in that position, does it feel more comfortable now? How has it changed for you mentally to be consistently part of the WTA elite?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I think it's a different story to get there with few good tournaments or with few good victories, then just to stay there all year when you're also defending those victories what I had the year before. There's different pressure, different things going on.

I think I pretty much get used to all of those situations. Also to getting there, being outside, then be defending all the points what you did the year before. I feel like I'm there actually more than three years right now.

Yeah, I think it's just sometimes not easy because the year is so long. Of course, you have so many chances to win tournaments because there is every week a tournament. Because my schedule is not that I want to be traveling every week to a tournament, sometimes it's just tough to get those victories or just those points which you want to have it.

You still have to play, of course, on the biggest tournaments, which now for last two or three years is my goal, just to play the best tennis there. I think somehow I just find a balance and it's working pretty well.

Q. Last year the No. 1 ranking switched a lot. You even got there. This year maybe in the beginning it was like this, but Simona has managed to hang onto it. From your perspective, is it surprising that it's not the same as last year? Why do you think this year it's different?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Different that I'm not there?

Q. Not you, but it didn't change much.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: She was just behind me last year or two. I think she's the most consist of all players right now. She's just having good results on big tournaments. She won one Grand Slam this year. Even though the last few years she didn't win slams, she went to finals, semis. Not only on one tournament, she's able to make it on nine tournaments out of ten. This is why she's there now.

She's not making any bad tournaments. She's not giving a match to anybody. That's why she's there. That's why she's winning a lot of close matches, lot of tough matches, because she's just fighting. Her game is sometimes too solid and too good for the rest of the players. She have maybe some weeks amazing, but then they don't have the solid weeks what she's having.

Q. Why do you think it is so difficult these days to play at your 90% to 100% level every week? Not you, but a tennis player on the WTA Tour.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I think there's a lot of things. The courts are different. There's a lot of things which is not the same exactly every week. You don't feel even every day the same as you felt yesterday, so it's impossible to just be playing the same level as you played the week before.

Everybody is just trying to do that, but it's just tough. The opponents are changing. You can love your draw at one tournament, but then you have two opponents which you don't like. I think this is also the most important thing sometimes, to have a good draw, to have players at least in the beginning of the tournament which you like, then you can go afterward a few matches, go deep in the tournament.

Also now, when I saw the draw here or maybe Tokyo, I don't see any easy match. There is no easy match where I would bet, This is 100%, she's going to win. Even the top 100 players, there's never an easy match the first round. You don't have guarantee that anybody is going to win first two, three matches easy.

Everybody is traveling with big teams. It's just so close because there's a lot of money, lot of points, lot of attention. Everybody is fighting so much now.

I don't know how much it was before. We're not going to talk about this now. Everything is just so close. Really like to win a tournament, it takes maybe seven hours like it took me in Tokyo (laughter).

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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