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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 29, 2019

Petra Kvitova

Wimbledon, London, England

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How are you feeling? Haven't seen you on court in a while. How is your preparation going?
PETRA KVITOVA: Actually I'm glad I'm seeing you guys again, so it's nice to just be here definitely.

My arm is getting better. If anything bad happened, I'm ready to play on Tuesday, but hopefully nothing really happen.

Q. Have you been practicing fully?
PETRA KVITOVA: Not really full, but I tried it today. It was much better. Based on it, I'm okay.

Q. What was it like from Roland Garros until you got here in London in terms of picking up the racquet? When did you get back and get the tests? What did the tests say? How long did you have to rest?
PETRA KVITOVA: Yeah, I had a few tests during this period. It's improved, but not as much as I wanted. So I have to be really very careful with everything.

I just couldn't do anything for a couple of weeks. I was very pleased when I could, you know, do something very easy with my left hand, like drinking or something like that. It was kind of back to two years ago.

I was slowly start, then I could kind of trying to have my arm a little bit stronger so I could start with some small exercises, then with some Thera-Bands. The racquet I just took few days ago. I couldn't really hit much.

If I have a pain, I'm stopping immediately, but so far it's okay.

Q. I think you mentioned in Paris you've had it for a while. When did this injury start? How long have you had it?
PETRA KVITOVA: The injury?

Q. Yes.
PETRA KVITOVA: Well, it just started the day before my match. I had a kind of tightness in my forearm, but wasn't really anything which I'm not used to, so I didn't really take care too much of it.

I did, of course, but it was just probably much worse than I felt it. Then suddenly, yeah, it's pulled, so that's great (smiling).

Q. This tournament is special for you. When you come here, you usually have high expectations of yourself. This is a different situation. How are you mentally approaching this tournament?
PETRA KVITOVA: Maybe it's good one then.

Well, yeah, it's just totally the forehand. I just hit for the first time today maybe little bit more than normal, and was okay. But, of course, my expectations are not really high. Maybe this can help me, as well, to be more relaxed on the court.

You know me. Sometimes when I go there and play, the expectations came, suddenly I cannot put the ball in. We'll see how everything will go. Like now, of course, I'm relaxed. I'm not really happy that I didn't have my best preparation what I could have for the grass season.

I think from the past I learn a lot about me. Sometimes I don't really have to hit for so many hours to be prepared.

Q. If this was just a normal week, would you not be playing? Is it just because it's Wimbledon that you're going to try?
PETRA KVITOVA: Maybe if it just normal week, I going to take one more extra week, but then I think it's fine, yeah.

Q. Rushing?
PETRA KVITOVA: We are all rushing (laughter).

Q. Your thoughts on Ash Barty getting to No. 1? You played her in Australia, you won. Congratulations on that.
PETRA KVITOVA: Thank you (laughter).

Q. What do you make of her being No. 1? There's been a lot of different No. 1s in the last few years.
PETRA KVITOVA: I played her three times this year. Especially in Miami she was really on fire when she played great and won the tournament afterwards.

Yeah, I mean, it's nice to see her being there. I mean, she's a lovely person. I really like her as an opponent, as a person as well.

She has a great game, can mix it up a lot, a lot of variety there. It was really nice seeing her win Roland Garros as well. I was really happy for her.

Q. The final five years ago was kind of a flawless performance when you won here. When you look back at it, how did it feel to have that kind of control over your power and shots like that in a Grand Slam final?
PETRA KVITOVA: To be honest, I'm not really looking back that much. Obviously I could have this feeling in Australian Open, but unfortunately I didn't.

Yeah, that final was great. I was still telling myself that anything can happen the next ball, so I was still ready that she is coming back and maybe I can miss something, she's on the other hand. I was still firing up myself and still be there and thinking a lot about it, still having the focus on it.

Q. There's a lot of talk these days about how the locker room is a much friendlier place. Why do you think that is? You've always been nice to everyone, but seems like everyone is nice to everyone these days.
PETRA KVITOVA: Yeah, I think it's a nice time of it, definitely. We have beautiful locker rooms, we do (smiling).

I mean, I think that we can really find great people over there, so it's nice to chat with them. I don't really remember the days before we could chat like each other so much as we are doing it now.

Like, for me, it's nice. I like to chat with the other girls. Doesn't matter if we are playing each other or no, if it's like before the match or after the match...

It's nice to know little bit each other, as well.

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