	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

HENGQIN LIFE WTA ELITE TROPHY ZHUHAI

October 21, 2019

Petra Martic

Zhuhai, China

THE MODERATOR: First question in English.

Q. How do you feel about your draw, your opponents in your group?
PETRA MARTIC: Well, I think everybody's tough here. I mean, you have some of the best tennis players here and there will be no easy start. So two tough opponents, very different, very different game. So I don't know who I'm going to play first, but I'll definitely have to prepare well.

Q. You played a very consistent year with the two fourth rounds and one quarter final. What do you think you can improve to do even better in this to go maybe higher in the ranking?
PETRA MARTIC: Well, I don't think it's one thing, to be honest, no, it really it comes down to such little details. But matches turn around within two, three points, basically.

So it's all very close and as we know women's tennis is so open, so I think that even now I could, with some good wins and some good kind of streak of good play, I could get even further maybe.

But I'll definitely use this off season to work on a few things in my game that I wanted for awhile now and hopefully next year you'll see it.

Q. Reflecting on this year, you've had a lot of highs, a lot of milestones. What are you the proudest of about your 2019 season?
PETRA MARTIC: Well I think there are a few things, which is a good thing in this case. I think winning a tournament was really big for me. I really needed it and it helped me mentally so much for the rest of the season. I just started to believe in myself so much more. I feel like that match, really that finals, just winning it really meant a lot for me, and, yeah, just for my tennis and everything else.

The quarterfinals of a Grand Slam is obviously another special moment in my career. And like you know it already, I lost so many fourth rounds and it was, yeah, really, really a tough one for me, that fourth round in Paris.

But once I won this match I feel like, yeah, now really I can like easier go to the next step than this one was for me.

Q. Tennis can be a cruel sport in a way that you have these big results and then the next week you got to step back on court again and start from zero. So I'm curious, like after the French Open, how does what you did over the clay season, does it, do you still carry it on with you? Do you still feel the positive affects of it? Or was it kind of having to reset every single week and not take it with you?
PETRA MARTIC: Well I think that you have it both. On one hand you carry the confidence with you. On the other hand, I mean, at least in my case, I felt pretty empty. That clay season was so intense and I played so much matches that coming to England was not the easiest thing. I was still feeling tired, still feeling empty emotionally, because it took so much out of me.

But at the same time you're on such a good streak that you just, even if you don't play your best, you can still win many matches, which was the case for me at least on grass and, yeah, that's definitely the positive thing when you're winning that much.

Q. You have been here in China for several weeks, so what did you do in your spare time to help you to relax and then focus on the matches?
PETRA MARTIC: Well, this time I didn't have that much free time because I played pretty decent, so that's a good way to keep yourself busy when you're at tournaments. So I actually didn't go much around.

I didn't manage to go see the Chinese wall, unfortunately, I've seen a little bit a few years back, but I wanted to go back this year and, yeah, there was no time. But I still have to explore this city here, I still didn't do much, fighting jet lag and trying to adjust to the conditions here. So I hope I'll have time at least here at one point.

Q. What's your favorite movie?
PETRA MARTIC: A Star is Born maybe. That was pretty random.

(Laughter.)

Q. Who is your best friend among all the players here, if you can choose one to go out for shopping or dinner, who would you pick?
PETRA MARTIC: That would be Polona Hercog, a Slovenian tennis player. She's not around here, but on tour she's my best friend. So if I would choose one player, that would probably be her.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297