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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL

January 7, 2020

Kiki Bertens

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

K. BERTENS/D. Yastremska

6-4, 1-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Thoughts on just how was your off-season and how did you feel getting back on match court today?
KIKI BERTENS: Off-season was great. First, we were on holiday, and then we had the wedding, and then just some time at home. I loved it. Yeah, then of course, back to the practice court. We had some good weeks at home and, yeah, happy with the first wins of the year, yeah.

Q. Talk through the match today. She can be a tricky player to play. There's a lot going on sometimes. But can you just talk about how you were able to kind of steel yourself and finish it off?
KIKI BERTENS: Yeah, it was really tough. I practiced with her three days ago, I think. I was still not feeling great with the travel and the jet lag, but I think it was like 1-2 in like 45 minutes, so it could only be better. But I think today was solid. I think my movement, again, was good. So I'm really proud of that overall and just hanging this there, keeping as many balls back on the court and yeah, that paid off in the end.

Q. It looked like a little bit of frustration with the match points coming and going towards the end there. What were you telling yourself, either before that third match point, because she started to close the score line a little bit.
KIKI BERTENS: Well, I don't have good memories on this court, to be honest. I lost twice already with match points, so that, of course, was going through my mind. But I was just trying to close it out, trying to do my thing, and yeah, I was happy that on the third match point it was done, yeah.

Q. Just with Elise for pre-season, obviously, first time you've probably done a pre-season without Raemon for awhile, so how different was that in terms of what you guys worked on, what the vibe was, what the rhythm was, all that sort of stuff?
KIKI BERTENS: We had a really good off-season -- or pre-season, I would say. We had one really good week at the Federation and practiced there with all the girls, and the rest we just did at home. It was not really different than from Raemon. Of course, Raemon was not there, but we still practiced the same, just trying to hit as many balls, just trying to come to the net a bit more, playing a little bit more aggressive. I could not show that today, but that was not my problem, I think. But hopefully it will come in the next matches.

Q. I've seen a few matches of Yastremska where she takes medical timeouts late in matches when she's losing. You seemed frustrated by it. Is it something you expected in the match or how do you deal with that when that happens?
KIKI BERTENS: Well, I played her three times and three times it happened, so that's my answer (laughing.)

Q. Oh, and then this tournament's one of the strongest Premiers in terms of the field, and there's six top-10 players here. But this year with the ATP Cup coming in there's no women's matches on the main stadium at all first round and then not until Thursday or second round. I'm curious what your thoughts are -- you've played here before -- what your thoughts are on that change to the, what it's like being here this year.
KIKI BERTENS: Well, I think the ATP Cup is a great event. I love to watch it, to be honest, the last couple of days. Of course, I think for the tournament for us it's maybe a little bit sad that we cannot play on the center court, but for me personally I don't care so much. I would rather play on the outside courts. And, yeah, so, but I don't know for the fans how it is, but I always love to play here in front of the Aussie fans.

Q. And that's just going to your sort of preference from being away from the spotlight, I guess, you're saying?
KIKI BERTENS: Yeah, I just like to be on the outside courts. I will never like -- of course, when you play on center court it's the deal, you deal with it. But with me it's fine to play on Court 1 or 2 or even like Court 16 is also good.

Q. Last year, well, okay two years ago, obviously, amazing breakout season, and then were you very vocal about the pressures of last year of wanting to back it up, and was it a fluke, all these sorts of things. Two top-10 seasons in the books. Now you go into a third. Is it easier now to deal with kind of whatever, the pressure and expectations going into this year? Does any of that change in your mind?
KIKI BERTENS: Well, I feel less pressure, to be honest, because I just know that I'm trying my best and that's all what I can do. It sounds easy, but that's really how I want to compete and that's how I felt like this pre-season as well. And also, this upcoming days, of course, the first few days here, it was not great, but I was still staying calm, just trying to do what I could every day. And, yeah, now I still have a win here, so it's just day by day keep on going and see how far we can go again this year.

Q. Elise, I know, has worked as a physio also. In fact, is she doing that role for you as well?
KIKI BERTENS: Yeah, she's doing everything. So, yeah, she's doing three jobs, I think. So she's coaching, she's physio, and she's fitness. So, yeah, it's great to have one person.

Q. What's it like having someone -- does it help having someone who can sort of think about those three things at the same time?
KIKI BERTENS: Yeah, but sometimes it makes it also a little bit hard if you're working all the time with the same person. Like with Elise until now it's all great, it's all good. But sometimes it's easier like when Remko is also there then he takes away a little bit of the fitness, so you have a kind of different vibe all the time, and that's what we had last year with Raemon as well. But, yeah, so now I really like it. She's always so calm and she always wants to help me. So, yeah, it feels good.

Q. Do you have to pay her three times as much if she's doing three jobs?
KIKI BERTENS: Well no, (laughing) so I'm lucky. No.

Q. Friendly discount.
KIKI BERTENS: Yeah.

Q. Just with the off-season and the wedding and obviously finishing late because of Shenzhen and all that, did you have enough time to be refreshed by the time the pre-season started?
KIKI BERTENS: Well, in the beginning I still was like, oh, maybe I need a few more days. But I got some extra, like we were just sometimes practicing two, three days and then I said, okay, maybe one day off. And so we were really monitoring like how my body was feeling. So I think we did a great job of that. And in the end I was fresh again, fresh again to leave and ready to compete, yeah. But it was a little bit of struggle in the beginning, yeah.

Q. I've haven't talked to you about your journey on hard courts since being in the U.S. I'm curious what you think of Australian conditions, specifically, for your game, how you like it down here.
KIKI BERTENS: Well, I've never played really well in Australia, so hopefully this year that can change. But I think my game really developed on the hard courts, I'm playing a little bit more aggressive, my movement is much better than before. So, yeah, I see that I can really play well on hard courts as well.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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