|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
AUSTRALIAN OPENFebruary 1, 2020Barbora KrejcikovaNikola MekticMelbourne, Victoria, Australia MEKTIC-KREJCIKOVA/Mattek-Sands-Murray 7-5, 4-6, 10-1 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Have you played a better super tiebreak than that? NIKOLA MEKTIC: 10-1, it's unbelievable when you see the score. Definitely wasn't so easy. Every point was very stressful, obviously finals. In the end, yeah, somehow we were much better. Luckily we won 10-1. Q. What was it about your partnership that made you play so well together and gel so well? You looked like you had a really good time together on the court, working well as a team. NIKOLA MEKTIC: Well, yeah, obviously I guess we're very good players. That's very important for a good partnership (smiling). Yeah, I think we understood each other from the beginning. We adjusted well for our game. Barbora is really nice person. The energy was very nice. We had no problems in communication. That was also I think the key. Q. Was this your first tournament together? How did the partnership form? BARBORA KREJCIKOVA: This was, yeah, our first tournament together. The partnership, it was very fortunate because I was looking for a partner. I was about to play with Rajeev Ram again. He had some problems during the off-season, so he just said that he's not going to play. I was looking for a partner. I had Nikola's number in my phone. I just wrote him a text message. In five minutes I got the response back. He was just so happy to play. I'm like, Yeah, let's go and try to win the title. NIKOLA MEKTIC: Yeah, I texted 'yes' before she has time to change her mind. BARBORA KREJCIKOVA: A month later we're having this trophy. I cannot believe it. I'm just so happy. I have to thank Nikola so much because so many matches he was just playing so great, especially today. Without him, I wouldn't be able to reach the title. Q. Were you aware you were the first person to win back-to-back Australian Open mixed since Jana? NIKOLA MEKTIC: Whoa. BARBORA KREJCIKOVA: Really? Wow, no, I had no idea. It's very nice. I just love to hear it. Q. What did she mean to you? What did she do for you? BARBORA KREJCIKOVA: I mean, it's still very hard for me to talk about it because she was really close to me. I mean, she was living very close to me, like 15 minutes from me. I really spent a lot of time with her. I learned so many things. I mean, it was just very nice to look up to her. She was kind of like my mentor and my hero. Every time I play, I'm playing singles, doubles, mixed, I always try to think what she would think, like what she would help me or advise me and stuff. I mean, I just love to think of her any time I can. I'm still very sad about what happened. Q. Was she a coach or more an adviser? BARBORA KREJCIKOVA: She was a coach. When we started together, she was doing everything with me. She was even hitting and doing the fitness and stuff. She was really fit. I mean, then when she got sick, she was more about being mentor and stuff. Spent so much time with her even afterwards when she found out that she was sick. It was such a deep experience for me to experience what was happening and what happened. Q. Barbora played 15 matches here. She won 13. What do you think about this achievement? NIKOLA MEKTIC: I don't know. I think your colleague was talking about some records. This is for sure some kind of a record. I don't think anyone played 15 matches on one tournament ever. Yes, I told her many times that I'm really, really happy and really amazed how she could do it. And thanks that she went on the court, that she wasn't feeling great. There were matches where she was really tired, her leg was not perfect. But somehow she came out and we did it. Q. You hear lots of stories about mixed doubles partnerships forming at the last minute, and it goes really well. Now that you have had this experience, would you like to make it more permanent and play Roland Garros and Wimbledon? Have you talked about your plans for the rest of the year? NIKOLA MEKTIC: No, we haven't talked obviously yet. I thanked Rajeev the other day for not playing with her and giving me the opportunity to play with her. Obviously I would be up. But we have to see. Obviously for her, she's playing three categories. She has to decide. I'm always up for it, of course. Q. The Mexican wave in the crowd before the super tiebreak, was that helpful for you? NIKOLA MEKTIC: I didn't even know this. Oh, my God. Maybe I was too stressed out before the super tiebreak. I didn't notice. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|