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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 25, 2020

Karolina Pliskova

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

A. PAVLYUCHENKOVA/Ka. Pliskova

7-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How difficult was today? What sort of arm wrestle was that game with the long rallies, the difficulty of it?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Which game?

Q. The match. The whole match.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, of course I think she was playing very well today. Maybe the best what she played against me so far in the last couple matches.

But let's say I was about 40% today of my game, so of course then she can feel so much better if I just don't play enough what I can play.

But, yeah, that's how it is. I think especially the important moments she always served well so I had couple chances here and there. First and second set of course some set points. But I think she just played better than me.

Q. What brought your levels down so much today? What troubled you?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I don't know. I was just down (smiling).

Q. When you talk about 40%, I mean, where did you feel like the difference was? Was it in your serve? Because it wasn't like you were making a ton of errors, didn't seem like. Placement, precision, where did you see the difference?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, I felt I did a lot of errors, actually. Maybe not huge errors, but I did a lot. And especially I think I was quite struggling with my serve, so the percentage was not there, not really many aces. I didn't check the statistics yet, but I think I can serve much better.

Still I was kind of close both sets -- well, a lot close, and I think I was still able to somehow win this match if I at least a little bit played better. But unfortunately I didn't.

And I think it was more about the speed and about my speed and about the movement. I think nothing really was, you know, there today.

And it was still 6-7, 6-7, so I guess this is still kind of positive, but it kind of sucks to lose.

Q. A lot of casual fans look at seeds dropping out, losing and saying, What's happening? How difficult at the moment, whether you're seeded or not, is it to progress through a Grand Slam like this?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, of course it's difficult loss, but I'm here to try and there is going to be another three this year. So let's see how they can go.

Q. In terms of just, you know, did you feel it at all in the warmup this morning that maybe the ball, you weren't striking the ball well or was it just once you got out there?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: The warmup today was not the best, but normally the warmup with me doesn't really matter how it goes. I think it was more about the match. But I think last two matches I did kind of okay, not the best, of course, not the best feeling.

I mean, everybody is going to try to play the best against me. So of course if I'm not there, really, like for 100% it's going to be super tough. And I can be unlucky to lose and I can be a little bit lucky more to win these two sets, which was still possible today.

But I could definitely get it a little bit easier done today than it was.

Q. Were you able at all to kind of block out -- yesterday was a bit of a crazy day on both the men's and women's draws in terms of upsets and things. You and Belinda went out pretty quickly earlier today. Were you able to block all that out? Sometimes there's chaos happening at slams.
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, I don't really think about another upsets. I think this is quite big upset too. But I guess that's what is happening in the tournament right now. So there is not even one week where there would not be even one upset.

So I think it was, as I said 2 million times before, is very open. So I think it just depends on the mood that day. And of course the lower-ranked players they are always going to try to play the best tennis, which they do and they have nothing to lose.

So for me, it's not surprising these upsets, not even one from yesterday, not even mine of today. So I think that's normal in this sport.

Q. There has obviously been quite a big difference now for a while between your tour results and your slam results. How different do you feel playing the slams compared to the WTA Tour events? Does that affect you?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I think the biggest difference is you have much more matches here than you have on the normal tournaments, and it just goes for much longer. So I think somehow I'm not able to just find that game for a week or two so I can play good one match but not really four, five in a row so far.

Well, I did in the past but not really consistently right now. And of course it's more pressure here so I think everybody can feel it.

No matter how, you can just not think about it. It's always going to be there. I think it's just about handling these things and to move on. And there is going to be more tries, so let's see if I can do better.

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