WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN

August 29, 2020

Kveta Peschke

Demi Schuurs

Press Conference

PESCHKE-SCHUURS/Melichar-Xu

6-1, 4-6, 10-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Congratulations on your win today. I'm curious for you just how different this tournament was for you from a normal one, and especially as doubles players in terms of how things felt different. How different did this all feel from a normal Cincinnati tournament? How good does it feel to win this very unique tournament?

KVETA PESCHKE: Of course, I mean, we play at the US Open site, so this is already a big difference to Cincinnati. It's different city.

But it's so well organized, and they really prepare everything very nicely for the players. We all feel safe. Very grateful we can play. That's the first point, which is very important to us in this pandemic that we can really get on the court and play.

Q. I see you're in different rooms now, which is different from other press conferences. Have you two been trying to spend more time apart than normally or always wearing masks, or what it's like, because usually teams spend a lot of time together.

KVETA PESCHKE: Of course wearing the mask. Thankfully when we are playing that we can be normal and trying to -- of course we have to keep some kind of distance, you know. With the fist pumps, in the first match, we were, like, ahh, a little bit off sometimes, but we tried to do the best, I think. Right, Demi?

DEMI SCHUURS: Yeah, we tried to do the best, but it was not easy, because everything is so automatic. So you just behave like normal, but then you realize, Oh, we have to take distance. We have to, yeah, no fist pump.

You say something about the serve, you go close to each other, and, yeah, you want to hear what your partner is saying about the tactic.

I think we have to get used to it. It's so new. It was getting better every match, but especially the first match in the beginning, I was so lost. I was giving -- yeah, like was getting close, fist pumps, everything, and we were just laughing about it. Yeah, it's new.

Q. Is this something you were told by the tours to even keep distance from each other? Seems like you could be a unit away from other teams, but I guess you're even staying apart from your partner here?

KVETA PESCHKE: You mean on the court, basically?

Q. Yeah, on court and I guess off, too, maybe.

KVETA PESCHKE: Well, we are wearing the mask off the court, so the distance there -- you know, we are not sitting next to each other. It's just not an issue.

On the court, it's a little bit different. We have to speak up. We have to speak a little bit louder, because we are really apart from each other.

So basically being on the court, on the chair, yeah, sometimes if something is going on, then we don't hear each other, so we have to really, like, speak up. So that's different.

And we don't want to speak up, because we don't want our opponents to hear us, because we talk in English. If we would be both Czech or Dutch, that would be different story.

Q. I don't know if you have seen any of the news or heard any of the talks about this players association that is being started by some of the men, by Djokovic and Pospisil, a union-type organization for men. Curious if you've heard, if any of the women, you or others, have been approached, if you've heard about it or what you think about it?

KVETA PESCHKE: I didn't hear anything. I just read it in the Czech newspaper today, just today. So I have no information whatsoever yet.

Q. You haven't heard about it directly?

KVETA PESCHKE: No.

DEMI SCHUURS: No, nothing. No information. I didn't hear anything.

Q. Congratulations on a great week. What do you think has gelled well for you both this week? Obviously you paired up at the start of the year, and maybe the results didn't go the way you wanted, but this week, a great tournament.

KVETA PESCHKE: Yeah, everything I think came together somehow. In the first round, you're still a little bit look for each other and trying to put everything together where you have been left off, which is five months. So it was long time that we hadn't chance to practice, we hadn't chance to play any match.

So the first match is obviously, almost at any tournament, one of the crucial ones. So we were fighting the first match through, and I think with every day, we became stronger and better as a unit again. Yeah, I think it worked well in the end, and we are super happy we could pull it off.

Q. Getting a title like this and having the run that you had this week, does it massively impact your confidence as a team going into the US Open, or is it the same as always? What do you think?

DEMI SCHUURS: Of course you have a nice feeling. I think the confidence is better than before. We played matches together. We didn't lose yet. So of course it's nice to go into a tournament like US Open and you didn't lose. Of course it's nice.

But, yeah, we have to realize it's a new tournament. We have to focus again. New opponents. Everyone is playing at high level. So I think we just have to focus on a new week. I think that's really important.

You see often, if players win a tournament, the week afterwards, the first round is always tough. It's good we know this, so we will focus on that. Of course it gives you confidence. But overall, next week is a new week.

Q. What are your thoughts on going into the US Open with a new draw system? Obviously it's a smaller draw for doubles. You're the doubles expert. You can tell me. How much does that change the competition, do you think?

KVETA PESCHKE: Yeah, sure, the players, you know, could enter with a doubles ranking only, and it's different. We have the smaller draw.

Yeah, I think it's unique, of course, and again different, and we all have to get kind of adjusted to it. I don't think we'll change anything on the game or something. It's just everything a little bit different, and we try to make the best out of it.

Q. Do you think having the smaller doubles draw at the US Open, does that make it easier or more difficult or same in terms of difficulty level of winning a major?

DEMI SCHUURS: I think, like, with the draw, of course it's a smaller draw, so you have to win less matches before you're winning a tournament.

But overall, what I just said, everyone is playing such a high level, so I think it's difficult always. You always need to play your best tennis to win matches, and, yeah, if it's a draw from 32, 64, I think it doesn't matter that much. The only difference now is that you only have doubles players. That's of course the difference than before.

But I think it's really nice that, first of all, we can be here, and second, that you give some doubles players a chance to play.

I think if they didn't do it like this, I think it's tough for doubles players to get in, because singles players want to play matches, as well.

I think with the level, I think it makes no difference. Always you have to play your best tennis. Otherwise, yeah, it's difficult to win.

Q. You mentioned it before, but you said it maybe took a little time for you two to find each other in terms of each other's games and gelling as a team. What is it specifically this week in "Cincinnati" that you think kind of worked well for both of you, that you found in each other as teammates?

KVETA PESCHKE: I think the calmness. That's what I'm always saying on the court with Demi. If we are calm, then we can really, like, play our game the way we want to.

Sometimes if you are rushing, and, you know, you are a little bit maybe nervous, then you maybe don't do the right decisions.

But also, we have a doubles specialist coach, so he always, you know, help us with tactics obviously, and we can be grateful for that. I mean, we are both very good doubles players, and I think just, you know, to brush the diamond then, there, a little bit, then the game comes together.

DEMI SCHUURS: The beginning of the year, we started together, we were practicing really well. We had a good feeling. And then in matches, a little bit unlucky. We had some injuries.

So now it's actually, I think, the first time that we're both fit. I think that's a big difference. Because the level is always so high, you need to be fit. You need to play your best tennis.

I think that's something that change now, that we are both fit, we don't have any injuries, and we were just playing. A little bit lucky sometimes. You need that, as well. I think that's the difference.

Yeah, the beginning we knew we were playing high level, especially in practice. I think we beat almost everyone. But in matches it was still different, and now, yeah, we're both fit and we played a good level.

Q. Speaking about that, how was your six-month quarantine time? I guess it sounds like for both of you it was maybe helpful in terms of getting over injuries and stuff like that. But, yeah, what was your experience like during the last six months? Start with Kveta, and you, Demi.

KVETA PESCHKE: I was very much happy that I didn't need to travel. That's the one issue for me what I have already for years, because I'm so long on the tour. So the travel is getting little harder on me. So that was actually very nice.

You know, you can spend a little bit more time with friends, obviously being very careful. And, yeah, I did a lot of yard work. I learned some new things. I was walking dog for my friend because she had a surgery.

So it was actually interesting time. Obviously it's not nice time, but we did the best we could.

DEMI SCHUURS: For me, the same. First of all, I'm really happy to play again, but it was nice time to be at home. I'm someone who likes to be at home, too, and enjoy the time with family. We got a little dog in November, so at least the dog knows me now a little bit better.

I was practicing. Especially the last three months, I was practicing a lot. I felt good at home. So I just enjoyed it, and I realize that it's a sad time was going on right now over the whole world, so I was just looking at it in a positive way and just enjoy the time at home, and I really did. So that was good.

Q. The dog's name?

KVETA PESCHKE: Simba.

Q. Congratulations on your title victory today. My question is for both of you. You have both played with other partners, but how did you happen to decide to get together and form a doubles partnership? And why are you so successful? Why did you think you won the title this week?

KVETA PESCHKE: Well, you know, all the players know each other. You have a feeling who can fit you, who can fit your game, who is maybe opposite than you are with the skills.

So I think we accomplished that. I believed that we are nice fit. I normally always like to play with really tall players, which are good servers, but Demi is definitely taller than I am (smiling).

No, I think we enjoy the time, you know. The charisma in between each other, it's great. We are both kind of European. So it's very similar, and we have fun on the court. That's most important, as well.

Q. It seems like both of you have kind of carved your careers out of becoming doubles players as opposed to singles. Is there a certain skill level or personality that makes both of you successful as doubles players?

KVETA PESCHKE: For sure. (Laughter.) Yeah, singles is much different to doubles. It's whole different game. So you need to really understand what you have to do on the court as a doubles player, because it's really very much different to singles.

Right, Demi?

DEMI SCHUURS: Yeah. You practice specific on doubles, too. That's a big difference. You practice, like, every day doubles. Singles players, it's like the second priority. So, yeah, they don't practice that much doubles. Yeah, that's a big difference.

You see often that good singles players have a good serve and have a good return. That's also why they can play this high level in doubles, too. But if you go really in doubles, doubles skills, you see more net, you play more the net, different tactics. It's different.

Q. You played World TeamTennis this summer, Kveta. Was that good prep for getting back on the tour?

KVETA PESCHKE: Oh, for sure. World TeamTennis is getting all of us who played many matches. We could prepare really, really nicely. I believe that it was very important for me also to play it and get in the match situations.

So it was good help and good preparation for myself, for sure.