INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA

September 14, 2020

Karolina Pliskova

Press Conference

MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you talk about just what your last two weeks has been like in terms of rest, preparation, putting New York behind you, all of that stuff?

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, it was quick preparation this time for clay, but I think I spent quite a lot of weeks on the clay before. When there was the break I was practicing pretty much all the time on clay.

So not so difficult somehow this time, but of course more we will know after couple of matches and after the tournaments. But of course there was not much time even though I came just quite early from New York, but I just had quick just couple days back in Prague of practice and not really many days off, but was somehow not needed.

I mean, I'm feeling fine. Of course happy to be back in Rome with those nice memories from last year, and of course different times completely now, but, you know, I'm happy to be here, to play, and then to compete. So let's see what it's gonna be.

Q. What has it been like for you to walk around the Foro Italico and have it be as quiet as it is right now, the grounds?

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: No, I just said in one interview that I think this is one of the -- I mean, maybe New York is big (indiscernible), but I think this is like one of the loudest tournaments with people, with the atmosphere, which we can have, and of course I think Italian people, they just support so much tennis.

The atmosphere is always great. No matter which court you play, it's just crazy, noisy, and it's big. I remember a lot of my matches, of course some good ones, some bad ones, but especially on the Pietrangeli court, the atmosphere, and I just walk by, and it's super quite which is little weird, and that's how it is right now. We can be happy that we can play, so we have to get used to this.

Q. Seeing what happened with Djokovic, does it make you think that players can be more careful about hitting balls around the court or throwing their racquets or things like that after seeing how severe the consequences can be for something like that?

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, of course there has been a lot of surprises I think in the last couple of weeks, more on the men's side than on the women's this time.

But, I mean, it's everybody's choice I think what you want to do and how you want to behave on the court. But I always thought that's better to throw racquet than to throw balls, because then it can be dangerous.

My feeling is that I don't really control where I hit the ball, so I would better destroy my racquet than to throw a ball. But of course this was quite unfortunate situation. I just maybe skip this comment, because this will happen once in hundred years.

So I think no matter how bad it looked, it just was super unlucky. But, I mean, I would be careful with like hitting balls.

Q. Do you think it's an advantage for you to have already competed at some big tournaments this year and that could be just as useful as having more time on a surface?

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I mean, definitely, yes. But to be honest, I think it's very strange year, so I don't know what's can happen. I mean, you can feel great, but I feel like still not having enough matches and not having enough tournaments can be maybe a little weird for me. That's how I feel.

So no matter how good you feel on the practice court, still you have to somehow put it into matches. That's what I think everybody is gonna try to do now. I don't think there is big difference of playing America or playing just in Europe, because somebody played -- I mean, most of the girls they just played some tournaments. Even the ones before America or in States.

So I think we just start from zero. So I think now anything can, you know, happen every day. Every week there can be strange results.

But, you know, that's how it is. I just think it's still good that tennis is back. No matter how everybody feels about this, I think it's good that we play.

Q. What are your thoughts on the French Open's plans, especially to have fans on the grounds, which is a big difference from what you had in New York?

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, for sure, for tennis it's great. I don't know how safe it's gonna be. Somehow for now I cannot really imagine from going from these bubbles to having I don't know how many thousand of people there.

So to be honest, I didn't really like research and study how everything is gonna be there, but I guess at some point it's gonna have to start with people, as well.

I'm not sure if the virus is just going to somehow just leave. Even if we start next year or even the tournaments later, I think some people it's okay to have. I don't know how much you can just have and how much is safe, but, I mean, for tennis it's good. I don't know just how safe it is, but I'm sure that French Open and Paris they just gonna make sure that the organization is going to be, like, super careful.