INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA

September 16, 2020

Elina Svitolina

Press Conference

E. SVITOLINA/A. Pavlyuchenkova

6-3, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. A question about your preparation. Obviously you looked pretty good today. Has it been very different for you? Have you been able to prepare for this part of the season in a way that you normally would, or has it just been far different and you're kind of flying by the seat of your pants getting ready here?

ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, for sure it was different because I had probably the longest preparation ever for the clay courts (smiling). Normally we are finishing in Miami and then, you know, we have couple of weeks before Stuttgart to prepare on clay.

So that's why, for sure, this was the longest preparation I had on clay. And to be fair, I feel quite comfortable, I would say, or at least I'm giving myself a good chance to move better.

I try to not put so much pressure on myself that other people was not able to play on clay, because, you know, it's important just to focus on your game, try to play as good as you can.

But in the end I'm very happy, because I feel more easier, I would say, on the clay than other years. But we'll see.

Q. Do you feel it's a result of deciding to make that difficult decision to skip going to New York? Do you feel like form-wise you're sort of as good as you can be, or do you feel it's like relative to what's going on this year, you're as good as you can be?

ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, for sure, as I said before, it's a good chance that I can play well, but, you know, there is never a guarantee that you would win here or there.

I won in Rome twice, so it's very tough to predict. Sometimes, you know, like in Madrid, for example, previous years I was playing, I thought I was playing great coming up for the tournament, and I just couldn't go further the third round.

So, you know, sometimes you're surprising yourself, you know, when you are thinking that you're not so confident or comfortable on the court, and you are winning the tournaments, you are playing great.

So it's, you know, a little bit of everything. I think everything needs to come together and it takes a little bit of time.

But I'm definitely happy that I didn't play -- you know, I have no regrets. For me, it was really planned that I'm gonna take this time to prepare on clay, I'm going to be physically strong. And then, you know, we'll see. It's like a coin toss after.