GRAMPIANS TROPHY

February 7, 2021

Anett Kontaveit

Press Conference

A. KONTAVEIT/M. Sakkari

2-6, 6-3, 11-9

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Talk us through your match today, please.

ANETT KONTAVEIT: Yeah, it was a very tough match. I think Maria's a very good player and she was coming out hitting the ball really well and put me under a lot of pressure and yeah it was tough for me to get used to that speed in the beginning a little bit, I felt like. She did play really well and I tried to sort of Singh myself into the match point by point in the second set I tried to hang in there and be as tough as I could and I had to fight for every point and of course the super tiebreak was incredibly close and she had match points and it just could have gone either way and I was extremely lucky with the match point. But, yeah, I'm really happy with the match, actually either way it would have gone. So, yeah, it was a good match to have before starting the Australian Open.

Q. Can you just weigh in on how prepared you feel going into the Australian Open?

ANETT KONTAVEIT: Yeah, I think it was rough those two weeks in the room but I'm glad I got these matches, that it wasn't just one match, there was a few matches, and put myself through these difficult match situations again and got to do it a few times. I think I have a day to rest tomorrow and have a little practice and I do feel like it was definitely really useful before playing again and yeah I'm not sure these two weeks of being in the room are totally behind me, but I feel it was definitely worth playing these matches and now I'm really glad I got them in.

Q. What was the trickiest thing coming out of those two weeks going back to the tennis courts? What was the biggest gaps in your fitness or movement where you could tell that, Okay, I was in a hotel room for two weeks?

ANETT KONTAVEIT: I actually felt pretty good. From the first hit it was good, it's just of course when you start to play matches again and it's just not the same as it is in practice and if you haven't been able to serve a single serve for two weeks it's always going to be difficult when you start hitting.

No matter how cautious you are, how slowly you take it, it's always going to be a little rough on the body when you start again.

But I'm actually surprised how well my body's held up and how well I'm feeling. I was actually, I think I was most worried about movement on court, how that was going to be after not being able to move at all for two weeks but it was actually not too bad. So I feel like it was definitely really good to get these matches in and my body's feeling surprisingly good.

Q. Unique situation, no final played and two co-finalists holding the trophy on court. Seemed like a nice moment between you and Ann on the court as you guys kind of laughed about it. What was that kind of like?

ANETT KONTAVEIT: I've never actually met Ann before and I watched that match against Jenny and that she played, she I thought she played incredibly well and I was really impressed with her game. So, yeah, it was, of course I would have liked to have played the final, but it is what it is and definitely nice to sort of share the trophy and she was lovely as well on court. So it was a nice moment.