AUSTRALIAN OPEN

February 17, 2021

Karolina Muchova

Press Conference

K. MUCHOVA/A. Barty

1-6, 6-3, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How does it feel to be in your first Grand Slam semifinal?

KAROLINA MUCHOVA: Definitely something new for me, but very nice. I mean, it's amazing, I'm feeling good, yeah.

Q. Can you describe your earliest dreams of going deep in a major and how the reality now matches those dreams?

KAROLINA MUCHOVA: Yeah, I think it's a goal you're setting up when you're playing tennis. For me, at least, it's the majors, the Grand Slams, to go far. For me to be in semifinal, as you said, it's like a dream and I'm really happy for that.

Q. Do you remember what your earliest dreams were, how old you were, what it was like in those dreams?

KAROLINA MUCHOVA: Yeah, definitely. I actually have one memory from here when I was a kid and got my first notebook. I put as a wallpaper Rod Laver, the stadium. I was just, like, I hope one day it would be nice to play there or to look at the arena or whatever. Now, yeah, I just won a match and make it to semifinals. It's amazing.

Q. The medical timeout. Did you feel sick? What was it a result of, the match not playing out the way you wanted it to, the heat?

KAROLINA MUCHOVA: I think it was bit of a heat. Yeah, it got to me. I was feeling kind of dizzy at some point, like really, really lost and almost fainting. So, yeah, I just asked for help.

Q. What kind of help did you get? When you came out you looked like a completely different player. What helped you?

KAROLINA MUCHOVA: Definitely they cooled me down with the ice. I was a bit in a shadow. Doctor checked my pressure, my temperature and everything. Yeah, I think the ice thing was the main one.

Q. The point in the second set where I think you hit five overheads in a row to win the point, that seemed like a momentum swing. How important was that point? What did it feel like to hit five smashes to win a rally? Pretty rare.

KAROLINA MUCHOVA: Yeah, that's rare. I think I was even smiling when I hit, like, third smash. In my head I was like, Go to the forehand. I was just hitting on her backhand, she was standing there. Definitely very happy that I won that point.

Q. Was there a point where you started to believe more you could win this match after how bad it was at the beginning?

KAROLINA MUCHOVA: I don't think it was this point. There was many points when it was like on one side and another. But definitely these kind of points, you know, help when you hit some winners. So it was definitely nice.

Q. You had the comeback against Pliskova, then the first-set comeback against Mertens and then today. What has enabled you to mount these comebacks?

KAROLINA MUCHOVA: Honestly, I don't know. I'm trying to start good. It seems a bit like these slow starts for me are a tradition I can't get rid of here.

But, yeah, I'm just trying to get more into games, to feel the ball, to not make such an easy mistakes from the start. Yeah, I'm just slow from the start looks like, but I'm happy that with the match I'm bringing my level more and more up.

Q. Given the way that your season started, a few injury concerns, coach, if somebody were to tell you before the tournament started you were going to make the semifinals of the Australian Open, what would have been your reaction?

KAROLINA MUCHOVA: I would definitely take it if I knew this before the tournament. Yeah, it's just something very nice to kind of achieve these goals and to move onto the semifinals of the Grand Slam. It's just, yeah, really nice feeling.

Q. The bug that you keep drawing on the camera, what is that about?

KAROLINA MUCHOVA: It's actually not a bug. But everyone thinks it's a bug. I'm not really a good drawing.

I don't have my coach, half of the team actually I have them all home in Czech. We have, like, WhatsApp group. This is the picture of our WhatsApp group. It's a (indiscernible) sign, because it was not easy start for us here. It means like a heartiness and toughness. It's called va-va-aba (phonetic) and I draw it to tell them hi back to Czech.

Q. It seemed like you never panicked, kept calm. Is this part of your character?

KAROLINA MUCHOVA: Yeah, I think I'm just trying to be really calm, yeah, to kind of not think about previous mistakes and all of it. I'm definitely working on my kind of mental side in this way. Yeah, as well, I think it's a bit of my character. I'm kind of easygoing, I would say. On the court I'm just trying to keep focused and, yeah, to be like chill.

Q. Jen Brady just won her quarterfinal. Could you look forward to that match, what you expect.

KAROLINA MUCHOVA: I think I played Jen once. Yeah, she is a very good player, very big strokes, fast ones. So definitely going to be tough battle.

Q. You played Jen once but on a different surface. What do you consider to be the challenge of facing her on the hard courts here in Australia?

KAROLINA MUCHOVA: I will say the same as I said before. I think I will have to bring my A game to play with her because she is really playing amazing matches, having good season, even the last season so far.

Yeah, I look forward to that one. I will try to play my best.