MUTUA MADRID OPEN

April 30, 2021

Anett Kontaveit

Press Conference

A. KONTAVEIT/N. Stojanovic

7-6, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you talk us through the match a little bit? How was your health, by the way? You told me in Stuttgart that your body had kind of given out on you the other day in your semifinal. How did you feel today?

ANETT KONTAVEIT: Actually, the whole preparation for this tournament was a little bit slow. You know, my body took actually quite a while to recover from that last match, but today, I mean, my shoulder was fine. It wasn't aching. My back was fine.

Just a few muscle sorenesses, but other than that it was okay. So, you know, maybe my energy wasn't 100% there, but I think I have another day off now and hopefully it's gonna be fine for the next match.

But I think overall, the match, it was very close. There was so many close games. I wish my serve worked better than it did, but, yeah, I mean, I'm very happy that I managed to get through a tough match like that. And I think Nina played a very competitive match and it was a very close one. So I'm happy that I managed to get through it in two sets in the end. It was a very long match for a two-set match. I think it was over two hours.

Yeah, it was tough. I think the clay of course outdoors is a little bit different than it is in Stuttgart, so that has its effect, as well. But I'm glad I got through it and, you know, of course I felt like there were things I could have done better, but a win is a win (smiling).

Q. Looking ahead to the second round, I believe you play Maria Sakkari. Your thoughts on that?

ANETT KONTAVEIT: Yeah, we have had some close battles, and we played each other in Australia. Yeah, it's going to be very tough. I mean, she's playing really good tennis. She did so well in Miami.

I also, when I'm out of the tournament, I always cheer for Maria. Yeah, she's a very good player and it's going to be very tough. I think we always have competitive matches, which is nice. You know, of course she's looking to get a revenge from Australia, but I'm also, you know, hoping to do well and want to be playing a bit better than I did today.