WTA FINALS

November 10, 2021

Anett Kontaveit

Press Conference

A. KONTAVEIT/B. Krejcikova

6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Anett, would you tell us how you felt on the court today and your strong start here in Guadalajara.

ANETT KONTAVEIT: Yeah, I'm definitely very thrilled to get the win. It was a very tough match. I mean, I was trying to play as many balls back as possible, as it does fly a little bit. I think I managed to win a lot of points on my first serves once they actually went in.

Those are the things I was pretty pleased with today.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Your strong numbers on serve, you didn't face any breakpoints today. And about your season, you have a very consistent career, but in which moment you find out that things started to click to you?

ANETT KONTAVEIT: Yeah, I mean, I think I managed to do a good job. The tennis is pretty fast here, so it was important to make a first serve. I wish I made a lot more first serves. But once it did go in, I managed to win a lot of points which was very important I think today.

Yeah, I think throughout my career, I mean, I've been in sort of top 30 for a lot of years now. During the summer I was on a bit of a losing streak, then I started working with Dmitry and was really hoping to get a few wins. I managed to win Cleveland, then it just sort of started rolling from there.

I've been believing in myself a little bit more, and the game definitely has clicked from just getting more wins and playing a lot of tennis and really feeling comfortable, enjoying playing tennis.

Q. Have you ever worked with a sports psychologist? If so, when did you start? Why did you start? What are the valuable lessons one can take?

ANETT KONTAVEIT: I have previously worked with a sports psychologist from home in Estonia. Yeah, I mean, I think when I was younger my mind wandered a lot during matches. It was tough to sometimes just focus on the things that you have to do. Maybe I was thinking about the results a lot. It's very easy to lose that sort of focus on the right things during a match.

I mean, it did help. I think also it takes a lot of work with yourself to get through these things. For some players I think it's time to mature, understand what you're doing, understand yourself a bit better. I think that's an important thing in a player's career.

Q. Everybody has been talking about how they've been struggling with controlling the ball, the ball flies. You finished your match today with more winners than unforced errors. Talk about how you felt you approached the match to end up with that stat line today.

ANETT KONTAVEIT: It does fly here, like you said. I was really trying to focus on just making as many balls as possible, not to go for shots that are too risky or just don't feel comfortable. That was definitely one of the main goals, just to get some margin but still try to be aggressive, control it as much as possible.