SYDNEY TENNIS CLASSIC

January 10, 2022

Anett Kontaveit

Press Conference

A. KONTAVEIT/S. Zhang

6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to Sydney. How does it feel to get that first win of the season under your belt?

ANETT KONTAVEIT: Thank you. Of course it feels very, very good. Very happy to be back on court and, you know, glad to transfer what I was doing in the offseason into the first match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Just wanted to get, first of all, a sense of kind of what everything looked like for you post-Guadalajara? How much time did you tell yourself to spend away from things and when did you start picking things up again?

ANETT KONTAVEIT: Yeah, I mean, it wasn't an easy time. I think my body took quite a while to recover from the end of the season. But, yeah, I mean, eventually I started training again, slowly got back into it.

But it wasn't like an easy, you know, just taking a few weeks off and then full of energy, getting back to training. It was like a bit of a slower process.

Q. What was your priority once the season finished? I know that you wanted physical recovery and things like that. Obviously it's always hard when we have a season just about to start. So how are you mentally managing, or philosophically, I guess, managing that balance of knowing it's a long season ahead, maybe feeling a little bit of kind of a physical hangover from the end of 2021? How do you balance it as the season begins?

ANETT KONTAVEIT: Yeah, I mean, I think it was a little stressful at some point. You know, I felt like I didn't have enough time to train, so I decided to start the year like a week later.

But I think, you know, I feel fresh now. My body took quite a while to recover, but I feel like, you know, once it did I was, you know, feeling better each day and getting my energy back. Now I feel like I'm really ready for the new season. My body feels good and full of energy again.

Q. Where is your head at with respect to goals for the next few weeks? Obviously this week in Sydney and then at the Australian Open, I mean, finishing the way that you did, do the expectations change with respect to what you want to see from yourself over the next few weeks?

ANETT KONTAVEIT: Definitely I think I have this bigger self-belief that I know I can go deep in these weeks and do well and play good tennis and competitive tennis against great players.

I think I have this inner confidence, but I'm not putting too much pressure on myself. The end of the season was physically very demanding, and although now I'm feeling good and ready to play again, it's going to be a new season and just really happy to be back competing and not expecting anything crazy of myself but taking it match by match and really feel like I have the self-belief that I can go far.

Q. What are you looking for in terms of now you've got a match under your belt, you get the win, but in terms of your tennis and everything, what are you looking for over the course of the next week to get yourself ready for the Australian Open? What are you looking for on court?

ANETT KONTAVEIT: I think the most important thing is to convert the things that me and Dmitry worked on a little bit in the offseason and trying to do those things as well as possible on court and just really focus on those, like, sort of game goals, not just think too much about the results. I think I'm really having fun with it. I'm having a good time on court, and I think that's also another main thing that's the most important for me.