US OPEN

September 3, 2022

Karolina Pliskova

Press Conference

K. PLISKOVA/B. Bencic

5-7, 6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Three sets, come from behind, two and a half hours. Your thoughts on your play and the victory.

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, close one. Even the first set I think I was definitely close to winning. But there I think I was not playing my best tennis. Maybe too slow for her. She was more aggressive.

Somehow I changed little bit all of this in the second set. I start to serve much better. After the match was open. But obviously all sets were super close. I mean, she's tough. We never really played. We just played one match. Yeah, tough match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It seemed like it was a very physical win for you. I saw Jez Green in your box. Do you feel like this type of match is precisely what that training block was built for?

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, for sure. Lately I think I had many of matches like this. I always played lot of three-setters somehow in my life. I just don't know how to do it in two (smiling).

Yeah, I felt great. The physical part for me now, at least I don't have to worry about that, which is always big plus because you worry sometimes about too many things, like what to play, what the opponent is playing. If you still have to worry if you can't actually hold the level for three hours. This I don't have to worry about, which is great.

I think I was moving really well. I think I could really be much more aggressive in the first set. Somehow, yeah, it was not really there today. I think I was playing a bit faster the last two matches than I was today.

Anyway, found a way. I could play actually longer. Also the conditions, they were not, like, tough. I think the first round was much more tougher for me to somehow survive than this one.

Q. It seemed like you were willing to play a lot of defense late in that third set. Were you impressed how well you held up physically and how well the defense was paying off?

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I think sometimes you just have to use, like, all kind of games which you have. This is really not, like, my game to play defense. But sometimes I think she really played well, especially from the backhand. She was playing deep so there was not much I could actually do about that.

Of course, still I want to attack. I just had the feeling I was winning most of the long rallies, especially if I went a little bit more to her forehand. I was not waiting for mistake, but still trying to be aggressive, but not really like overplaying it.

I was feeling like, physically, as I said, fine. It was not planned that I want to play long rallies and just to defend. Somehow the match was like that.

Then of course in the third set was a bit like nervous. We were both, like, losing serves a bit. It was a bit, like, close. Yeah, so, I mean, maybe I just played little bit more, like, passive than I would sometimes play.

Yeah, that's how it was.

Q. I know you wish you would have been able to play more matches this year. Does a win like this count for maybe two or three matches playing against someone that good?

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Honestly, I don't really count matches and, like, victories and losses.

Of course, these kind of matches helps you to feel better. Then, of course, if you overcome some of these situations, you somehow become stronger and you feel more confident. That's how it is. There is no secret to this.

Lately in the summer I was just trying to find my game back. I think it's actually there. Now I can say I play I think the best tennis I was playing this year so far. There was not much good tennis from me (smiling).

But anyway, I'm just happy with my level. Of course, I think matches like this can only help.

Q. Victoria Azarenka came in here earlier and raised the subject away from the matches. She was talking about, inspired by the Fiona Ferro case, coaches and players, how the tour is concerned that some coaches are manipulative or exploit their young players. She was saying the tour needs to do more about it. You've been on the tour for a long time. Is it something you talk about with your team, something you see around the game, whether you agree with her?

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: What is the problem? What are the coaches doing wrong?

Q. There's coaches, she said, that are manipulating players, taking advantage of young players. I think she was inspired by the story that came out about Fiona Ferro, the French player, this week.

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I didn't hear any story about Fiona Ferro, so I don't know what is going on. I don't know.

Yeah, okay. I don't think there is a problem in this. I don't think the tour can actually do something about this. I think it's about the players.

Of course, some of them, they are super young. They maybe don't have many choices. But they still have parents. I think they have enough people around themselves to somehow handle this situation.

I think what the tour can do, they cannot just go, like, inside. This is like a team thing, this is almost like a family. They cannot just go there and say, Okay, you are too much.

I don't think there is a way. I don't think somebody should, like, speak in it. But maybe of course to have somebody who can help in case you feel like you just need to speak about some things. I think actually there is at every tournament I think now some, like, mental coach or somebody. I think there is.

But I think this was always like here. And of course some of the coaches, maybe they take it little bit more seriously. I don't know. There is many relationships also between players and coaches. It's like that.

Actually I don't know what I think about this. Sorry (laughter).

Q. It's a very difficult issue, but with the WTA, do you not feel like they have kind of a responsibility to maybe do more? People like Pam Shriver have spoken out about her experience however many decades ago, said maybe not that much has been done since.

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I don't have a feeling. Maybe this is my feeling. I never had this kind of issue. I'm a person which I always, like, take everything super professional. With my coach, with my physio, I have my team. I changed plenty of coaches. I always had, like, just professional.

If I would think, Okay, maybe he's too much speaking about my private life, maybe he's too much in this, then for me this is over or I speak to him. This is me. This is how I handle things.

Of course, I understand that not all the girls are like this. Maybe they are too young. But I think you have to maybe speak to your parents or some managers. I don't know if, like, WTA can really do something about this.

If they don't know much or they don't know what is going on, they don't know if the players, they need help or not. I don't think this is, like, their problem. I think this is the problem of the coach and the player. Then the people who are around the player, yeah.

Q. Playing Vika on a tennis court, talk about the challenge.

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Challenging for sure. We didn't play for a couple years I think. Of course, we had many, many matches. I don't remember actually the last one. It maybe was somewhere in Rome or something like that, I think somewhere on clay. It could be like two, three years since we played last match.

I mean, obviously I had some great matches against her. In Brisbane, I remember. I don't remember if we actually met on Grand Slam yet. I don't think so.

She's, of course, great player. She has many up and downs also in her career. I think she's super stable at the moment. She's not really, like, winning titles, but also she never, like, lose early in the tournaments. Especially on hard courts, I think she's stronger.

Yeah, I think similar: I have to be aggressive. If she is, then I don't want to run. The serve is going to be the key. I know she can sometimes serve well, sometimes not so great. I need to take advantage of that.

I think it's actually similar matchup to with Bencic. Both much better backhands. Yeah, the tactic is going to be similar.