BILLIE JEAN KING CUP

November 8, 2022

Harriet Dart

Team Great Britain

Emirates Arena

Press Conference

E. RYBAKINA/H. Dart

6-1, 6-4

Team Kazakhstan - 2

Team Great Britain - 0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Playing the Wimbledon champion, I expect you imagined it was going to be tough. She played a high level, do you think?

HARRIET DART: Yeah, look, I think she's an incredible player. She's Wimbledon champion for a reason, and she brought a very high level from the start. I thought she played a very clean match.

I think I did have a few chances in the second set to bring a bit my way and didn't take them and the match was gone. That's about it.

Q. Tough start. What does the team have to do to turn it around for the second match?

HARRIET DART: Are you talking about my match, or...

Q. The whole...

HARRIET DART: The tie?

Q. Yeah, the tie having gone. What does GB have to do to turn it around for Spain?

HARRIET DART: Just got to keep being positive. We've still got a match to play for, and, well, how I see it it's very much still alive. We've just gotta keep being positive, putting in some good performances out there. All we can do is give our very best and whatever happens happens.

Q. Could you just tell us a bit about the conditions out there? That court has obviously been down for a couple of weeks, so it might actually be quicker than most indoor courts. But I don't know how you found it today.

HARRIET DART: I mean, she was serving at 125, so it was feeling quite fast (smiling).

It's funny, the first day we arrived and we practiced on it, I did find the courts quite slow and sticky, but I think as more players have practiced on it and obviously there has been matches this morning and then our matches, the courts have definitely sped up as well.

With the balls, playing with Wilson, it's flying a bit. But again, when she's serving at 125, I think it's always going to be challenging.

Q. It was a bit, not a weird atmosphere, but obviously the Kazakhs have got sort of a professional support with them as far as I can tell.

HARRIET DART: A good drum guy, yeah. Every tie he's there. He's dedicated.

Q. I guess you weren't surprised by it because you've played Kazakhstan before, but did it feel completely like a home tie or kind of like something different?

HARRIET DART: Yeah, look, we are so fortunate to be able to have the finals here in Glasgow, and we are also so fortunate to have a place here.

We did lose our tie in April, so, you know, to be able to play in front of a lot of kids as well, you know, walking on the court, I always have goosebumps with "Great Britain" on the back. It's so nice to hear lots of kids shouting my name (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: Might just check, but I'm pretty sure the court was resurfaced after the men's tie. We will get that confirmation.

Q. Looking ahead to Thursday, how much encouragement can you take from the way you fought back in that second set? As you say, it was very tight, wasn't it? It could have gone all the way?

HARRIET DART: Look, I really don't think I played that bad. I mean, I thought that she kind of took things into her own hands, and she's definitely one of the few players on the tour that can kind of take the match out of your hands, as you say.

Yeah, I think the second set I was right in there and there was a couple of points here or there, couple mistakes that I definitely need to clean up on. But for sure it's all encouraging.

Q. What do you make of the format here? It's all over very quickly, isn't it? That were Kazakhstan to beat Spain tomorrow night, you'd actually be out before you even played your final tie?

HARRIET DART: It is slightly weird, I guess, but I guess it's for everyone in the group stages, right? It's not just us.

We've got our doubles rubber still to play for, and I truly think everything is to play for, and their match tomorrow against Spain is completely out of our control, so we can only focus on ourselves and keep being positive, you know, put on a good performance tonight in the doubles and carry that on to the practice court tomorrow.