BILLIE JEAN KING CUP

November 11, 2022

Heinz Guenthardt

Team Switzerland

Emirates Arena

Press Conference

FERNANDEZ-DABROWSKI/Teichmann-Waltert

6-2, 6-1

Team Switzerland - 2

Team Canada - 1

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Congratulations. Just to go right back to the start of the day, can you talk through the process of choosing Golubic ahead of Teichmann in the first singles? What was the thought process behind that?

CAPTAIN GUENTHARDT: That she's an extremely good tennis player. That's the main thought process behind it. She usually does play very well in Fed Cup for Switzerland, if you look at the results she's had. So I know she will go out there and she will perform. I mean, obviously she's not going to win every match, but to beat her, the opponent has to play very, very well.

I just felt that her game matches well with Andreescu's game, because she naturally varies her spins and the speed and things like that, which I think makes it a little more difficult for Bianca to play her game that she likes.

Q. How were you feeling when she was a set down?

CAPTAIN GUENTHARDT: Well, she didn't play very well in the first set. I mean, Bianca played very well, but the main problem was the serve, which obviously is her weakness. She served so poorly, she was so focused on the serve, that the rest of the game wasn't there either.

It was very important to get a better attitude for the serve mainly. Instead of worrying about the toss and how I'm going to do it, more on the task at hand. Instead of just trying to get it into the court, try to hit it with a particular spin at a particular spot. Doing that, you get a much better attitude and you don't start focusing on movement, which is impossible. You can't move fluidly when you focus on movement.

Luckily she had a good start into the second set. I can't remember the first game, but I just felt like, okay, now we are playing. Once you play, you win or you lose, that fine. It would have been unfortunate to go out the way she played in the first set.

Q. Viktorija said that she really talks to herself quite a lot in the match, and she finds it really useful in Billie Jean King Cup to have someone on the bench to talk to. Your role as a captain obviously kind of depends on the player, I guess, a bit. Can you talk about the difference between Viktorija, Belinda, and Jil in terms of how much they like to talk to you and how much input you give? Do you have to adjust?

CAPTAIN GUENTHARDT: Yeah, it varies a lot. You know what I'm saying? It's about walking out there with the right energy. Sometimes being quiet is the right thing.

It's almost like you talk about motivation levels. I mean, if they are too tight, sometimes it's just about relaxing. It's hard to relax if somebody tells you 50 different things to do. But at times you're also too low.

I think that Viki was a little bit too low in the first set. Stay calm, stay calm, don't panic. My serve? No, you're too calm. That's when we got to, Hey, why don't you scream it out a little bit. Sometimes when you're fearful, trying to be aggressive, screaming is like the old Indians going to the war, that might make a difference.

You know, this game, small differences make a huge difference in the end. You could possibly try to analyze what happened out there, but honestly, no one really knows. That's why this game is so great.

What made the difference? Well, a few points here or there. Maybe a little bit of this, a little bit of that. All kinds of things.

My job, the way I see it, is trying to feel the energy and try to give something or the opposite, try to calm it down. That's pretty much the point.

The other thing is sometimes it's not so important what you do, but you do it with conviction. So if you say something as a player, and the coach goes, Maybe it's not a good idea, maybe you should do something else, that's maybe not the way to do it, even though that's not the greatest of ideas. But if they have an idea and they believe in it and you confirm, saying, That's an excellent idea, they might do it with conviction and they play better.

Q. What was your assessment of Belinda's performance today?

CAPTAIN GUENTHARDT: Well, you cannot possibly play a better first set than she did. I don't think she missed a point.

Plus I think they played several times, and Leylah had an idea how usually Belinda likes to play, so she got wrong-footed all the time in the beginning, because Belinda played slightly different, much more crosscourt than she usually does. Then after a while, of course, Leylah adjusted. Okay, she's playing crosscourt, I'm staying in that corner, I'm covering it.

You know, I had a feeling it wasn't going to go two sets like that. But I think Belinda played about as good a first set as I have seen her play.

Q. This was a really tough tie against a team with real quality players. Do you feel like you have made a bit of a statement today?

CAPTAIN GUENTHARDT: Well, you need to make a statement every day in this competition. I mean, it's not about ranking once you're out there, because you can't take your ranking. It's about playing the ball that comes and believing in what you're doing. I think everyone is trying to win this title here because it's huge.

You know, you have to be at your very best when it counts, you know. So far, so good. Again, why did Jil Teichmann serve an ace when she was down match point against Italy? I have no idea what she found there, but man, does that make a difference (smiling).

Q. Who do you think you'll play in the semifinals?

CAPTAIN GUENTHARDT: It's pretty even, isn't it? I have no idea, but I'm certainly going to watch it.