AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 17, 2023

Linda Fruhvirtova

Press Conference

L. FRUHVIRTOVA/J. Fourlis

6-0, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us. We'll start questions in English before proceeding into national language.

Congratulations. Just talk us through how you found it out there today. How did you find the game today?

LINDA FRUHVIRTOVA: I found it good. The first match is always tricky. I'm glad I did it in two sets, especially with the heat and everything. I'm glad I finished on time because they suspended the play, like, 20 minutes after.

Yeah, I'm happy to get through, and I'm pretty satisfied with my performance today.

Q. I hate to be parochial, but from the Aussie press point of view, how do you feel about meeting Kim in the next round?

LINDA FRUHVIRTOVA: I just found out like an hour ago. Yeah, to be honest, I didn't expect it. I expected to be meet Kaia Kanepi, but I just played an Aussie and now, again. So, of course, she's playing at home, and she wants to win, but so do I. Yeah, I'm sure it's going to be great match. I'm excited.

Q. How does it feel to get the win, get your tournament started? Did you feel any pressure before this opening match, kind of knowing that you had a good chance to win there?

LINDA FRUHVIRTOVA: Well, I think there's always a little bit of pressure. Of course, you know, I was kind of the favorite with the ranking and everything, but she was playing at home, and, you know, she knows the court.

But, yeah, I mean, I believed in myself. I knew I did everything I could to perform well today, and, yeah, I just went for it.

Q. Who would you say, if anybody, you looked up to as a player when you -- you are still quite young, but maybe when you were even younger? And are there elements of certain tennis players' games, men or women, that you have watched and tried to add to your own game?

LINDA FRUHVIRTOVA: No, no, that's one thing we never really did, me or my sister, that we tried to copy some other player or kind of technically or, you know.

I mean, of course, when we were little, you know, Dad would just bring us to the courts and show us, you see how hard this girl is working, you know, this kind of stuff, you see how she's fighting. But not like she has this forehand, backswing so you have got to do the seam. No, never.

Q. Were there any particular players, though, that you watched and looked up to?

LINDA FRUHVIRTOVA: Well, I have always looked up to -- I love to watch Serena or Roger because, you know, the best ones (laughing).

Q. Linda, just a question for you before you, you know, crack top 100 back when you were kind of playing on the ITF circuit and things like that, quallies, 250s, et cetera, how did you and your team make decision with respect to scheduling? Like, deciding what tournaments to play, when to chase points, you know, at a bigger event, when to maybe play smaller ones? Can you talk me through a little bit of kind of the strategy of a young player trying to figure that out?

LINDA FRUHVIRTOVA: Yeah. I mean, I think it's pretty difficult because we have a lot of age limits. You know, the age eligibility or else we can't play that many tournaments. We were limited with the wild cards. So, yeah, it's not easy, and every player is different, you know. Every player goes their certain journey.

But I think for myself, we are trying to play the hard tournaments against good players, just get these hard matches in. You know, it's tough because you don't always win. You lose a lot, especially at the beginning. But, yeah, I think that's the process you have to go through. I'm happy for these experiences that I had.

In a funny way, I'm happy for some matches that I lost that I was able to learn from it a lot. Yeah. But every player is different, but yeah (laughing).

Q. How much did ranking points and chasing points because, like you said, you wouldn't have been able to play anything that you wanted? Did you feel a lot of pressure when you did play then that you had to, you know, seize that opportunity?

LINDA FRUHVIRTOVA: Yeah. I think these rules definitely add some more pressure because, you know, you lose first round and you are like, oh, one tournament, I can scratch it off. Yeah, but it is what it is. You've got to work with it and try to not focus on it and just do you.

Yeah, but it definitely adds a little bit more pressure, you know, because it's not like you lose first and say, oh, it's okay, I can play next week this tournament, you know.

Q. What aspect of yourself as a tennis player are you most proud of right now, and where would you like to improve the most?

LINDA FRUHVIRTOVA: Well, I'm going to say what I always say: I'm most proud of my attitude on the court and just the fighting spirit. You know, I've always been a fighter on the court. You know, I love competing. Yeah, I mean, every time I go out there, I just want to win. I want to do everything I can to get the win. Of course, you know, you lose some; you win some. But, yeah, definitely. I never give up, and I just go and fight.

But what I would like to improve, I think there's a lot to improve still, which is good, on the other hand. Still, you know, I'm pretty new on the tour, so I still have got to get some experiences against these older, stronger players. You know, they're stronger physically, so definitely work on my fitness still.

I think my game is pretty good. Of course, you just want to keep making it better and better. But, yeah, I trust in the process, and we'll see.

Q. What's been the most surprising thing for you kind of starting on the WTA Tour, playing more regularly on the top tour? Anything kind of, yeah, surprise you, take you off guard?

LINDA FRUHVIRTOVA: I think like in every sport, it's faster than in juniors. You don't get so many chances. You know, you've got to use the chances that you get because you don't get so many.

Yeah, I mean, sometimes the environment, it's different, you know. It's very individual. You know, everybody has their own team that they kind of -- yeah, I mean, like I say, I'm still new, I'm still finding things out. Yeah, everybody has their own team and just trying to stay in the team. They're pretty, like, close.

Everybody is different. But yeah, I would say it's definitely the game is faster, and it just keeps getting faster I think -- like, it's faster than it was ten years ago, a few years ago.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Now we'll move into national language.