PORSCHE TENNIS GRAND PRIX

April 16, 2024

Tatjana Maria

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome, Tatjana. Welcome back to Stuttgart. How are you feeling before the tournament?

TATJANA MARIA: Yeah, I'm feeling good. I mean, like everybody knows, we just arrived yesterday evening, so it's, yeah, pretty short. We have all a little bit of jet lag.

But, yeah, we try our best to get ready as good as possible, yeah, for the matches.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Can you just explain a little bit more, obviously you had a great win there in Brazil, but a little bit about how you're feeling and how your practice was today.

TATJANA MARIA: Yeah, I mean, we had an amazing week in Brazil. We had a great team. It was a great atmosphere. The atmosphere actually was amazing. So many people watching in the stadium. Of course they were against us (smiling), but yeah, it was amazing to play in front of such a nice crowd.

Yeah, thankfully, I mean, we could take the plane right away after the matches. This was also not sure, but yeah, we arrived yesterday evening.

I had a good night. I practiced well today. Yeah, I tried to recover as best as possible to be ready for the match.

Q. When I was watching you today, and I was thinking about you on the grass and on the clay, and seeing you practice today on the clay, you've got a pretty unique style, let's say, at least in the top 100 at the moment. Do you hit more slices on the grass than you would on the clay? It seemed to me as though in practice today you were actually hitting some nice forehands, for example.

TATJANA MARIA: Yeah, I mean, in practice in general I hit more spin than in my matches, but for sure I have to play more spin on clay than on grass.

I mean, on grass I can play pretty much only slice, is not my goal, but in the end, on clay I have to mix it up. The bounce is a little bit higher, it's a little bit slower.

Yeah, my goal is to mix it up more and to play of course my slice, it will always be part of my game, but the mix, it's good.