MUBADALA CITI DC OPEN

August 3, 2024

Marie Bouzkova

Press Conference

M. BOUZKOVA/A. Sabalenka

6-4, 3-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Marie, a battle out there today. Can you share your thoughts on the match and also reaching the final.

MARIE BOUZKOVA: Yeah, it was a big battle. Obviously a lot of things happened with the rain delay also. So I'm just happy I was able to start really well in the third set and then just close it out. Yeah, playing quite well. I'm very pleased with the performance today.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What does it mean to you to be playing for your second title tomorrow?

MARIE BOUZKOVA: I mean, it's great. Playing the finals, it's always a privilege. Had to work really hard this week since the first round. So yeah, I'm really happy to make it all the way to the finals.

Actually my first level 500 also. So yeah, it's exciting. I'm looking already forward to tomorrow.

Q. How did you occupy yourself for almost four hours of rain?

MARIE BOUZKOVA: I got something to eat, took a shower, then was napping actually a lot throughout those four hours. Then just warmed up and was ready to play, yeah.

Q. At that point you were down a break. What did you have to do to mentally get yourself back?

MARIE BOUZKOVA: I was just telling myself to be aggressive from the start and just be really, really active on my feet, just have kind of like a quick start and see how I can play after that.

I think I returned pretty well tonight. Especially in the third set, I was able to neutralize her serve pretty well. That kept me alive.

Obviously I felt like I served pretty well, too, in the end.

Q. Feels like a while ago now the start of the match, all those hours ago. What was your mindset coming into the match and to have the strong start you had in the first set. When did you feel you settled into this?

MARIE BOUZKOVA: Well, so I started pretty well just at the start, so I couldn't start any better. I was just telling myself to kind of repeat the same after the rain delay, get going since the first game, fight for every point.

Then I got those breaks like I did in the first set right from the start. Then just tried to keep the momentum going. I think that was the key, that I was able to just get the momentum going the whole match once I got there.

Q. For the week as a whole, four match wins. How did you feel your play was coming into this week and if there's a theme or two from the week that has allowed you to get in position for the final?

MARIE BOUZKOVA: Well, I think since the first match, there's been a lot of battling on the court. I think there were a lot of important and difficult situations. I think I handled them pretty well since the first round.

Obviously I just think staying mentally tough this whole week kind of kept me going every match. Against Taylor, saved some set points. I know that doesn't happen every time.

Yeah, I'm happy I was able to stay strong in those moments, yeah, push through. Actually the first round was also a three-setter. So nothing easy. It's been pretty much a grind every match.

Q. A quick turnaround for tomorrow afternoon against Paula. Thoughts on that matchup, what's potentially at stake here for you?

MARIE BOUZKOVA: Well, yeah, I mean, she's aggressive player, same like Aryna. She serves very big. I will just try to mimic the game of today, play my game again. More than anything, do it for myself.

Just keep the momentum going, not just like in the match like today, but carry it into tomorrow. I think that will be important. Just kind of deal with the match, adapt to whatever I have to adapt tomorrow, and see how it goes.

Q. You had the Instagram post of your sightseeing day. Your first time here. What are your thoughts of the city outside of the court?

MARIE BOUZKOVA: Yeah, I enjoyed it. We came here pretty early. We came early, like Tuesday afternoon. Actually we did already sightseeing the same night we got here because we, like, didn't want to sleep. So yeah, we went outside, we explored the city.

With so many days here, I had some day off also. We went to the city and explore all the monuments actually around the basin. So that was really nice.

I enjoyed the city a lot. As you said, first time here being in the capital. It's really nice to explore new places, especially here. There's so much history. I like to explore new cultures.

It's nice to be here and be part of this, not just in this tournament, but to see the whole city as it is, yeah.