BILLIE JEAN KING CUP

November 12, 2024

Matej Liptak

Rebecca Sramkova

Viktoria Hruncakova

Tereza Mihalikova

Anna Karolina Schmiedlova

Renata Jamrichova

Team Slovakia

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Hello, everyone. Let's start the press conference with Team Slovakia. We will start with English questions, please.

Q. Welcome to Malaga. Nice to see you all. Anna, how nice is it for Slovakia to be back in the Finals after missing out last year? You there in 2022. How much are you looking forward to it this time around?

ANNA KAROLINA SCHMIEDLOVA: Well, I'm extremely happy to be here again. I think all of us are really grateful to be in the Finals. Well, we enjoy it, and I hope we will play as good as we can.

Q. Rebecca, what's the feeling about playing USA? Obviously a strong team, but how much anticipation is there ahead of that tie?

REBECCA SRAMKOVA: I think the Billie Jean King Cup is different competition than the tournaments during the whole year, so I think every match is open. We can just try to do our best.

Q. Captain, what are your hopes and expectations or aspirations this week for your team?

CAPTAIN MATEJ LIPTAK: We have I think no expectation. We just go for a big challenge.

I think our country maybe is the smallest country here in this competition. So for us, there is really big honor and some special feeling that we are here, the part of these teams and countries. We go to the match and we are looking forward, and I hope that we can make some surprise.

Q. Viktoria, being sort of the smallest country, as your captain just said, is that a source of inspiration and motivation to land some blows this week, I suppose?

VIKTORIA HRUNCAKOVA: Yeah, I think it is, and I also think that it's about the team. The girls, we are very good friends, so I think it's also about that. We are the small country, but we have a big heart and we can go out there and do our best, and for sure we will.

Q. Renata, just a quick question. You have had some lovely moments playing for your nation. You've had two brilliant wins. Can you take me back to the moments of victory, and what was it like when you won those two matches?

RENATA JAMRICHOVA: I mean, it was amazing for me to play for the first time in front of the home crowd in Bratislava, but this is a bit different. All the big players are here, and I'm just super grateful to be nominated and practicing with the girls.