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SONY ERICSSON OPEN

March 31, 2011

Andrea Petkovic

MIAMI, FLORIDA

M. SHARAPOVA/A. Petkovic
3-6, 6-0, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You started out very strong today and played very well. Can you tell us a little bit about what happened?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Yeah, well, I felt like I was playing well in the first set. It was very windy, and I think I got away with it quite well.
In the second set, on one hand, I felt like Maria really stepped up her game; on the other hand, there were so many close games, deuce, advantage, advantage, so many breakpoints, game points, and I didn't manage to stay close to her. All of sudden, it was 3-0, 4-0, 5-0. A champion like Maria goes with it and starts to play much better.
By the end of second set I was getting frustrated with myself because I felt my energy slowly slipping away. Of course I'm in a semifinal I want to win this, so it's like a little dialog inside of you. You're like, Come on, you can win this, but your body is like, No, I don't want to.
So, yeah, I was fighting with myself inside. In the third set, as I said, my energy was slipping away. A champion like Maria, she just feels any kind of weakness, and she just played much, much better. It was very tough for me to get inside the match.

Q. Was there any fatigue from the past matches?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: I think so, yes. I think it was definitely. But on the other hand, I was telling myself she also had a three-and-a-half hour match. She must be feeling tired, too. You're not the only one who's tired here, so come on, move your ass. Sorry.
Just when you get into the state it's really tough to get out of it, but I think at least I tried my best.

Q. Do you have any problem in your shoulder?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: It's not my shoulder. I felt like -- well, I talked to my physio, and I think I had a blocked rib because I couldn't breathe and I couldn't really sit straight.
But it's not like the main thing. In the end it's just a puzzle in the whole picture. You know, feeling tired, and then it's just a little thing that's distracting and disturbing.
But I think also if I was 100% -- Maria played so well in the third and second set that it would have been tough anyway, so it has nothing to do with that.

Q. Can you compare Maria today and Australian Open?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, it's tough to compare her, because, you know, I also didn't manage to play well the whole match. Last time when we played in Australia I was really on fire from the first to the last point. Today I really lost my intensity in the second set.
But I definitely feel like she played much better than -- especially -- you know, the thing is the top 10 players or the champions, they just feel any kind of weakness that. Even if you're not showing it or you think you're not showing it, they just feel it. That's what makes them so much better.
So I really think she felt it and she went for it and she exploited it. That's what she has to do.

Q. Why do you feel you lost your intensity?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, as I said before, I think it was also a little fatigue of the matches before. But, um, also I think the fact that I got frustrated with myself because of first four or five games that were so close every time and I didn't manage to win one.
So I was getting really frustrated because I already thought that it might be tough for me in the third set to step up the game.
So I really want to win that second set. But, well, that's just the way it goes sometimes.

Q. What is Maria's best quality, do you feel?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, I feel like of course her strokes, she has so much power from both sides. I feel like she has one of the best return games in the tennis game right now.
Also, you know, what I said, this mental ability. Her just feeling the weaknesses of the others and just going for it when it's important, I think that's the difference actually in the end between the Grand Slam champions and the other top 10 players maybe.

Q. How would you describe your whole week here?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, right now I'm still a little disappointed, and I think I still -- I will feel empty the next two or three days trying to work things out. But I think after a week maybe or so I will be able to look at it, at the positive things, and I think I will gain a lot confidence from especially the two victories of Caroline and Jelena.
I think it was the next step for me, beating two top 10 in a row. I showed some good tennis, you know, on peaks and points. But if I really want to go there where -- if I really want to reach the goals I have set for myself, I need to step -- to keep up my consistency.
I think this was the first week or this was the first tournament where I really showed that. That's the main goal for the future for me, to keep it up.

Q. You said you felt some fatigue. Going into the third set, did you mentally feel that you were still in it, or did you feel it slipping away? How did you feel at that point?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: I felt it slipping away. But as I said, it was like a fight inside of myself. I was talking to myself and telling myself, Come on, she played three and a half hours. She must be tired, too. Don't be such a...
So I just, yeah, kept talking to myself. Right in the end when you feel like, okay, you might be losing, this is when the time comes when you're really like, Okay, I really don't want to lose this. I also felt her getting a little tight, so I felt like I could still turn it around. And also, when my coach came out he was like, Come on, you can still do this; you can still do this.
I think that's important , you know, playing such a great champion and believing until the end. Even if you are down 5-0 in the third, still believing to the end that you can turn this around.

Q. You're going to be in the top 20 for the first time in your career. Obviously it's consistency, so I guess the next step is get to the top 10.
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, it's definitely hard work. I'm one of the girls that works the hardest. I do everything I can to be at the top. I needed some experience and some confidence also to believe -- you know, there are two types players I always find. I think there are the types of player who are just there and have this confidence, and others who gain confidence from experience and from matches.
I'm the second type of player. I need matches and I need experience to gain the confidence. I really started believing in my ability as a top player during this week. Also already before, but this was really like the confirmation for it.
So as I said, I just need to keep -- you know what? The good thing is I beat these players and I'm on the court and I feel like, Man, I still have 105 things to improve.
I think that's a good sign when you still have so many things that you want to improve, that you need to improve, and just each and every day you go out on the court and you feel like, Okay, I have to work on this; the next day it's something else. I think that's a good sign for me and for the future.

Q. You have a lot bracelets? Any special meaning? And no rings.
ANDREA PETKOVIC: No, no rings, and no special meanings also. Just maybe one. This was a hair tie that I had -- no, really. But this was the hair tie when I played the worst tennis of my life. Every time when I get frustrated with myself, I look at it and I say, Okay, it was much worse. That's a good motivation sometimes.

Q. Is the dance officially retired, or is Djokovic stealing the dance?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: I hope so. He told me he was going to do it. I saw him in Indian Wells doing like some kind of it, but this was not really the Petko Dance. So I really hope he steps up his game.
Yeah, Petko Dance from Petko is retired. I don't know if any other players will try to involve them in their games. I would be very happy to see it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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