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MERCURY INSURANCE OPEN

August 6, 2011

Andrea Petkovic

CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA

A. RADWANSKA/A. Petkovic
4-6, 6-0, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you tell us exactly what happened when you sprinted off the court so quickly? How long had you been feeling badly before then?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Yeah, well, I came on the court and actually I was shaking already in the beginning. I think I ate something wrong for lunch. I'm quite sure actually. And so I thought it was lack of energy. So I took a banana, and I thought it was going to be better, but actually it felt much worse.
So after the first set, I really felt drained and I felt like vomiting all the time. So when I was 3-All down, I told the umpire that I wanted to go to the bathroom because I needed to throw up. I think everybody heard it actually. She told me it's going to be on my time because it's right before Aga is serving. So I would get definitely a time violation.
I figured, Okay. That's why I half tanked the second set. I thought if I get through the second set, I can throw up - sorry - and I will have new energy because I know I would feel much better after that and I'm going to collect all my energy for the third set. That was my plan.
Unfortunately my plan didn't work out that well because at the point where I ran out, I couldn't hold it back anymore. So I didn't want to be on SportsCenter for the next 25 years (laughter).
So, yeah, I figured it was better to run off the court. That's the whole story. I don't think you want details from the bathroom.

Q. I would argue a guy would have up-chucked on the court and not cared about it.
ANDREA PETKOVIC: I'm not that big of a lady normally, but this was too much. I didn't want to do this in front of all the crowd. It's just gross so I figured it's better to run off the court.

Q. Did you feel better?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: I felt much, much better. I mean, the problem was I dropped intensity after the little incident. I had trouble finding back my focus and my intensity after that. But I felt much, much better. And I felt fine throughout the whole match. Afterwards, I felt sick again, but throughout the match I felt totally fine after that little incident.

Q. What did you eat for lunch?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: That's a good question. Actually, I talked to Aga. She told me she also felt bad. She actually just drank a half bottle of water throughout the whole match because she felt sick to her stomach.
I don't know. I just had some rice and there was some kind of meat. I'm not sure. I don't want to speculate. But when you think back of what you ate, you just feel sick, so that's why I think it's that.

Q. You said you dropped in intensity, left the court. Then you made a good push at the end actually. Talk about that.
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Yeah, you know, the problem when I dropped my intensity was that I wasn't able to stick through the long rallies with Aga anymore. I think she played well in these points because she didn't give me any free points. Maybe with a few free points I would have came back earlier, but she didn't give me any free points at all. I think she did her job really well at this time.
Well, that's something I definitely need to work on. I mean, these things can happen. It can happen in a quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, it can happen somewhere. It's not a big deal. It's just a thing that I need to get up my intensity quicker or even just maybe playing three or four bad games, then I need to pick up that intensity again.
I needed, what, almost five, six, seven games. That is definitely too much. I mean, I came back and it was fine. But maybe one game earlier and I could have turned around the match. Yeah, I still feel disappointed.

Q. It looked like you ran faster off the court than you were during some rallies. Do you feel that way?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: That's a good point. Probably it was like that, yeah (laughter). Maybe I have to work on imagining what I felt at that point and then rushing to every ball as quick as possible. Maybe that will improve my footwork. That's a good advice.

Q. Had that ever happened to you in a match before?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Never. I'm thinking, I mean, I didn't feel always at my best or at a hundred percent, but I never felt sick to my stomach and I never had the feeling of throwing up. So definitely a premiere and a good experience, I guess.

Q. It looked like you were wobbly.
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, I told her immediately I need to throw up. The trainer gave me something against it. It didn't help, obviously. And I told them, I don't feel dizzy at all. I didn't feel like the heat struck me. You know, sometimes the heat can struck. But I felt fine. I just felt this big stone in my stomach that needed to get out. I told them, Listen, I actually just feel fine, I just need to go to the bathroom as quick as possible.
So that's why I'm also quite sure that it was something that I ate and not heat or anything else, because I felt fine also afterwards. I felt okay. It was just this little thing that needed to get out of me.

Q. When she served for the match, by then you were playing much better. Did you feel like if you could have broken her there...
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Yeah, definitely. I mean, also at 4-3 I think it was 30-All, she played a good game there. She served a few first serves and she hit some winners. She played a good game there. I really felt like I had her at the edge of turning the match around.
So I kept pushing. I really believed until the end that I could turn this match around. Yeah, I mean, next time will be better. Next time.

Q. Ana is a good friend of yours. She's struggled this year. Talk about some of the things you like about her, maybe reflect on her struggles. Do you have confidence she's going to push through and become a great player again?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Yeah, I'm sure actually. Because, you know, her good thing and her problem sometimes is that she thinks a lot. But that can also be to your advantage because she really learns from her mistakes and she learns from what's going wrong. She always makes some adjustments.
Sometimes they can be a little confusing throughout the season. But normally, you know, you learn from your mistakes. I've known Ana for maybe seven or eight years and she always learns from her mistakes and she always improved.
I really feel like now, because we practiced a few times before the tournament, there's a good vibe in the team and she feels much safer, more stable. That's an important part. Before I didn't feel like she had this stableness around her, and now I think she feels very safe.
I was not surprised at all that she's playing better now, yeah, because I felt the improvement. I saw her match against Morita, the second set. I saw from 5-1 down. She played incredible tennis. I really feel like she's back on track.
She's a fighter. She fought through so many tough situations. So I believe she's going to be a top player again. She is a top player. I think she's going to have the results she deserves.

Q. Looking back on this tournament, you've played really good. Next week you're going to be in the top 10. Talk a little bit about how you feel about that.
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Well, you know, already before the tournament started people were telling me, You're going to be top 10 next week. I wanted to prove that and underline that with my performance on court. I feel like I've been hitting the ball well. I made some improvements. I improved changing the rhythm in the rallies. I'm improving. I'm still improving.
It's a great achievement, you know, for me, becoming a top 10 player. I think it's a great success for me. But I also still believe that I have so much more work to do, that I have still so many more things to improve.
As I said, I'm still at the beginning of my crossroads, and I hope that it's going to be even better in the future. But there are definitely a lot of things that I need to work on, although I was playing well this week, moving well, hitting the ball well, I was running off the court really well (laughter), so...

Q. Pete Sampras was on SportsCenter once. You didn't want to be like Pete?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: No, I didn't want to be on SportsCenter at all for this kind of thing. I think guys are really different in those kinds of things. For me, I felt so embarrassed. The last two points I was like, Okay, what are you going to do? Is what more embarrassing running off the court like a maniac or throwing up on the court and being on SportsCenter for the next 25 years? It was like, Yeah, running off the court is better, so that's what I did.

Q. After Wimbledon, how do you judge where your game is?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Actually I had a good first half the season, but after Wimbledon I felt really bad because I played horrible in Wimbledon, even though I don't know how I made it through the third round, but I played really horrible tennis. That needed to go.
I took five days off. Then I really worked six, seven hours a day. I know for some players that may be too much, but I really need it. I feel better. I feel better on court. I feel like I can survive anything. Even this today I can get through those kind of things because I just feel really strong. The base for this I put in my off-seasons. Also when I came to Australia, I played finals in Brisbane because I just felt so strong after the off-season.
It's just something I need, you know. Players are different. I know some players who don't practice as much, maybe they have a better hand than I do. But with work you can achieve so much and even more sometimes. That's just my attitude.

Q. Are there any 'what ifs' in this situation?
ANDREA PETKOVIC: Of course, there's always. The worst feeling is afterwards when you feel better, you're like, Was it really that bad? Couldn't you maybe have pushed through? Couldn't you hold it back? Couldn't you toughen it out maybe? That's the worst questions that go through your mind. Obviously when you feel better, you don't remember how bad you felt at that point. So you're like, Yeah, why are you such a wuss, why didn't you toughen it out and push through it? I think that's the worst feeling.
Today it was okay because I sort of made a little comeback. Sometimes when the match just slips away, it's even worse. But today I still felt like I could have turned the match around.

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