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NEW HAVEN OPEN AT YALE

August 26, 2011

Petra Cetkovska

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT

P. CETKOVSKA/N. Li
6-2, 5-7, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Petra.

Q. You seemed to have this so well in hand early in the second set. You weren't able to put her away. Were you nervous when you got all those match points or what happened?
PETRA CETKOVSKA: Yeah, at first I got really nervous. I was really stressed. It was really difficult for me to control my movements. The hand, the legs, everything was slowed down, yeah.
It's life. It's tennis. There are a lot of emotions. But I'm really happy in the end that I could have fight with my emotions and be able to win this match.

Q. Can you talk about what you were saying to yourself when you were facing match point from her?
PETRA CETKOVSKA: I was just trying to stay calm because it was just a couple minutes ago it was me who had match points, now it's her. I was just trying to tell myself to stay calm, to stay here, that maybe it might be me again in a couple minutes to have another one.

Q. Talk about the thrill for you to make it through qualifying and now end up here in the finals.
PETRA CETKOVSKA: Yeah, it's amazing. I'm really happy about it. If somebody told me that before this tournament, I don't think I would believe it. But since the beginning, I really like the conditions and I was just happy to play every single match, yeah.

Q. Winning seven matches in a row now, two and a half hours today, how much is fatigue a worry for you tomorrow?
PETRA CETKOVSKA: Well, of course, I will be tired tomorrow. That wouldn't be human if I was not.
But I'm going to go see the physio, have a massage. I will do everything I can to be as fit as possible for tomorrow. But, of course, there will be a certain level of fatigue.

Q. What has happened to your game since Wimbledon? It seems like you're on a roll. Have you changed something?
PETRA CETKOVSKA: There are several things that have changed. But I think the most important is my concentration. I'm really focused. This is really important in tennis.

Q. Does that just come from maturity? After your French Open fourth round years ago, you just didn't have the focus to stay with it and build on that.
PETRA CETKOVSKA: No, I did not. I was fighting a lot with myself. It was for me the first time I entered the top 50. I was panicking a little bit. I didn't know what to do with that.
Yeah, so I was putting too much pressure on me. I wanted to do well too much. Yeah, so now I gained this experience and I know what not to do anymore. I hope it will be fine.

Q. Did you talk to someone about that or did you just eventually figure it out on your own?
PETRA CETKOVSKA: No, I mean, these kind of things you can't really figure out on your own. You always need someone around you. I'm very lucky to work with my coach. It's going to be one and a half year now. We've been really talking a lot together about a lot of things, about the psychic.
This takes a lot of time. This doesn't come one day to another. But there are little progressions, yeah. So it took me quite a lot of time, but I understood some things. Yeah, that helped me a lot.

Q. Is tennis at this level as much mental as it is physical?
PETRA CETKOVSKA: Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is mental, physical, yeah. Because I think everybody, today's level of tennis is very, very high. All the girls play really well. Yeah, doesn't matter if the girl is ranked 50 or 65 or 100, everybody knows how to play tennis today. Then there are differences in the physic and in the head, the psychic side.

Q. What would a championship here mean for you?
PETRA CETKOVSKA: I mean, it would mean a lot. It would be my first ever. I would be really happy about that. It's not done. There is still one match to play.
I will do my best, yeah.

Q. How much encouragement and inspiration did you get with Kvitova winning at Wimbledon?
PETRA CETKOVSKA: Yeah, a lot. It is always nice to see that a girl from Czech Republic, from my country, can do things like that, 'cause this is really great. She's a great player and she has a big potential. It does really motivate all the girls from my country and myself, of course, as well.

Q. If you had to play Caroline tomorrow, what would you be doing in that match?
PETRA CETKOVSKA: Well, I have never played against Caroline. I will go see a little bit of the match. But now I just get out from the court and I really don't want to think so much about tennis (smiling).
But we gonna certainly talk about it with my coach tonight and tomorrow.

Q. If it's Francesca, she has a strange way of playing, with the dinks, chops, angles. How do you counteract that?
PETRA CETKOVSKA: I then against Francesca, I think what would be important is not to let her play her game. This is really dangerous. She's a great player. So I think what would count the most would be to be as aggressive as possible.

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