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July 22, 2012
CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA
D. CIBULKOVA/ M. Bartoli
6‑1, 7‑5
Q. (Question indiscernible).
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: It was first time I did something like this, so it was fun.
Q. Talk about the match. You got off to a great start. Second set she kind of climbed back in there, got you to 4‑1 down.
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, this is actually my first ‑‑ I have to say the first final in the WTA that I played really well. I was enjoying the finals. I just played my game, and the first set everything was going my way, and I was playing really well, and my forehand was working today 100 percent, and also my serve return, so everything was fine.
And then in the second set I was 1‑0 up and 40‑0 on her serve and I got a little bit nervous and I started to think about I can be 2‑0 up and a little bit closer to the title. So obviously this made me a little bit tighter, and then she's obviously a great player, so she was playing every ball and fighting for every ball, so she ‑‑ after she was leading 4‑1 and she got in a better rhythm and her shots got better, and so you know, that's how tennis is.
But you know, I just realized that I was 40‑0 in the second game and 40‑15 in the third game, so I said to myself, come on, fight for every ball and you can turn it around because there was only one or two balls difference it made, so that's why I kept going.
It was really an important game on 4‑3 for her, her serving where this was this long rally where I finished with this forehand down the line. And I was like, okay, this set is going to be mine.
So yeah, it was great, and I'm really happy that I turned around the second set and I didn't give it up and I was still fighting for the second set and I won.
Q. Earlier in the week you said you're kind of a negative person. Did you ask yourself?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah. Exactly. This happened I was 1‑0 up and then I lost this game, and again, again, and I called my coach. He was like, relax, it could be 3‑1 for her, but nothing. You are still playing good and you are better today on the court, so don't get in this negative mood, you know. Just keep playing every ball and just try every ball, and I listened to him, and it really worked out.
Q. What was your strategy going in?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I know her a lot. We play together many times, so we know each other really well, and I was today a little bit ‑‑ I knew where she is returning most of the time because we watched a little bit of her matches, and you know, this was a little bit what I did good today because she is really trying to go for the returns and make a lot of points from there.
So I was good defending the return and the tactic was just to make her move. Sometimes it's not easy because she is trying to play so hard, but I have no problem with hard balls and I was just playing hard back and moving her around the court, you know. Also with drop shots and to go for my return, and yeah.
Q. What did this win mean to you, particularly since you are good friends?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: On the court ‑‑ we are friends off the court, but on the court you don't care who you play against, if she's your friend, and especially, you know, in the finals, everybody wants to win the final, and so this win means really a lot to me because this was as I said before, my first final that I played really well, and I really can say that I played good tennis.
Q. You had a different confidence going in.
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah. It was like you won, it's great, but you don't have the time to train on grass, and I said I wouldn't change it for even practicing one hour on the grass. It's my second title of the year this tournament, and it gives you so much confidence.
Q. Why is this so much bigger than Moscow? Do you feel like your game ‑‑ the tournament in Moscow. Why is this bigger?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Because of the way I played, especially because of the way I played the finals. In Moscow it was before I didn't have a title, and everybody was talking to me about the title, and it was a little bit of too much pressure and the final was like really intense. If you see that match, it was really crazy, and when I won the match point there, I felt like something maybe happened, but now I knew how it was the feeling. You want to win the tournament.
So I didn't put so much pressure on me and when it was 6‑5 for me I would say ‑‑ I just said to myself, come on, risk it. And then if it will not work out, you will play a tiebreak. Nothing can more happen, so and it was lucky.
Q. It seemed like she was getting very vocal out there. When she gets that energetic, did you feel like you need to kind of match her energy level?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: No. I mean she got very into the match because I let her play better. I let her go into the court because I started to play a little bit slower and she got to the time where she needed to force her shots, and I knew it. And I knew if I want to stick to my game, it's just a matter of time when I start with winning, yeah.
Q. Domi, a lot of players now have big teams. You and Marion became friends I guess what in 2008 when you first started playing her?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, I think so.
Q. How did you two become friends and why is she the type of person you can be friendly with?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, she's very different. She's on the court because if you know her only on the court, she's a little bit you can say a little bit strange or, you know, different. But she's not like this. Off the court she's a really nice person and she's only one of the few players that really means something like really. It's not fake or sometimes she really cares. If you're injured we take some time. So she's really a normal person and she's really nice, and that's why.
Q. When did you name your hitting partner as your coach?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: When I quit with Jacques. He's the coach I had in Miami. And then I didn't really have nobody to ‑‑ I didn't have a coach, you know.  I just stayed without a coach, and he was the only one ‑‑ he was the only one there, and I asked him if he could travel with me for a few tournaments until I maybe find somebody. He said yeah, no problem. And this is how it happened. He started to help me with it, and this is how he became my coach.
Q. So when would you say would be official?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah. Officially? Maybe before ‑‑ after Madrid. Madrid and Rome he was already coaching me. So Madrid, Rome.
Q. Do you have the same physio?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: This physio is with me since Rome.
Q. That's what I thought. So who is he?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: He's a guy from Slovakia.
Q. His name?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Martin.
Q. His last name?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: (Indiscernible).
Q. So where did you meet him?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: It was ‑‑ it's a very long story. I used to have a different physio, but then he couldn't travel with me because he had to take care of some soccer team. So then he send this guy only for two weeks to travel with me. But I kept this one because this one was better.
Q. (Indiscernible). Your coach?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: No. I mean my coach he was always sitting alone, and my team, my father and my boyfriend and physio they were sitting in my chair and these three guys.
Q. Yeah, we heard. (Indiscernible). Are you going to be able to go home before you go to London?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I have to go home because I still have one thing to do that I have to do for my sponsor, so I fly tomorrow home. I get home on Tuesday early morning. I do it on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday morning I fly to Wimbledon.
Q. Bartoli was saying that in order to become a Top 10 player for her the most important thing she found was consistent results. Right now one great tournament and then a couple bad. Do you see that?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah. Of course. If you want to be Top 10, you need to have good results, so I had a pretty good clay season. After the Wimbledon was a little bit unlucky for me, and now I'm back on track, I would say.
I played finals and now I won a tournament. So let's see what's going to happen in Olympics. With grass again, that's what I'm not really happy about. But then it's the US Open Series, so I'm really looking forward to it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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