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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 23, 2014Dominika CibulkovaMELBOURNE, VICTORIA D. CIBULKOVA/A. Radwanska THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Your first Grand Slam final. You have to be really excited. Did you see today coming? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, you know, not at all. I wasn't thinking about that for the whole match. I was just trying to focus on my game. Since the first point till the last point of the match I was just trying to do the right things, as I said. I wanted to enjoy. Of course it was not easy when I was up in the second set. The thought started to come that I could win, the result and everything. I have to say, I was 100% ready for it and I was just doing what I had to do. That's why I won. It wasn't easy, because against her you have to earn every point, you have to do the right thing, and that's what I did. Q. Your scores the last four matches are ridiculous. Can you explain it? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: When you look at it this way, it is nice for me. I didn't spend so much time on the court. I'm playing in Grand Slam, you know. I'm in the finals of Grand Slam. The only three‑set match was against Sharapova. That's something unbelievable. But I was going into every match, you know, just to play my game and play well. This is what happen. Q. Is there something different about the way you're feeling the ball? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: You know, I'm feeling the ball really well, hitting good on the practice. Even I was feeling good. With the matches, you know, I start to get more confident. I just continue to do like what I do well, yeah. Q. You're ranked outside the top 10, but do you believe the way you're playing at the moment you're a top 10 player? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: You know, this top 10 talk, I don't want to talk about it anymore. So many years that everybody kept telling me, You should be top 10; why you not top 10? I'm just not. So we'll see what's going to happen. If I play like this, yeah, it might happen. Q. Do you feel like your form is peaking? Do you think you're playing your best tennis ever? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: It's hard to say. Of course, you know, I'm playing great. I'm playing really, really well, giving 100% of what I'm capable to do on the court in the match. That's the most important thing. Yeah, I would say I'm playing great tennis, yeah. Q. You're a small woman. Around the world lots of girls say, I can't compete against these big players. What do you feel about that? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: It's not about how tall are you. Even if you are tall, it doesn't mean that you are 100% going to make it, you know. It's just you have to really want something and just believe in it, you know. There is nothing more important than this. Q. You said on court that you felt your energy or your fire early in your life. When did you sense that you were born with that? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I don't know. I have it since I was little kid, you know. When I play my best tennis, that's where you can see like the power and the fight. You know, you have to have something extra if you want to be one of the best tennis players and you are not the tallest, as I said. So, yeah, this is what is my extra. Q. Did you ever hear about Amanda Coetzer, No.3 in the world, and was much shorter than you are? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, of course I heard. She was that kind of a player when I was starting to play tennis I think she was still playing. She was the one‑‑ I cannot say I was looking up to her, but I knew she was really little, that there are some players that can do it that are so little. Q. Coming into the final on Saturday, there will be so much excitement, nerves. How do you deal with that? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: It will be my first Grand Slam final. You know, I'm still enjoying my win over Aga Radwanska. It's good to have one more day, you know. Yesterday was not easy because I didn't have one day off, so I had to think of the semis much more and I couldn't really enjoy my win. But today is different story. I want to enjoy it few hours. Tomorrow I going to prepare for the finals. It's short time. The tournament is long, it's two weeks. But if you take it step by step, you give all in these two weeks, then you can enjoy. Q. How do you think you're going to beat Li Na? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: You know, she been in the finals of Grand Slam many times. She already won a Grand Slam, so she know how it is. I'm playing finals, so that's something beautiful. It's like a dream. So I will go just out there and play my best, try to do my best. Q. You're pretty close friends with Marion Bartoli. How much did you draw from her Wimbledon win? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: She was a big inspiration. When she won the Wimbledon, we are very close friends, we are one of the best friends, so I knew she was working like so hard for it, so she was the one who deserve it so much. Yeah, when she won it I knew like everything is possible. Yeah, it was nice. Q. Did you talk to her during this run here? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, of course. Straight after my semifinal she came into the gym to me. She hugged me. We were both crying. She was so happy for me. Q. A year ago you had a tough loss in Sydney. If someone came to you after that loss and said, Don't worry about it, next year you will beat Radwanska to get to the Australian Open final... DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I didn't think about it like this, but when you say now, I think I will say that today many times, it's like a dream. It's something so unbelievable. I don't know. Q. One more question about today's semis. Agnieszka said she was kind of playing in slow motion. Did you feel that on the court? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I was not paying attention to her. As I say every day, I was just 100% on myself. It was about me who was dictating the game. You never know against her because, you know, she defends like I would say the best defensive player in the world. You have no time to think of her. Just focusing on myself. Q. You have had many coaches in your life. They all help you, of course, to do what you are today? Has something changed with the last coach that you didn't have before? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, we're working with my coach, Matej Liptak for over one year. We started last year. Like we already working for one year and more. Yeah, I think also I am more mature. All my coaches help me a lot, but he's got to the stage that now I know that I have to do the right things. I want to do it. It's not that somebody was pushing me to do something else and I didn't understand why. Now I think he's working with a much more mature Domi. That's why all the things can come together. Q. Hantuchova and Mecir were the most famous Slovak tennis player. Do you think now you are overcoming them? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I'm the first woman tennis player playing in finals. We are like five or six million, and they are all like cheering for me. Yeah, it's big. Q. What are your plans for the day of the final? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Nothing unusual. The same thing what I'm doing here for two weeks, you know. I going to have longer sleep and then I going to have a practice. We're going to hit for one, one and a half hour with my coach. Lunch on the courts, then some relaxing in the hotel. Evening my mind is going to be on the finals match. I want to be 100%. It will be the biggest match of my life. But I will not go on the court like that. There is no pressure. I'm playing finals, so there is nothing better. Q. You're beating a new record you probably don't know. Ivanovic said the other day 57 you know; Capriati was 67 you know; there are probably more than 70 you know in this press conference. DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Really? You know (laughter). Q. Can you now validate that good things come in small boxes? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: I hope so. Q. When you beat Voegele, you only lost one game. Did you have a feeling that early that something special was happening here or was it more match by match? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: It was just match by match. When I look in the past, it's different. But, yeah, I was just going match by match‑‑ not match by match, but ball after ball, game after game. I think that's how the big wins come. You never start to think when you play second or third round of the final or semifinal. You never think about that. Q. You played Li Na a couple times before. It was never easy. A couple were very close. What do you think is going to be the key for the match on Saturday? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: You know, it's going to be a final. It's going to be final of the Grand Slam, so it's going to be a pretty big match. In the end of the Grand Slam, everything counts. So I think it's going to be fight for every ball. You know, it's going to be my first final, so I will just try to enjoy it. Yeah, I'm really looking forward for the match. Q. Li Na has been here for the last three years out of four in the final. Do you have the belief to win a Grand Slam? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, of course. You need to be 100%. You need to be 100% sure you can do it. Yes, I am. Even if I turns out different way, now I know I can do it. If I think of it like that, it's finals, it's a big pressure. Still I want to enjoy it on the court. I don't want to suffer on the court. Yeah, that's what I want to do. Q. What's been the key to your different results now versus Radwanska? Did your comeback at Stanford in that marathon final help you and give you confidence? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Than last time? I don't know. It's different also like what kind of match you play, you know. This was semifinal of the Grand Slam, so it's big thing. Like I said, you have to be 100% sure you can do it. Today I was doing everything right. I was going for my shots. I was just doing everything perfect. Maybe she was more nervous. You never know. That's what can combine everything, yeah. Q. Can you sleep quietly before a big, big match? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: We'll see. I can tell you on Saturday how it's like. I don't know. Q. How much energy is your group in the box giving you? Seems like it's a strong connection. DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: It is a strong connection. I have strong connection with my coach. He's not sitting in the box. But my box is like really giving me some energy, you know, supporting. I feel them there. Today I felt actually when I was going‑‑ I think I was 3‑0 up and I was going on their side, or maybe it was 4‑1, I don't remember, I felt like little bit stronger on the other side. I knew I have them behind me. So I was, yeah, feeling better. Q. If you win the Australian Open, do you think you'd find time to get married? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Oh, is tough question. I'm not planning to quit my career even if I win. So, yeah, I don't know. We'll see. Q. Every other day you had a match until today. Does that change your rhythm? Is it hard not having a day off? DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: Yeah, it was a little bit different because, you know, I came into the semifinals. It was big thing for me. There was no time to really enjoy, you know, to process it all. After two hours I did my media, I already had to deal with my head on that match, on today's match, so I could be 100%. That's what I did. That's why I'm happy I have tomorrow day off. It will be little bit easier. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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