January 13, 2014
MELBOURNE, VICTORIA
A. KERBER/J. Gajdosova
6‑3, 0‑6, 6‑2
Q.  Painful end, isn't it?
JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: Yeah. I thought I played well. Disappointing.
Q. Was it a sprain?
JARMILA GAJDOSOVA:  I don't know yet. I haven't had a chance to quite figure out what. I mean, I did sprain it, but somehow I knew I was about to do that.
So I tried not to fall that way on my ankle. So far my Achilles, and I think I just strain a muscle on the top of my ankle.
So not sure.
Q. You did play your best tennis of the match immediately after that. Was it a matter of trying to take your focus away from that kind of thing?
JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: No. I think, I mean, the first set I started a bit nervous. But I haven't played Angelique for a couple of years now, so I wasn't quite sure how she plays. I hadn't played her all last year, so I wasn't sure what's going to happen.
I started a little bit nervous, but as the match went on slowly everything that I tried to do kind of settled down and started happening.
So it got better, and my ankle‑‑ I don't know. Well, I had so much tape on it I couldn't feel anything, to be honest. It was kind of a‑‑ they made almost like a cast. I couldn't move my ankle whatsoever. I don't know if it was good, bad, or not sure.
Q. Is there a mental barrier with you playing actually well enough to win here?
JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: No, no. I mean, I haven't played here last year, so for me coming here I didn't have much expectation. I was trying to play well and try to be ready as much as possible for the match, physically, and my game. As the weeks progressed from December to now I thought I played pretty well. Thought I came close enough to win.
Unfortunately I didn't. There was still mistakes made in the wrong time where she was more solid than I was. I guess she's 9 in the world for a reason. I thought it was pretty good, and I was happy with that. If somebody told me in the beginning I would play like that I would be pretty happy for that.
Q. You'll keep trying? Tenth time lucky next year?
JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: It's not being lucky. If you look at my draws, they are not very lucky, are they?
Again, all can I do is keep trying to play as well as I can, and that's what I will do next year.
Q. Mixed doubles, defending champion here. Will you play mixed doubles, as well?
JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: Yeah.
Q. So both doubles?
JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: Yeah.
Q. Some of those groundstrokes were beautiful, very deep. Looked like the Jarkka of old. Does that give you a lot of confidence, it won't take long to get your game back to where you want it?
JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: Yeah. I feel much better than I did in Sydney and Brisbane. I thought the matches helped me a little bit. I think the practice started paying off. I looked more like my old self.
But as you could see, there was just the unfortunate mistakes I made showed I hadn't played enough and I missed most of the time last year. So it will take a bit longer.
Q. Are you working with Chris Johnson?
JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: Yeah.
Q. When did that start?
JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: Well, we were going to start already last year but I got sick so started in December when I started playing again.
Q. What was your mindset at the end of the second set when you really were dominating? Did you think she's here for the taking or...
JARMILA GAJDOSOVA: No. I was just trying to stay relaxed and try to do what I have been doing until then because it was working. I had a game plan and I had things to concentrate on on my end and try to make sure I did them as well as possible.
As I said, if it wasn't for the first two games in the first and the first two games in the third set, they kind of I think run away from me and cost me a little bit the match as well.
So if I would have played them a little bit better the third set would look different, the first set would look different. I mean, even in the first came back to 5‑3. I had enough chances even in the third. Like the first three games I must have had 30‑Love in all of them and game points and breakpoints in each.
So it wasn't like, you know, I was literally losing 4‑1 or 5‑1. So overall there were a couple of games that cost me.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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