Under the Patronage of H.h. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Why was that so tough?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Because I was not playing well. That’s why, I think.
Anyway, I also think I was not playing the best tennis today. We were both a little bit struggling. For me, first match here after couple days of practice, which I thought was quite fine.
Didn’t have that many matches for last couple of weeks since I came from Melbourne. So just finding the rhythm of the matches. Finally I got the win, so maybe it’s better in the next match.
Q. Encouraging you could dig a win out when you weren’t playing so well?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, for sure. I think those are the important wins in the season, not when you play the best tennis. It’s easy to win then. Wins like this…
I don’t know how I’m going to do in this tournament, but maybe throughout the next part of the season, it can be quite helpful for me.
Q. This kind of tournament doesn’t really give you a chance to ease into it from the first match. The next one could be Kerber. How mentally do you deal with a tournament like this?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, it’s tough these tournaments, here and Doha. You know if you’re coming to a tournament, it’s not going to be an easy match from the first round, so you don’t really have a chance to warm up. That’s how it is.
Sometimes it’s better to play those tough matches because in Grand Slams also it can happen that you have a tough draw, or on the big tournaments like Indian Wells or Miami.
I just think you can face those players in the first round somewhere. We have to take it like this. But maybe I’ll prefer some easy rounds for now.