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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL

December 30, 2018

Petra Kvitova

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Q. Hello, Petra.
PETRA KVITOVA: Hello, Courtney.

Q. Long season, obviously, that ended in Prague. But just in terms of the off season, I know that the season was just generally long and grueling for you, so how much time did you really get to like leave the racquet and kind of let the body heal and all that sort of stuff before you started practicing again?
PETRA KVITOVA: Yeah, unfortunately at the end of the season I got sick so I couldn't really compete in the Fed Cup tie, unfortunately, which was pretty sad for me just to be there and to cheer for the girls, which is very unusual for me, so it felt very weird. But obviously it's taken me a while to get through the sickness. I spent probably two weeks healing myself, so I didn't go anywhere for vacation. I just spent three days in Slovakia, and then I left to Dubai, which obviously the weather helped me to heal and start the preparation finally. And so I had like two weeks without a racquet, and then I started in Dubai, which was great preparation, to be honest. Everything was very smooth. And I'm happy that I handled everything which was there. And then I came back to Europe, and I started more with the tennis preparation, then the fitness, and yeah, I hit a few balls. I tried to aim for some things, as always. And yeah, I'm here, finally, after a year, I'm healthy. I had to withdraw last year. So already I'm better.

Q. Does any of what you were dealing with at the end of the season in Singapore and Prague, is that lingering at all or are you feeling fit and healthy?
PETRA KVITOVA: I feel fit and healthy finally. Last season I think everything just took the time and mentally, physically I was just dead, and probably everything was disconnected and together for the sickness as well. So it took a while, and yeah, I'm healthy finally again.

Q. Did you take a wild card into Sydney?
PETRA KVITOVA: Yeah.

Q. What went into that decision?
PETRA KVITOVA: It was a decision because I didn't enter, and then I decided to have a wild card, and we'll see how everything goes.

Q. Do you think that you -- or I guess you would probably know at this point already, but are you going to schedule lighter this year?
PETRA KVITOVA: Yeah. I would like to try. You know, it's tough to schedule tennis program. You never know how you're going to play, if you're going to lose in the first round or you're going to win the tournament. So it's really tough to schedule, to be honest. But like overall I would like to play less tournaments compared to last year.

Q. Do you think that you're the type of player that can play a light schedule? In other words, some players like to play their best that are playing tournaments constantly instead of having the breaks between the tournaments. Do you think you can go and play just the big ones?
PETRA KVITOVA: I hope I can. When I was young, it was a different story. My brother was young as well. I do have a little bit more years under my belt. So I need to be worried about as well. Last season probably showed me. The first half was great, but the second half was just really tiring for me and I was really exhausted from the first half of the season. So it showed me that probably I need a little bit more spaces between the tournaments and to be trying to be ready for the big ones and get ready for them.

Q. I guess it would be so hard, I mean not that you were a victim of your own success, but because you were winning so much in the beginning of the season, it sort of took its toll in the second half of the season? Is that right?
PETRA KVITOVA: Yeah, that's what I felt like. Mentally I was really exhausted. Same physically. I lost some weight. And it was just really difficult for me to get -- not saying that I lost the motivation, but just mentally in the kind of important point I wasn't really there. So like the Asian swing, for example, was just really tough with me and same with Singapore. So compete with the best you need to be on your best. So I wasn't really always. So yeah, sometimes it's like that and it's not great.

Q. What's the proudest match that you played last year?
PETRA KVITOVA: I think it was a final against Kiki Bartens in Madrid, and then playing Serena in Cincinnati. I think it was those two matches which was really like the highlight.

Q. And then were you surprised at all to here Aga was walking away in tennis?
PETRA KVITOVA: I was surprised, yeah. I just spoke with her before. When we had the Fed Cup tie, like Barbara said at the last Fed Cup, Lucie is finishing after the Australian Open. Then like in the next days Aga said bye-bye. I was like, oh, my God. What's happening here? Yeah, I was like for two days I had it in my mind. I was like, oh, my God. I am going to miss them. Yeah, we spend so much time together on the tour, and yeah.

Q. Probably won't miss the matches.
PETRA KVITOVA: I'm sorry?

Q. You probably won't miss the matches.
PETRA KVITOVA: No. (Laughs). That was a fun one, but, you know.

Q. That's the ultimate compliment.
PETRA KVITOVA: It is.

Q. To give to a player: "I'm happy I never get to play you again."
PETRA KVITOVA: That's for sure. It's tiring playing against them.

Q. What do you like about the conditions here? Obviously it's Australia. It can get really hot. But with the roof overhang, Sam Stosur was talking about how she feels like for some of the European players it almost feels like a different climate versus like Melbourne.
PETRA KVITOVA: Yeah. I think this is the best tournament we can have for the beginning of the season, that the heat is here, the wind is here, but still we are playing under the roof, which it's very unusual, and to be honest, I'm very happy for that. To get kind of prepared for those two big tournaments, it's really great. So we are practicing like normally, but playing under the roof is, you know that I don't love to play indoors, so I'm not really saying anything against.

Q. It works out well. And then you mentioned obviously Lucie hanging things up. I mean, again, are you surprised by it? And also if you could just kind of reflect upon what it's been like for you as kind of being a younger Czech player, and she was for so long the kind of the standard.
PETRA KVITOVA: Yeah. It was weird, but I know in the last couple of years I think she'd been dealing with the sickness and illness, and I think it's understandable when she is not like dead hungry to be back in the top. She's around 100. So I do understand that it's really tough to get back in this kind of game when everybody is just very fit.

And, yeah, I do remember when I came to play, and she was one of the players that I looked up to. We practiced a few times over there, and I was like small child, hi, very shy. And we started to play the Fed Cups together, and kind of we were probably those two who really took the Fed Cup team pretty high, and we spent so many times in the Fed Cup weeks. And sitting each other on the bench it was something really special. We knew how the other one was feeling. So you know when we played, we always catch the eyes when they are looking, and it was something really special to share those moments with her, and I'm very proud that we could do it together. And, yeah, hopefully she's going to be very health and I happy.

Q. What do you think her -- I mean Czech tennis obviously has a ton of people who have legacies within Czech tennis, like legends, Jana, everyone. What is Lucie's kind of legacy in Czech tennis do you think?
PETRA KVITOVA: Well, she was No. 1 in doubles. She played final of the Grand Slams. She has so many Fed Cup ties, titles. I think she does everything, except she didn't win a Grand Slam in the singles, but overall I think she had a great, great career. Everybody can be like jealous of her career. And definitely she is one of the legends in Czech Republic for sure.

And my words are Pavlova and Boxing Week. Good bye. I never had it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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