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NATURE VALLEY CLASSIC

June 17, 2019

Karolina Pliskova

Birmingham, England

K. PLISKOVA/M. Buzarnescu

6-3, 6-4

Q. Welcome back to Birmingham. How does it feel to be back on the grass?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, it feels good, especially to hit on grass because it is my second day because of the rain which was here, so you know I came here earlier to get some practice, you know, to just spend some time on grass, but unfortunately the weather was not great. So yesterday was first time when I hit, but I think it was similar for everybody here who didn't play the last week. So yeah, I think it was a good start for not playing that much on grass.

Q. Do you feel that you have had a good rest after the French?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I had couple of days, not much, but I had enough and I did one week of good practice. Then I came earlier here. I was playing indoor, outdoor, so I think I did enough and I feel good physically, and mentally also. Happy that the clay is over now, excited to be on grass after one year and I think the start was good here.

Q. It must feel good to get past the first round here again and especially against such a talented player in Buzarnescu?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, of course, I think it was a tough draw because she is the only lefty player from the draw, if I don't count the qualifiers, so this was tough.

We played last in Wimbledon a quite tight match, so I knew it was not going to be easy because of the lefty serve and just the lefty game and I didn't round here for a while I think so happy that I'm through.

Q. Do you feel you have adapted to the conditions well here, compared to Roland Garros et cetera?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Compared to what?

Q. The weather conditions. Do you feel you have adapted well?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Weather conditions, yes, because I was here, almost a week I'm here. So, of course, it's a little bit colder, a little bit more rain than usual. But I don't think I did get used to grass that much because I didn't play much.

But, as I said, I think I started quite solid, there are a lot of things to improve. I'm here tomorrow, I have a day off, so I have chance to practice and next match.

Q. How much fun is it to be here with Kristyna?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, we spent a lot of time together here; every dinner, every breakfast, every warmup because she is my only chance to hit on grass, so I did warmup with her every day. And I watch a couple of matches what she played so it is nice, a change for me and also for her that we share a lot of time because sometimes we don't have that much chances.

And if I have bigger team, then we don't really spend the time together and here because the tournament is smaller, there is more time and more possibilities to be together, so it is nice.

Q. When was the last time that you guys were able to sort of be this close together?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, we are always kind of together every time we can, but sometimes my husband is there, so not always is it that easy, but here it is only me and her and my coach and her coach, so it is quite easy to pull it together.

So even when sometimes it is just one day we can go for a dinner we try to make it, also in Grand Slams or bigger tournaments, so I want to be at home. She lives basically ten metres from me (smiling) so we both are in the same part so we see each other pretty often.

Q. The downside is that if Kristyna wins, you play her. How did you feel about playing her at the beginning of your career and how do you feel about it now?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, I think now it is going to be more difficult because, of course, more people will follow and especially on grass, I think. She has a different ranking than me, but I think it can be 50/50 if she wins, she has still has one more round to go. But we didn't play for a while so there's going to be some strange emotions and maybe nerves. I don't know what is going to happen if we play because maybe five, six years when we played the last time.

Before we used to play a little bit more and we were together a little bit more, so I didn't feel that strange, as I would feel now. But it was supposed to happen last in Prague, it didn't happen, so I think we both were like expecting it is going to come one day so we pray for not to be in a Grand Slam first round because that would be the worst.

It's just a tennis match. I hope we can both take it normal way and just play.

Q. There's a lot of depth -- we always talk about the depth in tennis right now. Do you think that with players not dominating, that does tennis need stars, or is it okay that everyone is on the same level?
KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I don't know what I can do about it, so... I get this question every press conference and there is nothing except that I play my best tennis that I can do something about this.

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