THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 6, 2025

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Press Conference

A. PAVLYUCHENKOVA/S. Kartal

7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Anastasia, through to the next one. You must be really pleased with your performance this fortnight.

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Yes, very. As I said, I always thought grass was very tricky for me through my whole career. I'm so pleased with playing so well today. I think I've played really good match today, considering the fact there was the Centre Court. First time for me this year and first time in many years and facing such a tough opponent.

She didn't give me any free points. She was grinding and putting so much pressure on every ball. I think I managed really well today.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Obviously there was a particular moment in the first set where you were rightly very angry at what happened. Can you explain from your point of view what happened?

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Yeah, it was very confusing in the beginning because the ball looked very long to me. I tried to play it, but it was quite long, so it was even tough to sort of played it.

Then I kind of stopped. The chair umpire stopped, as well, the point. Then I was pretty sure that it was my game because I saw it was very long. Then I thought I would just sit on the chair, but then he started calling.

We were waiting for decision as the system was down, but I was expecting to hear if they say the ball was in or out. Instead they just say, Replay the point. It was tricky especially in that moment. It was very crucial moment in the match.

I expected different decision. I just thought also chair umpire could take initiative. That's why he's there for sitting on the chair. He also saw it out, he told me after the match. I thought he would do that, but he didn't.

Also, I expected, so maybe they call in or out. Instead they just said replay. I don't know if it's something to do because she's local, but yeah, that was particular moment.

Q. You did say on court, They stole the game from me.

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Yeah.

Q. Do you still feel that?

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: No, of course, now I won, so no need to discuss this. I'm all happy and all forgotten.

But just I think it's good to raise this subject for the future because if anything like that happens in the very important moment of the match, I think we should have a VAR system like in football they have or something, so then it's clear for everybody and we can move on right away instead of just guessing. It could sit with me for the rest of the match and then kind of unknown, was it in or out and kind of feeling that it was my game.

But luckily, I moved on fast from that moment and continue playing.

Q. Since coming off the court, have you been given an explanation by Wimbledon? Do you find that acceptable what you've heard?

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Yes, they did explain it to me now. But again, they said the system was down. It's, like, a human error. I understand that, that that can happen at any given moment to everybody. But again, as I said, yeah, I think we have to... It's such a big match, big event. I think since we have already automatic line calling and so much invested into this, we should probably look into something else to have better, yeah, decisions on it.

Q. You mentioned about the local favoritism. Did that motivate you more? Do you think you played better after?

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: No, I was fine. I just regrouped myself, refocused. Yeah, I just tried to forget about this and play. Just had to play.

I just said to myself, Okay, it's just 5-4, she's serving. She had, I think, couple of set points, if I remember. But even I just thought, Okay, even if I lose the first set, it's just the first set, and a match is made of three sets. I'm just going to play every point. It's like this.

It's tough out there. The crowd was against me. This situation there, but it's a tennis match. I have to find a way and solutions. If I want to win, I have to go for it, no matter what.

Q. You talked to the chair umpire after the match. What was that conversation like? Did you start it, or did he want to explain things to you?

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Yeah, I actually don't remember exactly. I think he felt bad a little bit. Then he probably felt like he should have taken initiative and called it out because he saw it out, he told me. Yeah, so probably maybe he felt something about it.

But then, again, as I won the match, I didn't want to go into this or, like, create bad vibes because, yeah, I just wanted to have a nice moment. I won. I'm in the quarterfinal here. So all good now (smiling).

Q. If you had lost the match because of that call, which was possible, how would you be feeling now?

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: No, I would just say that I hate Wimbledon and never come back here (laughter). I would just say, I hate grass and Wimbledon, like usually we always do when we lose.

No, of course, I would be very disappointed. But again, as I said, I try to look at it as, yeah, I'm working on my mental toughness lately. Okay, it was a crucial moment, but it's just one game in the first set. So as I said, the match is long. It's like a marathon. You got to play every point.

Yeah, so maybe if I lost, so be it. Just not my day. I mean, she's also been playing really good. Yeah, but I won, so...

Q. Something that some players have suggested is that umpires have almost become de-skilled because they're not doing quite a lot and that they have become quite passive. Do you think that factored in today, that he didn't want to get involved rather than overruling?

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Yeah, I don't know. It's hard to say. During the match, I don't think about it at all because obviously I'm, like, focused on things. Yeah, I think it's also difficult for him. He probably was scared to take such a big decision.

I think they should. That's why they're there for sitting on the chair. That's why we have a chair umpire. Otherwise, I think soon let's just play without them, right, and then we're going to have everything automatic.

I think we losing a little bit of the charm of actually having human being, ballboys. Like during COVID, we didn't have ballboys. It just becomes a little bit weird and, like, robot sort of orientated.

Yeah, it's hard. They're very good at giving fines, though, and code violations. This they don't miss because every time any little thing, they are just right there on it. Yeah, I would prefer they looked at the lines and call in the errors, mistakes better.

Q. You mentioned at the changeover when you spoke to the umpire at the time it happened about he being a local player. In the moment, did you feel as though the decision favored her because she was a British player?

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Yeah, I have to be honest, I did. I thought so because it was very weird, as I said. We both were waiting for decision, right? At least that's what I believed he was doing. He was calling to get a decision since the system was down, so to kind of see if the ball was in or out.

Then we didn't get that, so we just had to replay the point when clearly the ball was out. That's why I just thought it was really strange.

Q. You said you've been working on your mental power or strength. On court you said you used to be a bit crazy. Do you think a few years ago you would have handled that situation very differently?

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Oh, yeah, yeah. A few years ago I would probably lose first round here because in the first match I lost the first set. I was break down. Nothing was really working my way. I was a little bit sort of tired coming from Eastbourne because I had a deep run there. I only had one hit at Wimbledon before I started my first round.

I think I've had so many matches in the past where I would just completely lose it. For sure today, as well, having the crowd like that, having this call, yeah, I would probably be still talking about this call to my box for the next ten games probably, maybe till the end of the match.

Yeah, I mean, I accept it. I think I not always been mentally... I think I had poor mentality, yeah, back in the past. Not always, but majority of the times.

Q. Human elements on court... something I guess tennis is losing. There used to be seven, eight people more on court when there were line judges. Is that something you would like to have back to make it feel like a more human place on court?

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Yeah, but as you can ask Jelena Ostapenko, she's fighting with the electronic calls. At the beginning it was funny, but then after I was getting her point a little bit. Sometimes when we play, I don't know, I'm thinking, Am I crazy, or I just feel like the ball is long? Then nothing is happening. There is no automatic line calling.

Then I was thinking of Jelena many times because I'm like, Okay, maybe she's right. I've seen couple of matches in Miami, I think, Kasatkina and Cirstea, something happened where literally the ball was this out in the corridor of the court. There was no call of the automatic line calling.

Again, chair umpire was so confused. I think they just need to -- chair umpire needs to maybe have a clear plan if that happens, okay, what I'm going to do in this situation. I think they a little bit lost. They start calling everybody. They don't know what to do, instead of maybe have clear decision, right?

If the system is down, then I'm going to take initiative and call this maybe. We probably should have this system like in football to review.

Q. I was going to ask, obviously as a player you're so sort of focused on the match. When a disruption like this happens, how hard is it to refocus and get back in?

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: Yeah, you don't really care at that moment how long it lasts. Sometimes I actually prefer those little breaks because I then have more time to breathe and refocus, sometimes when you're a little bit out of breath.

Yeah, also I'm a little bit sick right now, so for me every longer period was better because I was struggling to breathe on court. I feel like with the closed roof, it was little bit like stopped air or something.

Yeah, I didn't care so much about it. Just wanted to know, should I go sit or, you know, go serve kind of?

Q. You talked about some things that could change with officiating. Are there things rules, things that players do when they exploit, kind of loopholes in the rules, like a medical timeout? Is there one thing you would change or you find irritating?

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: If the player takes medical?

Q. Little loopholes that players sometimes exploit. Are there things that irritate you or you would change?

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA: No, not anymore really. As I said earlier, like there are so many things. Sometimes players do it on purpose. I think they want to get some, like, distract you or get something from you. Sometimes, I don't know, maybe they really injured.

I think spending time focusing on that instead of I'm there to do my thing, so then I'm afraid to lose my focus on me and not be able to continue with my things.

Yeah, some players, like, they shout just before I served, which happened in the previous match before my second serve. She would always clap her leg and scream, 'C'mon', before my second serve. That was a little bit disturbing.

Again, everybody has their routine. If that helps them, I'm happy for them.