THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 30, 2025

Marketa Vondrousova

Press Conference

M. VONDROUSOVA/M. Kessler

6-1, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What is kind of clicking for you on grass? You're on a brilliant run?

MARKETA VONDROUSOVA: I'm very happy to be through this match, and I felt like I was playing a good match since beginning. Then she was playing some amazing games, so I'm very happy I finished in the second set.

Yeah, overall I feel like I'm healthy now. I'm playing without any pain, so I'm really enjoying that. Very grateful to be here and to be in this tournament again.

Q. You're playing Raducanu next. What do you remember of that second-round match from four years ago?

MARKETA VONDROUSOVA: Yeah, she beat me, so it wasn't -- yeah, she's a great player. We played in Abu Dhabi this year. Yeah, she is at home here, so I expect tough match.

But I feel like every match on grass is very tough. You know, it can be both ways. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to this match.

I was really working hard to come back and have these kind of matches, so it's nice to have that. Yeah, I'll see my level, and yeah, I'll try to go and enjoy the match.

Q. What is it that you really like about grass? Like, how does it suit you? It wasn't always this way. It was kind of sudden a couple of years ago and then now it feels like, you know, you're born on it.

MARKETA VONDROUSOVA: I feel like I learned how to move on it better, because overall, I feel like my movement is something that I really use on the other surfaces. On the grass I felt like it wasn't so good.

I feel like I just needed, you know, couple of years to maybe get used to it, you know, to get used to the movement. You cannot slide here, so you have to find another way.

I feel like that will improve. Then I can use my slices and dropshots. I feel like if you can really mix the game, that's also great for grass.

Q. How did you learn how to move? Was there anyone who had a specific help to you?

MARKETA VONDROUSOVA: Not really. I feel like you just need that couple of matches. Maybe for me it was couple of years to learn it. I feel like you just need to experience those matches and just feel the grass more.

Yeah, you know, couple of years ago I just felt great in Berlin. Then I was, like, Okay, maybe it's going to be better, you know, someday. I don't know, something clicked, and I feel great on grass.

Q. What did you take from that win in Abu Dhabi?

MARKETA VONDROUSOVA: She was actually playing really good match there also. Yeah, I feel like she's getting better and better. She is 30-something now, so she's very high in the rankings. I feel like she's coming back where she belongs.

Yeah, I feel like she's a great player. She has both strong forehand, backhand. She's really very, very great player.

Yeah, it was a tough match there. I expect tough one on Wednesday. We'll see.

I'm just very happy to be back and have these kind of matches.

Q. Just going back to last year, how difficult was that defeat for you? Were you injured? How keen are you to make up for things this year?

MARKETA VONDROUSOVA: Yeah, it was a tough year. I didn't play for such a long time. I had surgery here last year. It was a tough battle. I was injured. I got injured in Berlin, so it was kind of like so-so.

Yeah, you know, I have great memories from two years back and then not so great from last year. Yeah, overall I love this tournament. I have great, great memories for it.

I'm just really trying to enjoy every match, because you know, it's really look bad with my shoulder a couple of months ago, so I didn't even know if I can be here again on the court.

Now I take it match by match, and I'm just trying to really enjoy everything here and grateful to be back.

Q. Is it because you've had so many injuries, now you are playing pain-free, as you said, are you able to enjoy it that much more and have a better freedom?

MARKETA VONDROUSOVA: Yeah, for sure. When you are playing with pain, it's crazy. You just think about it all the time. It's there all the time.

You know, there is just one thing you think about all the time in the match. It's not, where am I going to serve, where am I going to play? It's just there's the pain. If I serve, there's the pain. If I play forehand, there's the pain.

It's just the one thing you have on your mind all the time. Now I can focus on everything else, so it's great.

Q. You're in a unique position because you've won a slam. So has Emma. You know the pressure, the expectation, and the media microscope. Can you relate and sympathize for what she goes through, because you must have that in your homeland as well?

MARKETA VONDROUSOVA: I feel like, you know, she had it way worse because she is from bigger country, also. She had crazy pressure. I feel like she has it in every tournament all the time.

Now I feel like she's getting better and better with it, but yeah, overall it must have been crazy for her to live all of that. Like when you win a Grand Slam from quallies, it must have been crazy thing. Yeah, for sure.

Bigger country, bigger pressure I feel like, but yeah, I feel like now she's getting better and better. I feel like now she kind of found her way maybe, you know, into tennis and the matches again.

I feel like she really belongs here where she is, and yeah, she's a great player.

Q. Novak has talked about things that he would do when the crowd was against him. Do you have any tricks when you are going into -- I mean, obviously it's probably going to be in a big stadium, the next match, and the crowd is rightfully going to be rooting for their own.

MARKETA VONDROUSOVA: Yeah, for sure. I'm okay with that. I'm fine with that.

Q. Is there anything you do to tune it out?

MARKETA VONDROUSOVA: Not really. For me it's just I'm trying to focus on the match, like on each point. I feel like here it's not so crazy. Maybe like in New York or Paris it's way worse for me to play there with anybody, like at the other slams.

Yeah, but anyway, she is the hometown hero, so I expect that. I'm okay with that. Yeah, I'm just hope we're going to have a great match.

Q. I knew it wasn't quite the same with you at the French Open obviously when you were so young, but you kind of had that a little bit where you suddenly come through as a teenager and achieve something amazing. I just wonder, sort of the pressure after that, does it come do you think mostly from inside or from outside?

MARKETA VONDROUSOVA: I feel, yeah, maybe both, because I feel like you just put the pressure on yourself too, because you know you can do that. You know you can play great tennis.

She was playing amazing tennis when she won US Open, so we know it's in her. We can see that, you know. I feel like it's maybe also from the inside.

You cannot see that, but I feel like we have that in our heads that we know we can play great tennis. We did it once, so you want to do that again.

For sure there is pressure from the outside, but I feel like we push also ourselves. Yeah, I feel like if you can really deal with that from the inside, it's going to help you a lot.

Q. You've talked about your movement being the key on grass, but your slice is the other thing I wanted to ask about because we've had you and Tatjana Maria both winning grass tournaments this year. A lot of people think grass court tennis is about power, but can you talk about how important slice is?

MARKETA VONDROUSOVA: Slice can really help when you defend in the rallies. It's staying low, so it's tough to do something from it. So I feel like you can use that too, you know. Yeah, if you have a great slice, then I think you can do a lot of things on grass.