AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 22, 2026

Karolina Pliskova

Press Conference

K. PLISKOVA/J. Tjen

6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Karolina, congrats on the win. How does it feel to get that result against a really promising young player?

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Well, still now every win feels really important for me, since I didn't have that many matches and wins overall. So pleased with that.

Quite tough conditions today. A little bit windy and tricky, and the opponent was playing really well, so happy that I'm through.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. After two wins, how are you feeling physically?

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Not great (laughter). Yeah, I mean, the day off obviously helps a lot, but yesterday was a tough day for me, especially after the big win in the first round. Hope to manage it a little bit better today, ^ but wasn't also easy match, but at least two sets. That helps.

It's a big difference to go from training weeks, you know, to still playing matches. So I think I need a little bit of that. Yeah, hope to recover for the next one.

Q. How familiar were you with Janice coming in, because she's someone who's popped up in the time you've been away.

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, not much, to be honest. I actually, like, never saw her before, but obviously, we did our preparation for the match, so I knew her style. She's a little bit like Barty, like, playing. She reminds me a lot of her. So it wasn't easy. Nobody likes this kind of game, because there is a lot of slices, great forehand, good serve.

But, yeah, I think I did well.

Q. Just reaching the third round of a Grand Slam, obviously I know you've been recovering from your injury. On the broader perspective, how significant is that to you in just building confidence, just returning to the level of quality there is in a slam?

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, a lot, because of course, once we are back after such a long injury, you just hope to have some matches. Sometimes you just don't know, like you can come to a big tournament, and you can have one of the top seeds in the first round.

So it helped that I didn't have any of that, and I just had the chance to maybe play like one or two matches. Of course, I will face the top seed now, but that's just like any third round, I think there is nobody really easy.

Yeah, I think matches always helps. Just the confidence of, like, playing matches and making the decisions, like, where to play, how to play, I think that you just need to spend the time on the courts to be sure about that.

Q. Talking about the next match, you'll get to face the defending champion, Madison. Just the prospect of playing her, and probably presume to be on a larger court, or arena.

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, I mean, looking forward for that. I think we played last time in Brisbane final a couple years back. So, of course, a lot of things change. She won the Australian Open here last year. I was away for some time.

So definitely, you know, she's going to be the favorite here. So I can only surprise, but let's see. I have my weapons, and I think it can be a good match.