HSBC CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 10, 2026

Karolina Pliskova

Queens Club

Press Conference

K. PLISKOVA/V. Mboko

6-2, 3-4 [Ret.]

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. I know that's probably not the way that you wanted to win, but just give us your thoughts on the match up until Vicky's injury.

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, obviously it's such a shame it ended up this way. Just hope that she's going to be fine. Overall, I thought it was a good, quality match, especially from my side. She was improving when the match was going on.

So, yeah, just a shame that it ended up this way.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. What were your impressions of Mboko's game before the unfortunate injury?

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: I think she's going to be great. Obviously she's already great, a top-10 player. I think she has big shots, great backhand, great serve, of course. I felt like she wasn't serving that great in the first set, so that's why I had a lot of chances on her serve.

But then in the second set, I think she didn't hit any second serves, so everything went to her first serve, which is a big difference, especially on grass.

Yeah, she's hitting pretty big, moving pretty well. I think grass may be not the best surface for her, but I saw her playing on clay and hard courts this year, and she was playing fantastic. Yeah, she has a big game.

Q. You were playing really well, anyway, when it happened and it seemed to be warming up into a really good battle when she went down. You have had various injuries, haven't you, especially I think your ankle. Your left ankle, is it? I wonder if you've got any thoughts, because she's obviously feeling really down now, any thoughts about the injury?

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, it was a bad situation, because I was in a pretty much similar situation, you know, this year already also with my knee and especially two years ago with my ankle. So I felt really, like, bad for her, because obviously you still don't know what is it, but if she felt something that moved it in the knee, then I think something for sure happened.

Yeah, I think there is not much you can do. You can see all the doctors and see the possibilities which you have and then be patient. So that's going to be the key for her.

Obviously she's young, so it's a different situation than me. So she's going to have many more years. Even if she's couple weeks or months out, she has many years in front of her. Yeah, to make good decisions I think will be the key now.

Q. On a positive note, you looked really at home on grass and you have done really well before, getting to the final at Wimbledon, et cetera. Is this quite a good place to warm up for Wimbledon and how you feel about it?

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, obviously I always choose England to play before Wimbledon to, you know, to get going and to get some tournaments. I try to play -- next week I play Nottingham and then I play Eastbourne. Obviously I played Eastbourne many times. I played Birmingham. I feel like the grass here is much better than everywhere else.

I like to be in England. Of course sometimes the weather doesn't help, but I feel like the courts and the tournaments are great here.

Yeah, so I feel like my game always was good and working on grass, so, you know, I'm just happy that still I'm in the tournament. I played quite okay the first round, feeling much better now the second round. Let's see what it's going to bring now in the quarters.

Q. Would you be a good outside bet, do you think, at Wimbledon?

THE MODERATOR: Yes.

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yes (laughter). No, I mean, of course, but still, depending on the draw, you can have some ugly players facing on grass.

I feel like if I can pass first round, second round, then I can be dangerous. Of course you always need that confidence, but you need matches, which now I kind of have a lot of matches, especially this year. Even on clay I played a lot matches. Yeah, let's see.

Q. Final question, how do you think Czechia will do in the World Cup?

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: They will win (laughing).

Q. You're very confident today. Thank you very much.

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah.

Q. I wanted to ask your impressions of three up-and-coming Czech talents: Bartunkova, Bejlek, and Valentova. They have all emerged onto the scene this year. They've all got very different games. I wondered what your opinions were of their games? And also why Czechia has a lot of up-and-coming talents but they're all very different games.

KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, well, there is a lot of Czech players. Somehow they always show up somewhere, so each from different city, each from different club. Honestly, I don't know. There is no secret to that. I mean, just one secret is that of course we have a great history in tennis in Czech Republic, so I think just the motivation is there.

And a lot of players, they just trying to follow these role models like Kvitova, me, Safarova was there, so there is always somebody who is in the top. Now Muchova is doing great. There is a lot of girls. And especially in the girls, I feel like there is so much of them.

I think the mentality of Czech people is quite good, you know, for tennis. We are a bit like negative, but at the same time we are a bit, like, hard on ourselves, so that's, I think, a good thing in tennis.

Yeah, but there is a lot of girls. I know pretty much all of them, and I think all of them, I think they can be great one day. So let's see.