Recovering Pliskova riding 'new wave of excitement' in Dubai
DUBAI, UAE - World No.5 Karolina Pliskova is still recovering from a viral illness that knocked her out of last week's Qatar Total Open, but as the Czech prepares for this week's Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships she's riding the wave of confidence from her near-perfect start to the season.
"I'm feeling better, not 100%, but I'm feeling 100% that I'm not sick anymore," Pliskova told WTA Insider at WTA All Access Hour in Dubai. "But on court you can still see that I was three days in the bed. Physically it's not the best.
"Overall my shots, they stayed. Thank God they did not get sick."
READ: Osaka returns, Halep, Kvitova, Pliskova aiming to chase her down in Dubai
Pliskova, who has suffered just one tour loss this season, was forced to withdraw from Doha last week after succumbing to a fever and fatigue.
"The draw that I had was a joke," Pliskova said with a laugh. "Maybe if I survived one match it would destroy me for the next three weeks. In the end Elise Mertens (Pliskova's first-round opponent) won the tournament, so it was not really a draw for me to try."
Illness aside, Pliskova comes into Dubai with well-earned confidence. She began the season with a title run at the Brisbane International and made her first Australian Open semifinal two weeks later, losing to eventual champion Naomi Osaka in three sets. She has looked sharp off the ground and has enjoyed improved agility and mobility thanks to a great off-season with Conchita Martinez.
"I feel faster," Pliskova said. "So many people told me I looked so good in the matches in Australia, and now I played a good match against Simona [Halep at Fed Cup]. I'm just able to hold the rallies and not panic that I have to kill it in the second ball, that I cannot stay in the rally."
"Maybe because we changed a little bit what I did [in the pre-season], but there is always a new wave of excitement when you change people. You always try the best in the beginning. I don't feel like now I'm going to quit this excitement, but I feel somehow everything worked out. I had a great pre-season in Tenerife which maybe helped me because I was outside finally for the pre-season for the first time in my life.
"And since Brisbane, I think it has to do with confidence. You move better, you play better, it doesn't matter what you do outside of the court. Of course I still work, but with the confidence, everything goes up."
Seeded No.4 in Dubai, Pliskova is set to play either Dominika Cibulkova or Lara Arruabarrena in her opening match. Reflecting on the broader topic of the tough draws for top seeds due to the unprecedented depth of the women's game, Pliskova revealed the issue definitely comes up for discussion in the locker room from time to time.
"I did talk to a few players, like with Simona and Wozniacki. With Simona I talked in Melbourne, because the bottom half of the draw was not as hard as the top part. She had two Williams sisters, she beat Kanepi in the first round. So her draw was a joke from the first round," Pliskova said with a laugh.
"I know Caroline was complaining once that she was playing Stosur in the first round at the US Open. You know when you have a [bad] draw. Of course you don't look past the semis, but the first two rounds you know who you play. But you still have to accept it, so it's not that we're complaining, but we talk about it."
"Not always everybody has a tough draw. I mean, come on, I know some people who have amazing draws. We're not going to talk about them," Pliskova said with a laugh.
"But sometimes it's like this. You have a draw where you have to beat five, six Top 10 or former Top 10 players. It's different.
"If you play a player who is the first time at a Grand Slam, it's different. If they play well, at the end of the match they're going to feel the pressure. But if you play a former Top 10 they've been there. They're always going to be ready and they're waiting for a chance to get back in the Top 10. Even now, I'm waiting for Dominika Cibulkova. She was Top 5, so it's not a first round actually.
"It's like this, it can change tournament from tournament. Rankings are changing so quickly. You play a player who was 30 now but last year she was Top 10. So I think that's why everything is so tough."
"Maybe the first rounds were not the hardest [in the past]. The first round or two, you had players you were sure you were going to beat because you're Top 10. But now there's nobody like this. Because of the drops of the rankings, you can play a player like this in the first round. Before this was not possible. Of course there were tough players and you could lose to everybody too, but I think there was a big difference between Top 20 and Top 100. But now you can easily lose to a player ranked No.100."
Pliskova said it took her some time to adjust to having to hit the ground running with your A-game, but she now relishes the challenge.
"Pretty much now I believe I can beat all the top players, so I believe," Pliskova said. "It's not like I think oh no, I will lose. It's more like oh, it's tough, I really have to be 100% ready but I can still win.
"I'm more focused. I'm not depressed it's a tough player because in the end I prefer to play against these players, the good players. But at the Grand Slams, to play two, three, four top players in a row, it's tough because it's a lot of matches and you need the power in the end too. It takes a lot of energy."