“A big relief. It wasn’t a dazzling performance, but you have to fight for it, even if you don’t feel it,” sighed Martincová, who was searching for her rhythm throughout the match with more or less success. “It was more about the fact that I somehow tried to win every ball.”
After the lot awarded her Knutson, Martincová was not very enthusiastic. “I thought to myself that I wouldn’t like to play with the Czech Republic because I’m used to people chasing me at home. And when two Czech women start against each other, it doesn’t go very well. I also had absolutely no idea how the opponent would play.”
Knutson, who was playing her first ever match on the WTA circuit, managed to surprise Martincová with a rather atypical game. “It wasn’t the classic tennis I’m used to on the circuit. It was something else, she was able to take advantage of the fact that the court is also slower. And I felt that it was slipping away from me and my game was so unkempt,” claimed the winner, who didn’t get nervous after the first set, and finally “beat it up” as the wild card holder.
At the same time, there was no shortage of power and she did not even start in Prague. She had a problem with her wrist at the previous tournament in Warsaw. If she had to qualify for the weekend, she probably wouldn’t have started.
“But you always have something in tennis. We would always have to interpret that something is hurting us. But if it doesn’t affect me extremely, then I’ll just start,” said Martincová. It was worse for her last year, when at the end of the long season she strained her knee too much. And that was heard.
Tereza Martincová matched Gabriele Knutsonová, won the second setVideo: Sport.cz
“It cannot be operated on. And when a person is older, various problems arise. I don’t have an ideal patella shape, it’s congenital, but the doctors and I came up with a way to strengthen the muscles around it. Now I only have small things. I don’t have a problem with my knee,” assured the 28-year-old tennis player.
He can show it to the spectators on Sparta’s courts in the second round against the Chinese Yuan Jüe.