E. RYBAKINA/D. Shnaider
6-3, 6-4
THE MODERATOR: Elena, well done today. Just give us your thoughts on the match and what you were most pleased about.
ELENA RYBAKINA: Thank you. Really happy that I won the match, of course. The serve was working pretty well. Still, there is couple of things to improve, but overall, for the first match here, first match on clay, first match against Diana, is good.
THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.
Q. All things considered, she was definitely not an easy first match for you on clay with a lefty, with kind of power and unpredictability for some shots. Did you find yourself comfortable from the first point, or did you have to take a little bit to warm up perfectly?
ELENA RYBAKINA: I think I started pretty well. Of course on the return, it's a bit challenging. I would say not only because she's lefty, just these courts, they are particular, and also I needed time to get used a little bit to the light and just surrounding of the court.
But definitely we don't have so many lefties, so it's always a bit tricky.
Q. Speaking of lefties, you may be playing another one in the next round, either Leylah or Zeynep. Curious of your thoughts on playing either of them. I think you've never played Zeynep, but I know you have played Leylah a few times before.
ELENA RYBAKINA: Yes, well, Leylah, we played before, and I think all of the matches were on the hard court, and it's always been tough matches. She's, yeah, lefty, which if she wins, it's good for me that I played today against Diana. It was kind of a practice. She's trying to play fast, take time on the baseline from you. Yeah, it's gonna be difficult one. Will need to focus a lot on the return, on my serve, as well.
With Sonmez, I've never played, never practiced. I don't know her that much, but I will try to watch how they play and also discuss with the team.
Q. I watched your practice today, and I noticed that you were training with a lefty on court, obviously because Diana Shnaider is left-handed. I couldn't quite recognize, it was Desirae Krawczyk?
ELENA RYBAKINA: Yes, I asked her, and she was very nice to hit with me, because as I said, it's not easy to find lefties. Also, I think all the lefties, they are in the top of the draw. So, yeah.
Q. How do you usually arrange something like that between players? Like just asking, texting, Can you play with me?
ELENA RYBAKINA: Yes, it happened before, also. It's okay. Sometimes you just ask if they want to hit, warm up these 30 minutes. Des, she was really nice, so really thanks to her.
Q. This is more about kind of walking on the court. I feel like this tournament is very unique. They have a very grand presentation of when the players come on the court. Do you feel like the vibration of the music and the sound and things like that?
ELENA RYBAKINA: I think it looks really nice, because when I was waiting to get on the court, it looked amazing with the lights. The only thing, that the fog, I was a little bit surprised because it took some time to of course get away from the court, but I think for the fans and just how it looks, it's really unique, it's nice.
Q. I would like to ask about Billie Jean King Cup. Last year you played in April in Kazakhstan, and this time not. Why? That was because of schedule, injury, or another decision?
ELENA RYBAKINA: Well, last time I played with the team in Australia, actually. We went after Miami. Yeah, after one week we went to Australia, so it was a difficult trip for all of us.
This time, since I played Indian Wells till the end and also Miami was a long tournament, I needed some time to rest, to prepare my body for this clay court season. I was of course tired, and there is some things which in the body start hurting, so you need to really take care.
I discussed with the team, with the Federation, and we decided at this time I'm not going to go to play, but I'm glad that the girls won, and I'm happy that also younger girls were in the court, and they all played really well.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports