Karolina Pliskova reacts to US Open’s “super huge” but “super empty” Arthur Ashe

After her one-match campaign in Cincinnati, Karolina Pliskova debuted her 2020 US Open adventure on an empty-seated Arthur Ashe, which gave the Czech world number three a whole different vibe than she was used to. Nevertheless, Karolina won the fixture against Anhelina Kalinina and admitted that her overall tennis appetite was better than the one she had at Cincinnati, where she lost in straight sets against Kudermetova.

“I felt better than in my previous match last week when I've played on court 17 so definitely I think the center court is a better place to play no matter. It's still without people, but I just felt somehow a little better and I have a lot of practice on this court, so I just felt quite like used to it. The stadium is super huge and it feels super empty but I still felt a couple of people watching from the players’ boxes,” said Pliskova during the post-match press conference.

Besides having the support of her own team, world number 3 Karolina Pliskova felt the aid of all the people cheering from the fronts of their TVs. 

“I know there's been people watching of course behind the cameras, millions of people, my family, my friends from home, so I felt much better than I was feeling in my first match (the Cincinnati one) and I think it's just about the experience of all of this because everything is a little bit different, but the more time I spend here the better I feel.”

Karolina Pliskova thinks it’s a little better without towel kids

Besides the “no spectators allowed” policy adopted by the US Open’s organizers, towel kids were eliminated from the equation to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, and Pliskova has no complaints against this decision, considering it a “smart” one.

“I think it’s quite smart to do all of these things. We're not used to it and it feels maybe a little bit different, but I think it's nothing that we cannot get used to. It's more about that you still have to think about it (getting the towel), then the fact that you have to go and get your own towel,” said Pliskova.

“You think more about taking the towel or not because before you just showed the towel and it came right away. I think it’s at some point a little bit better. It’s smart because it's less risky, less people touch the towels, and there’s less of a risk of somebody getting sick. Players have to accept it.”

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2EZT3gM