Sonay Kartal pleased with winning start to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals

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Transcript

00:00Great start to the finals there. Talk me through the match.

00:03Yeah, you know, their whole team is super tough.

00:07They're such great competitors. I know pretty much all of them,

00:10so I knew it wasn't going to be easy at all today.

00:12But yeah, it's always tough coming up first.

00:14The nerves are definitely there when you step out into court.

00:17But, you know, I'm super pleased and super happy to get the win today.

00:22And yeah, put us in a 1-0 head start going on for the second round.

00:25Yeah, you say the nerves are there. So did you feel the pressure?

00:27And what's it like to come out with a victory?

00:30Yeah, you know, I think these weeks kind of, for me, I feel the most pressure.

00:34You know, I want to do myself proud. I want to do the country proud.

00:37And I want to do the rest of the girls on the bench proud.

00:40So yeah, it's definitely nerve-wracking. You know, these matches mean a lot to me.

00:44So yeah, it's tough being up there on first.

00:47And what's the mood been like in the camp this week and going into these finals, this first game?

00:52Yeah, listen, we all gel really well. We all get on super well. We have a lot of fun.

00:57We're a pretty, I'd say, relaxed team. We like to keep things pretty calm off the court.

01:03There's, you know, a few games maybe back in the hotel.

01:06But yeah, we're all just bouncing off of each other and just having a lot of good fun here.

01:10You know, these weeks are rare in the year.

01:12So I think we all take them as a privilege and we all definitely enjoy them as best as we can.

01:16And tell me, what was it like playing in the arena just now with the fans and everything like that?

01:21Yeah, it's amazing. The arena's crazy. It's super cool.

01:26Yeah, I love the atmosphere. I love the live music going on at Change Events.

01:29It's something I really enjoy personally.

01:31So yeah, I had good fun. It's an amazing venue.

01:34We had a good crowd and some very loud British fans in there as well.

01:38And looking forward to the next matchup now?

01:40Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I'll get myself recovered as quickly as possible and head out straight to the bench to give Katie some support.