A visit to Hobart’s famous Salamanca Markets is a must-do for any visitor to the city and former Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova made sure she did not miss out.
The world No.38 and tournament’s third seed took time out from practice to stroll through the markets with her team yesterday. It is her first visit to the city and one she is enjoying so far.
“It’s my first time here and it feels pretty good,” she said.
The former top 10 player is hoping a Hobart International title can kick start a healthy and successful 2016 season. It follows a difficult 2015 season, when Achilles surgery following an Australian Open quarterfinal appearance kept her off the tour.
“It was really unfortunate. I couldn’t play for five months in total, so it wasn’t really easy,” she said. “I had to comeback but I’m here and the Achilles is healed, so that is the most important thing.”
Cibulkova began her new season at the Brisbane International last week, reaching the second round.
“Second round was pretty tough but I’m happy to be here and to have been practicing for a few days,” she said.
She is hoping the extra practice and time to adjust to the Hobart conditions will help in a first round showdown with rising Brit player Johanna Konta, the world No.48.
“She had pretty good wins last year and she’s a really tough player,” Cibulkova said. “I’ve never played her before but I’ve watched some of her videos of her matches already. It’s another tough first round but that’s why we are here, to fight and do our best.”
Cibulkova is looking no further than that first round encounter, even though she is one of the title favourites.
“If you look at the draw here, there is some very good first rounds,” she said. “The beginning of the year is always tough, everybody is fresh and everybody wants to play.”
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