World No. 14 Dominika Cibulkova says she made a mistake continuing to work with her now ex-coach, Zeljko Krajan, whom she said was too hard on her and was too negative. Cibulkova split with Krajan in April after a very slow start to the season. She was with him for almost two years and recently promoted her hitting partner, Peter Miklusicak, to be her new head coach. Krajan also coached former No. 1 Dinara Safina for a long stint, who has also mentioned how overly intense he could be.
"Zeljko was a great coach, but in the end it was not helping me," Cibulkova told a small group of reporters at the Mercury Insurance Open, where she has reached the final. "He was just putting too much pressure and with every ball I missed and every match I lost I was just putting myself really down because he was very, very tough. He's very intense all the time. I think me being with him two years is something now I don't know how I could handle it, but it made me maybe tougher in some way. In the end it was not helpful, so after we split I just felt so much freer on the court, if I do mistake, it doesn't matter. But still sometimes after two years with him, I do mistake and go crazy about that and that is what the new coach is trying to tell me. It's nothing. It's one ball and it's not the end of the world."