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AEGON CHAMPIONSHIPSJune 19, 2015Kevin AndersonLONDON, ENGLAND K. ANDERSON/G. Garcia‑Lopez THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Both of you served really well today. Was it just, in the end, the consistency of your serving? KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, it was definitely dominated by serves today. I thought he served incredibly well, especially in the second. There were a couple of games where I wasn't really getting any returns in even. I thought I played a very good return game at 6‑5, made a couple of good returns, was aggressive throughout. That's what I was sort of hoping for. Step 1 was take care of my serve, which I was able to do, and try and create any opportunities on his serve games. Fortunately, I was able to get one right before the end. If not, we would have been in another tiebreaker. Q. There has been quite a buzz the last few days about the number of aces the players are serving here, but also, I gather Karlovic has just set a new record in Halle, as well. What do you put that down to? Is it the condition of the grass this year or are the players just getting their technique that much better? KEVIN ANDERSON: It's tough to say. I think just maybe a bit of coincidence, as well, I think. It just so happens. The guys who are serving well, I mean, usually serving well, I think the grass definitely assists the serve and makes ‑‑if you hit your spots, yeah, I feel like it's pretty tough to get it back as a returner. You know, obviously looking at Karlovic, I mean, the guy has an amazing serve. So it just so happens ‑‑I mean, I think it's this week. It's on grass. It's a surface that definitely suits a serve. I think it's definitely just favorable serving conditions which I think has resulted in, as you're saying, the amount of aces being quite high. Q. How do you cope with a situation where, as you were saying, you weren't getting a look in on his serve for quite a few of the service games. How do you counteract that? What do you say to yourself? KEVIN ANDERSON: I think the first step is just realizing that it is grass court tennis. Going out on the court, there is a chance that can happen. But I felt I was able to stay patient, which was key. I think to do that, definitely taking care of my serve games is I think the first priority, really separating the serves and returns. I think that's what makes a difference. You can't let any frustrations go from one game to another game, from the return to the serve. Anything that happens in the return game, you have to wipe the slate clean and really focus on your serve games. I think that's the most important step in dealing with conditions where you're not really getting too many looks on return of serve. Q. Do you feel you're playing your best tennis? KEVIN ANDERSON: I mean, I'm feeling good. I feel, you know, this is a lot of stuff I'm working on and I feel like I'm improving on it. That's the way I look at it. I have always tried to keep that mentality of where I want to get to and just a work in progress. I feel like a lot of things are paying off, and it's a continued battle to keep doing that. But I definitely like things I'm working on are paying off, and I can see them on the court that it's rewarding to me. Q. If it happens to be Milos in the semis, that would be similar to what happened today? KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, it wouldn't be too much different. Obviously Milos has more pace than my opponent today, and he's one of the best servers in the world. Same sort of mentality of trying to separate the return games. You know, opportunities won't be that many. You try to capitalize on them when they come to you. You just have to stay patient because it can be quite frustrating when you don't see too many points forming on return games. Q. Would you rate what you have done so far as an achievement? And obviously winning would be the best you could do, but do you feel you have a real chance? KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, definitely. I mean, that's what I came in here with the intent of doing.  I have been in this position several times before. I definitely feel good with the matches I have played so far, but there are still two more matches to play. As I was saying earlier, I feel it's good to just reflect a little bit of first time being in the semis here, but, you know, pretty soon will be looking ahead of tomorrow's match. Q. A lot of the players have been saying how difficult it is to transition from clay to grass, and particularly the tall guys because of the amount of bending and how low you have to get. How do you find the transition? Most of your success has come on hard courts rather than grass, but looking at your game, you should be doing just as well on grass. KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, I feel especially the stuff I'm trying to work and improve on, definitely, as it happens, is well suited to the grass. Being a bit more aggressive, coming forward a bit more. Yeah, I think it's a tricky transition. The biggest thing is just the movement. But apart from that, I feel like if you looked at my game, probably 95% of it is exactly the same whether I'm on grass or hard court. It's the kind of points I'd set up changes a bit, but I'm not necessarily trying to do too much more or too many different things. My serve games are structured much the same. I think because it's a bit more effective to serve on grass, it allows a few things to be a bit easier in terms of the next ball, whereas on clay sometimes guys are standing further back so it's a different style of tennis. For me, the biggest transition on my game is just the footing and trying to feel comfortable, especially changing directions. The ball does keep lower, as well, so you have to try and stay down a little bit more. But it's not that much different from other surfaces. There is a lot of just basics I think apply to any surface. Q. You said Milos has one of the best serves in the world. Who would you say has the best serve in the world at the moment overall? KEVIN ANDERSON: If you just look at the serve itself, I think ‑‑if you just looked at numbers, I think you'd have to look at Karlovic or Isner. I mean, just in terms of stats, I mean, I think you'd have to probably say one of those two. But I feel like Raonic, I feel like myself I think probably would round out the top 4 in terms of serving. As you saw today, there is a lot of guys with ‑‑ Guillermo served really well today. Q. As a spectator, would you rather watch a guy with big aces or a match with lots of rallies? KEVIN ANDERSON: That's really tough to say. I mean, it's just different, I think. Maybe a combination of both. Sometimes it would be interesting to see both. Obviously I can't talk. I'm on the other end. I can only control what I'm doing. Hopefully they see appreciation of both styles of tennis. Q. There's something intriguing in the pressure that builds. If you know the other guy is serving well... KEVIN ANDERSON: That's the nature of grass court tennis, and it's been like that for a number of years. I'm pretty sure there are many more rallies today than there were 15 years ago, and you hear a lot of people saying how they wish grass court was different. If we were playing on it 10, 15 years ago, we wouldn't be having nearly as many rallies as you would today. That's how it's changed. They are wanting to get more rallies, and they have achieved that by obviously slowing down the game quite a bit, especially on the grass. Q. If this is the best performance in this tournament, how does it feel? KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, as I was saying, it feels great coming in here and going one round further. I have been in the quarters a few times. I think just in Queen's itself, it's a pretty big tournament, so that feels good. I have been in the semis of 500s before. I'm now looking at getting to the finals and getting my shot at winning the tournament. Q. Those players you have nominated on the best serve, if you really had to pinpoint picking one person, who would it be? Include yourself. KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, I think just ‑‑I mean, numbers and the game, I think I'd have to give it to Ivo. I think his first serve is really good. I think on a second serve, I think Isner is a bit tougher than Ivo's. Ivo's second serve doesn't really bounce as much. I think John really gets the ball up quite a bit. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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