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COUPE ROGERS

August 11, 2015

Frank Dancevic

MONTREAL, QUEBEC

P. ANDUJAR/F. Dancevic
6‑2, 6‑4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Where do you feel your game is right now overall?
FRANK DANCEVIC: Well, this year I've been struggling a little bit, I mean, with confidence. I haven't had a great year. I started the year at what was it, I don't know. What did I start the year at?

Q. 127.
FRANK DANCEVIC: 127. I struggled a little, but I went down in the rankings a little bit to 260.
I felt like leading up to this tournament, leading up to this week, I was actually practicing pretty well, I was playing pretty well. Actually felt like I played better today than I've played in a while, if that says anything.
But overall I think I have to build a little bit, I have to get confidence back, I have to win some matches. I have to find that confidence back to start winning. I think that's important. Confidence is a big part of my game.

Q. You mentioned you played a little bit better today than you have in a while. What did you like that you did today?
FRANK DANCEVIC: All week, just leading up to this tournament in practice, I did a lot of work the past 10 days just preparing. Physically and tennis‑wise, I felt like I improved a couple things in my game, my serve, just my movement, just a couple, little things, little details I feel like I've improved.
But that doesn't help winning matches and confidence. I think that's the most important thing for me right now, is just get on a little bit of a roll, win some matches. Whenever that happens, whether it's the next week or the next month, whatever, I feel like that's what I need right now in my game.

Q. What is your hunger level right now? You've been at this a long time. Especially this year, not making the slams. What is your hunger level, what keeps you motivated?
FRANK DANCEVIC: Well, I just feel like there's a difference between, you know, feeling like you're playing great, you know, feeling like everything's amazing, and being stuck at 300 in the world.
There's a difference between knowing that you're not playing well, falling, and knowing if you play better, you're going to go back up in the rankings.
Right now I'm at the stage where I know I had a rough six months of the year. I didn't play nearly at my level. I just feel like I have it in me. I feel like if I just get my confidence back and play better, play a little bit like I did last year, it's kind of like a snowball effect for me, it can happen really fast.
I've kind of had a rollercoaster career, up and down, up and down. I've been in slumps. I was ranked 250 in the world three years ago, three or four years ago. I think I was down to 280 actually. Then I got myself back up into the top 100 within a year and a half.
For me it's just a matter of getting some confidence. I felt like the way I was practicing this week, like I had a good chance today against Pablo. But it was tough. He surprised me on court the way he played. I felt like he played really solid, really well. He took away my weapons, which is not good for me. It's not good for somebody to take away your weapons.
I think, looking at the stats, it was pretty obvious what I felt, that that's what happened in the match.

Q. It's easy to understand how you train physically, how you rehab an injury. When you're struggling mentally, can you explain how you work on that, what you do to get that mental strength back.
FRANK DANCEVIC: Yeah, you know, sometimes it's just taking a step back. I feel like I've played a lot more than I usually do this year. I was in Europe playing for a long time. I was there for almost two months, played a lot of tournaments.
Came straight from Europe, played two events back‑to‑back. Came over here, right away wanted to do well here, so I started preparing early here.
I was here 10 days, I had my fitness trainer from Florida here early. We were doing a lot of work coming up to this event. I feel like I was on the go a lot the last three months.
Sometimes you just have to take a step back, you know, take five days, just look back at what was working, what wasn't working, 'cause you can just keep hitting your head against the wall and not be able to go any further.
I think it's time just to take a step back and think about, you know, what things I need to work on in my game, the way I want to approach the next six months of the year, make a plan, then go from there.

Q. A lot of your losses were of the more difficult, heartbreaking type. You seem to have won the first set a lot this year. How is that related to the confidence? Obviously you had enough confidence to start with.
FRANK DANCEVIC: Yeah, I think that's another thing. It's like, you know, I've lost a lot of three‑set matches, a lot of close matches, 6 in the third, 5 in the third. It's one of those things where usually I'd win, like, half of them. I would just get through a lot of those matches, which eventually gives you more opportunities to go deeper in tournaments. It's been just a rough year for me, losing a lot of tough matches, close matches.
You know what, that's part of being a tennis player, is losing, bouncing back. I mean, I've lost I don't even know how many matches first round this year. But I've come back, you know, tried to figure out the next week. Lost again, came back.
I can think of only two decent results I've had in six months. That was making finals of a challenger and qualifying for a Masters Series earlier this year. I was happy with the way I was playing. The rest of the year I was very up and down ‑ or down I should say.
But, yeah, I think it's time just to really think about how to approach the next six months, not to go play a tournament next week. I think I have to really think about how I want to approach the year.
Physically I feel good, which has always been important for me. Important for anybody really. You know, take it one step at a time. I mean, there's only one way for me to go right now. I'm not defending anything for the rest of the year, so I can only climb back up the rankings (smiling).

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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