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WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN

August 20, 2015

Novak Djokovic

CINCINNATI, OHIO

N. DJOKOVIC/D. Goffin
6‑4, 2‑6, 6‑3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Some tough moments in that match. Can you talk a little bit about where you thought the turning point was for you?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: It's tough to say honestly. It was a solid first set, but whatever happened in the next 45 minutes I don't want to remember it. (Smiling.)
Credit to him for playing some solid, consistent tennis, always making me play an extra shot. Many double faults. I wasn't on the court. You know, I just lost the intensity and concentration.
Luckily for me I managed to bounce back, dig myself out of this hole I was in. Obviously tough conditions for both of us. Very swirly on the court. Not easy to serve or easy to control the ball in here generally in Cincinnati. The ball flies through the air very quickly.
So it's not easy to really play some consistent tennis. You know, it's ups and downs. You have to make adjustments, steps, all the time. You have to have the intensity in the legs, because once you stop, you start making faults, and that's what happened to me.
As I said, I will try to take the positive out of this match, and the positive is the last six games of the match.

Q. How do you find that groove? How do you find your own...
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, you know, it's obviously easier to lose it than to really find it. It's kind of like confidence, as well. You need to work hard in order to get confidence. You can easily lose it.
I mean, you're always playing mind games with yourself. I mean, you are your biggest opponent always and you kind of encounter these particular mental challenges.
And then, you know, once you start thinking too much, once you start allowing, you know, the distractions getting in your way, it's a downhill ride from there.
So you've got to try to play one point at a time, stay in the present moment, influence whatever you can, and that is, you know, to play as best as quality shot as you can, and then pray for the best.

Q. How do you feel about playing Stan in the next round?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, heard he played three tiebreak sets today against Ivo. Obviously Ivo is one of the toughest opponents can you have in these particular conditions especially with the serve, probably the best serve in the history of the game. He's getting closer to that record of aces.
It's a big win for Stan. He was also in a tough situation against Coric yesterday, but he's showing why he's a top‑10 player, Grand Slam champion. He's got this experience of finding a way to win. It's going to be the first time we meet after French Open final, and, both of us, we are still not playing our best, but, you know, hopefully we can rise to the occasion and have a good match.

Q. In Canada you received a fair amount of on‑court treatment with your elbow. Any lingering effect?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: No, there's not. But because it was bothering me for some time I messed up my serve, routine and serve techniques. I'm struggling with my service, especially the second serve a little bit.
But I am trying to work on it and find it, but considering the pain, it's not present anymore.

Q. Obviously it's hard to put those 45 minutes away, but how far do you feel from your best overall?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, here not that close. But, again, last six games gave me‑‑ encouraged me to keep working and believing I can reach that maximum of my potential, hopefully even this week. Let's see.
Obviously it takes time, especially because the conditions are quite different here than they were in Canada, and then did you to US Open. Even though they are all hard court tournaments, it's still all quite different.
I hope as the tournament here progresses each day I can play better and just, you know, having the positive kind of mindset and work hard.

Q. Are you a player that enjoys getting revenge? Have you been itching to get revenge over Stan since...
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I don't like revenge. It doesn't come from positive emotion. I'm not looking for revenge. I'm look to go win tomorrow's match.

Q. You said conditions here are different than they were in Canada and what they will be in NewYork. How are they different?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, as I said, here it's very ‑‑from my perspective obviously it's very hard to control the ball. Every ball comes in a different way, and just it bounces very high. Especially if you play during the day it's quite different than at night.
Night is a bit slower, so it's a bit easier to play longer rallies. As I said, I feel like the big difference from here than comparing to Canada or some other hard court tournaments in States, the difference is that here you've got to make that fine, extra adjustment step before you hit the ball than some other events.
But that's only me. Obviously for maybe some other players it's different.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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