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BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALSNovember 22, 2015Rohan BopannaFlorin MergeaLondon, England, United Kingdom ROJER-TECAU/Bopanna-Mergea 6-4, 6-3 An interview with: ROHAN BOPANNA FLORIN MERGEA THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You lost, but I take it you look back on it as a great tournament. ROHAN BOPANNA: Of course. You know, it was just a tough day today. But like you said, yeah, it's been a great week, making it in the final, first time outing for us as a team. And for the season, starting out in April, playing just about a handful of tournaments and to qualify here, I think it's been a fantastic year for us. We can take a lot of positives from this year, and looking forward to starting fresh in the beginning of the year in January. Q. Anything you could have done different today to change the result, maybe push them a little further, or was it just an off day? ROHAN BOPANNA: I think we had one or two chances. The two breakpoints we had were in the same game. Of course, if we can convert that breakpoint, maybe it could have been different. Credit to them, they played really well. I thought they served extremely well. So the way they've been playing this week, I think big congrats to them. All we can do is just keep working on our game and keep fighting hard. Q. Florin, in doubles you're always playing against people you've played against. Horia is somebody you grew up with, world junior champions. What was it like playing against him? FLORIN MERGEA: It's a pleasure to play in the World Tour Finals title match. Obviously, this has been the first time two Romanians play the doubles final here. I think it's an historic day for us. At this point it doesn't really matter who won or lost, was always going to be a tough match today. Actually for me it's a good experience to play with Horia. I know for him it's different, as well. I don't think there was much we could have done more today than we actually did. There was a point here or there, but if you check the stats, I think we were really close. The match was decided one or two points. Q. Rohan, as an Indian, you get support around the world. There are Indians everywhere in the world. Talk a little bit about the support you get wherever you go. ROHAN BOPANNA: It's fantastic. The main thing is that as a player, to get so much support, it's a really good feeling. Like you said, it's not just at home, it's away from home also. You feel really special that a lot of guys are wanting you to do well. As a player, it just motivates you much more to keep working hard and keep playing my best tennis. Q. Do you think doubles is on the rise, its profile? ROHAN BOPANNA: Of course, I think it is definitely on the rise. You see a lot of singles players also playing doubles these days. The ATP has done such a fantastic job of promoting doubles. You've seen, especially here in the World Tour Finals, you have a lot of people coming out and supporting doubles and supporting us, which is fantastic. It's good for the game. Doubles is definitely growing. I think it's going to be getting more popular over the years. Q. Rohan, last time you came to the Finals in 2012 with Bhupathi. He was one of the most senior players on the tour. This time it is different. Can you talk about the difference. ROHAN BOPANNA: Of course, two different players. You can't compare the two. For me, at that point in time, it was my first time make the final here. That time around as a team with Mahesh, started the whole year. It also did come down to the last week of the year. In that way it's similar. But as a player, very different game styles, so I can't really compare. For me, making the final here with Florin is really good. He's such a great player. He tries every time he plays in the big occasions, which is fantastic. He's great to have as a partner, somebody like that, who not only is happy with one or two wins, he's there to win the tournament every single time you play the tournament, which is a big motivation as a partner. Q. Can you talk about your goals for next year, how you look at it. FLORIN MERGEA: One of the biggest differences is going to start in January. It's going to make it easier to qualify here again. That's obviously the main goal. We want to win a Grand Slam. We've been close at Wimbledon this year. These are the main two goals: stay in the top 10, maybe go for the No. 1 spot. There's a lot of teams that will defend a lot of points next year. I think we're in a good position to challenge that spot. ROHAN BOPANNA: To add to that, I think it's doing well in the major tournaments, doing consistently well, not just one tournament semis, one tournament final. I think that's what we're looking to, having good results in big tournaments, making sure we're in contention for the title every time we play. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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