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MIAMI OPEN PRESENTED BY ITAÃº

April 1, 2016

David Goffin

Miami, Florida

N. DJOKOVIC/D. Goffin

7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Great tournament. Really competitive, excellent match today. Couple turning points I'm thinking about. First-set tiebreaker, 4-4, you had an overhead sitter at the net. You hit it right back at him. Turned out to be a big point. Take me through that point.
DAVID GOFFIN: Yeah, there was a lot of big points in the first set. I had the break also earlier in the set, and at 4-3 I didn't play good service game to do 5-3. Yeah, with new balls he was really aggressive with his return.

Yeah, against Djokovic you have to make every point. You have to go for the shot in every point. He doesn't give anything, so you have to win every point. It's tough, because if you are not there for a few seconds, you lose the game.

So, yeah. It's always tough against Novak. But, yeah, at the end it was a really good first set with a lot of intensity, and, yeah, there was some -- when we start the tiebreak it was, yeah, few second serves that I missed the return. I served well, but it was not enough, yeah, with the smash.

Yeah. It was a big point. So I was a little bit tired at the end of the point, and then sometimes you are not focused on the last point and on the last shot. That's why I lost the tiebreak.

But it was a tiebreak with a lot of intensity, and it was tough to finish it. But, yeah, it's always tough against Novak.

Q. Second set, the sixth game, he got a code violation for time. He seemed to be upset by it. He held there for 3-3. Then did you lose a little bit mentally or fatigue after the 3-3 game?
DAVID GOFFIN: Yeah, both a little bit mentally and physically. But, yeah, I think after first set it was -- the beginning of the second was tough. When you play during one hour and maybe 20 minutes for first set and then you have to restart again in the second, yeah, physically it was tough.

I think -- I don't know him. Maybe he was just a little bit -- yeah, I was tired, I was tired, but him, I don't know. You never know. Even if sometimes he needs some, sometimes like, because he got code violation, time violation, you never know with Novak. And then at the end he served really well to finish the match.

But, yeah, the game at 3-All, it was tough. It was tough. I was a little bit tired. And during three or four points you lose your concentration and then it's a break. So, yeah, it's always like this with Novak.

Q. How is your confidence level now? You have come off two semifinals in a row. Davis Cup, you played well there, too. Just talk about your confidence moving forward. You haven't had a lot of success against top 10s, but this has to give you a boost playing as well as you did against Novak today.
DAVID GOFFIN: Yes, of course my confidence is really high, and, yeah. But of course I did two good weeks, two good tournaments, but I was not on fire. It was like really solid game, and I played my level. I really happy that mentally I was really competitive and I won a lot of good matches against many great players.

So, yeah, I worked a lot during practice, so maybe that's why it pays off during the match. But for the next tournaments and the rest of this season, of course the confidence is really high.

Q. What was your reaction when he waved off your challenge on that serve?
DAVID GOFFIN: Which one?

Q. He hit the serve and you challenged the call, and he said, Never mind, the ball was out.
DAVID GOFFIN: Oh, yeah, I remember.

Yeah, when you serve, it's down the T, you know if the service is out or in. And then when I asked the challenge, he say, Yes, okay, it's out, it's out. You don't need to put the video in the challenge.

But it was really a fair play. But I missed the return after that (smiling).

Q. You're not intimidated by world No. 1. Seems like he never loses. You showed no intimidation or fear out there. Can you talk about that, the confidence level?
DAVID GOFFIN: Yeah, I was just feeling good after a lot of wins in United States. I was in semifinal. I have nothing to lose against Novak.

And then he has a game -- I don't like his game, of course, because he's really solid. But for me, when you play like this with good groundstrokes and I have a lot of balls to hit, I'm feeling more comfortable after a few games. It's not like Roger or sometimes he just go chip and charge, serve and volley, and you don't hit any forehand or backhand, and it's already 3-Love in three minutes.

With Novak you have a lot of balls to hit, and sometimes, yes, you're feeling better game after game. Yeah, for me, that's why maybe, yeah, I was feeling good on my baseline, so maybe that's why it was a good match and it wasn't scary about the match against Novak.

Q. How do you balance this last month, three weeks, tragedy at home, probably the best tennis month of your life. How do you balance that mentally?
DAVID GOFFIN: Yes, of course I played my best tennis, but, yeah, like I said, it was not -- it was not just on fire just for one tournament. It was my level. I think I can reproduce that in the next few months. I hope so. I hope I can still improving my game.

But we will see now. It's another part of the season on the clay court, and that's a period that I like. I will practice on clay court this next days and then we will see.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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