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BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS

November 17, 2016

Dominic Thiem

London, England, United Kingdom

M. RAONIC/D. Thiem

7-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You obviously like playing a ton of tennis, as many tournaments as possible. Is it nice to finally have the off-season?
DOMINIC THIEM: Well, of course, I would prefer to win today and to play another match. But, yeah, now of course it's nice. Now I cannot change anything anymore. Of course, I'm looking forward to some days off.

Q. How tough is it, especially in tight sets and tiebreaks, when you're facing a guy who is serving like that?
DOMINIC THIEM: I think it was a quite good first set. I didn't face a breakpoint. Him neither. It came off to a tiebreak. The tiebreak was pretty open, I guess. Some sort of mistakes I think which still the difference between me and the very top. For example, Djokovic wouldn't do the same mistakes two days ago. That's why he won two tiebreakers. Yeah, it was a very open first set.

Q. It's your first time here. Comes at the end of your first year breaking into the top 10. What have you learnt this week that will help you if you're back here in the future?
DOMINIC THIEM: First of all, I hope that I will be back here in the future. It's one of the best tournaments. It was an amazing experience. I'm also happy that I won one match and that I still had the chance to go into the semifinals on the last match.

But, yeah, here are the best eight players of the season. Every match is close probably. Yeah, you have to be on hundred percent from the very start. For sure I learned a lot of things.

Q. It was a long year. Are you going to have holidays or do you start training again?
DOMINIC THIEM: Yeah, some days holidays, then of course I will start the off-season for next year.

Q. Aside from beating Gael, what has been the highlight of this week?
DOMINIC THIEM: I think I played quite good tennis all three matches compared to the other weeks before this tournament. I think that's my big goal for next season, to keep a high level for all the year. Obviously I dropped, for sure. I was quite happy with the way I played in these three matches.

That's also what I learned. I mean, even when I played very bad at the tournaments before, I still played a decent tournament here. I mean, all three matches were a big highlight, for sure. I'm most happy about the win against Gael.

Q. How satisfied are you to be the world No. 8 at the end of the season? Do you remember what your goal was at the beginning of the season?
DOMINIC THIEM: If I compare the ranking position which I have now to the goal I set myself before the season, I'm very satisfied. My biggest goal was to keep the year-end ranking from last year, maybe to improve it a little bit.

Honestly I never expected to be here at the end of the season and to finish the year in the top 10. All in all it was a very good year. I'm also happy that it didn't end with a very bad tournament like in Paris, but it ended with a decent three matches from me here in London.

Q. What is your opinion on how you've seen Milos' game change? He's well-known for his serve. He comes to the net more, moves on the court. Talk about what makes him a tougher player to play now than before?
DOMINIC THIEM: I played him in Cincinnati, so it was not that long ago. This was also the first time to play.

Of course, his best shot is the serve. Also besides the serve, he can hit a winner every second. That's why you feel a lot of pressure when it's your own service.

So it's very tough to play against him.

Q. Are you happy with your backhand today? In some crucial moments, you made some mistakes, which is quite a reliable weapon for you.
DOMINIC THIEM: In general I'm always happy with my backhand. But, yeah, it was not so easy for me. It's a pretty quick surface. In the beginning of the week, I didn't feel that great on the surface. Compared to that, I improved a lot.

But yeah, still for sure I'm playing better and I'm feeling more comfortable on slower surfaces. That's why I probably also made a little bit more mistakes than on other times.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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