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NITTO ATP FINALS

November 19, 2017

David Goffin

London, England, United Kingdom

G. DIMITROV/D. Goffin

7-5, 4-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It seemed like quite a crucial game when you got broken in the final set. You were disturbed by someone calling out from the crowd. How much did that play a part in the outcome today?
DAVID GOFFIN: Yeah, it was a tough game. I was a little bit tired in the third. But, yeah, it's the only game maybe I didn't serve well. I didn't put a lot of first serves in that game. He took this one. He took the advantage because, yeah, I served a lot of second serves. He was really solid. He started to put more balls in the court.

Since the end of the first set, I was serving really well. In that game, he took his chance. After that, yeah, I didn't have the opportunity to come back because, yeah, I had some opportunity at the first game of the third set. Yeah, after that he played well. He played solid.

It was a good match.

Q. How do you feel you've grown this week as a tennis player?
DAVID GOFFIN: I think after this week I'm a better player mentally. Yeah, obviously mentally, but also, yeah, physically. It was tough.

I proved to myself that I can do it. I was at the right place because, you know, sometimes you are for the first time in the top 8, you don't know how it's going to go, if you're going to play a good level.

I proved to myself that, yeah, I'm in the right place, and I deserve to be here in this tournament. Then match after match, I took more confidence until the final. So I'm proud of what I've achieved, even if I'm disappointed about the final.

I gave everything. I have no regrets after the final. Anyway, it was a great week. So, yeah, I think I'm a better player.

Q. I don't know if there were a lot more Bulgarians in the crowd tonight, but they were certainly loud. How good a rehearsal was that for what you have to do next week? Did you find at any point it put you off? It seemed like it would have been hard to play in that environment at times.
DAVID GOFFIN: Yeah, next week it will be different, for sure, different atmosphere. But, yeah, there were lot of Bulgarians tonight. But anyway, even if, yeah, they were a little bit more behind Grigor, it was a great atmosphere.

I was not focused on the crowd, I was focused on what I have to do. I was in my match, so that was the key tonight, was to be in my match from the first to the last point. And, yeah, there's nothing else to say. Just was great match, great atmosphere.

Next week it will be also something different, playing for my country against France, in France, in an amazing stadium, 27,000. So it will be noisy. But we will see. Try to rest a little bit and be ready for another tough weekend.

Q. Do you feel like it's almost a little bit unfair or cruel that you beat Nadal and Federer in the same tournament and you're not the one walking home with the trophy? That's never happened to anyone else before.
DAVID GOFFIN: No, it's not unfair. But I think I deserve the win today, of course. But Grigor also, he deserves the win. He was unbeatable this week. He played really great tennis, was really solid from the first match until the end. So he deserve completely to be here and to win the tournament.

Even if, yeah, I won against Rafa and Roger, I lost the final. But anyway, it was a great week. So, yeah, like I said, I have no regrets after that match.

Q. It's pretty rare for this final not to involve one of the guys from the big four. Your kind of generation has been said not to be able to push on. You played with Grigor on this big stage. Does it give you hope you can start your own generation moving them on out, building towards going forward?
DAVID GOFFIN: I don't know. There is different generations. There is - how can I say - not the old generation, but the generation of Federer, he's almost 10 years older than me, so we are not from the same generation. But he's still there. He's still playing such a nice tennis. You have Rafa, Djoko, Murray, all the same age. Then you have the next generation. As you saw last week in Milan, there are so many good players coming. It's going to be tough in the future.

But me and Grigor, we are almost the same age, and we are between the generation. We are here in the final of the ATP Masters. So, yeah, I don't know. I don't know what to say. It's another generation. It's our generation. But we are here and we are fighting to beat the young guns and also the old ones (smiling).

Yeah, but we are happy to play the final. We hope to play some more in the future.

Q. You seemed through this week to play increasingly coming forward. A lot of success at the net. You came in a lot today as well. Is that something you've been working on? Do you intend to carry that forward in your game more generally? Was it just the nature of the court here?
DAVID GOFFIN: No, like I said, against Roger it was the same. If you see me at the net, it means that I'm really aggressive and I'm confident with my groundstrokes. I follow my groundstrokes to the net, it means that, yeah, I'm feeling quite confident to follow my forehand and backhand.

I think I worked a lot to be more aggressive, especially from the return. It's one of my best weapons. But also the serve. When the serve is going well, it's easier to be more aggressive and to take more risk when you know the serve is going well, after when you have to play your service game.

So, yeah, we are working a lot on it. I think I'm improving a lot in this part of my game. It can be better. Like the serve, also it can be better. But I'm still improving. That's really positive.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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