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NITTO ATP FINALS

November 13, 2018

Kevin Anderson

London, England, United Kingdom

K. ANDERSON/K. Nishikori

6-0, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Where would you rate that performance? Your best? Or amongst your best? When you consider the situation you're in, the event you're in, and who you're playing, tell me your thoughts.
KEVIN ANDERSON: Amongst the best I've played. I mean, getting off to a really good start. And I think I did a really good job constantly applying the pressure and not letting up.

Sometimes it's tough if you have a very dominating set, you often see scorelines that momentum can change and even going up, you know, 3-Love in the second set, hypothetically he holds and then gets a break. It almost works against you some ways if you have a really good lead.

Today, I kept at it the whole time. I just felt I returned really well, made him hit a lot of shots off his serve. He wasn't getting too many free points and I think as I grew, I was growing in confidence and he sort of probably was going a little the other way which is tough given the situation.

So, from my side, I felt I did a fantastic job throughout really. Even though I had a lead, I felt a sense of urgency throughout which I thought was really important because I wanted to get that win as best that I could.

Q. The court suits your game. Do you find it is slower in relation to other years or not? What is the opinion of the players in general?
KEVIN ANDERSON: It feels like it's playing really nicely. We've been indoors for a while now. There are subtle differences. Paris was quicker than Vienna. This is somewhere in between a little bit. We've been out here for a week and I feel like by now pretty well adjusted. So, you know you get used to it, especially it being indoors.

I think it's, as I said the other day, it's taking the serve very nicely. But it is taking the spin. Especially the kick serves are getting up nicely. So, I think all in all, it is playing really well.

Q. Last year you went up to another level in your career. This year, obviously, you are on a higher level. Was it a continuous thing? Or can you pinpoint something that made you go to another level?
KEVIN ANDERSON: I feel like it's always been building blocks for me. I feel like at the beginning it was slow and steady and reaching top ten in 2015 and really looking forward to trying to build on that success.

And then '16 came which was tough for me. And then maybe after getting through those injuries and struggling to find my form a little bit at the beginning of last year, and then I think maybe that sort of motivated me even more. I started working even harder on the mental side. I have been able to continue that momentum.

Obviously, making US Open finals last year was a big step forward, gave me a lot of belief. Coming into this year I set my goals higher and I have embraced them well. I have been able to stay the path throughout the year. It hasn't been easy. There will be ups and downs. But I have taken some good steps in the right direction.

Q. When we talk about young South African athletes they say they are given a cricket bat or a rugby ball. Who put a tennis racquet in your hand? Do you feel like you are influencing the next generation of South African tennis by being here?
KEVIN ANDERSON: My dad taught and coached me throughout my junior playing days. He played tennis. My mom played tennis. Tennis was in the family. It is something about the individuality of the sport that really appealed to him. He pushed me really hard and it was a really good match because I embraced it and there is never a day in my life I was ever frustrated or felt like I didn't want to be playing tennis.

I worked really hard as a kid. It is not easy. It is far from the tennis world, the tennis scene growing up in South Africa. Here I am having achieved a lot of my dreams. Hopefully, I'm a source of inspiration for kids growing up in South Africa to pick up a tennis racquet and hopefully we'll see. It takes a lot of time, it is not going to happen overnight.

Hopefully, in the next five or ten years we will see men and women players coming out of South Africa.

Q. It's been an interesting match-up with you and Kei over the years, a couple of wins for him and for you. What is it that you've had to develop to neutralize his game in particular?
KEVIN ANDERSON: I have always found it tricky to play him. He moves so well, takes the ball so early and I think just finding ways to try and impose my game more, I think it's been a big key. I have done that better this year against him.

Still, we've had very close matches. We have played each other three times in consecutive weeks now. The times where I've done well is I'm taking care of my serve games and I'm finding ways to have inroads on his serve games and today obviously was an extreme example of doing it very well.

I felt I did that pretty well in Vienna, too. The biggest thing, with everybody, if you allow them to get too comfortable, that is what the game is all about right now, you trying to play your tennis and trying to stop the opponent from playing their tennis. When I stick to it as much as I can, my game, it makes life difficult for my opponents regardless of who they are. I feel like I have done that well against Kei, although especially today.

Q. I wonder if you picked up the racquet because of Wayne Ferreira. Apart from that, you saw Federer losing to Nishikori the other day. How can you explain the player can play like the other day and then today? You play Federer next time - you have to play Federer - that could be his way out of the tournament. That creates more pressure or are you relaxed because you are going to be in the semifinal anyway or what?
KEVIN ANDERSON: Firstly, I watched Wayne playing a lot growing up. He was the highest-ranked South African for a number of years. He was top ten for five or six years. It was great to see somebody from South Africa doing so well. It has been great from me to spend a lot of time with Wayne.

Tennis is a funny sport. It can change one day to the next. You can win a tournament and the next day playing somewhere else, even in the same conditions it can be very different, different styles of tennis, different opponents.

So, I don't know how to explain how things happen. That's why it can be a really tricky game as shown from this example. For me, I'm looking forward to playing Roger. He has a match tonight. Either way, I'm playing him in a couple of days' time. It is always a great challenge taking him on the court. It's a great opportunity. Up against arguably the best player of all time. So I feel like I've played two really good matches, so definitely excited to come back and play him in a couple of days' time.

Q. Kelsey mentioned something on Twitter that you will be donating money to the California fires, for every ace that you served today. Could you explain the thinking behind that?
KEVIN ANDERSON: Yes, we have seen on the news a lot. My coach is from California and so it's a bit more close to home. And yeah, we thought let's try - we will donate and do it in a way that is interactive. So I think I hit ten aces, so $1,000, and we donated another $1,000 to the Humane Society in Ohio. Rescuing dogs is a big passion of ours and we are motivated by that, so we matched the $1,000 to the Fire Department, also to the animal rescue. So it's been something close to my heart and as I said, I think also Brad, his house being out there, my agent, showed me a picture of the fires he could see from his house, so there's been a lot of people affected so we wanted to make a small difference.

Q. It's the fourth time this year you have played Nishikori on tour. Compared to other years, do you notice anything missing from his game?
KEVIN ANDERSON: It's been - they are always tough matches. He's been incredibly consistent throughout the years. He struggled a bit earlier on this year. When I played him in New York he was sort of coming back. We still had a very close match, 6 in the third, so he's had an amazing year.

These last two years have been tough matches. Beating him in the final in Vienna, losing him the next week and beating him today was an exception in the way I played, everything clicked, so that is not something you expect going into the match.

Obviously, it feels great when it happens, but I wouldn't certainly expect Kei to be fully prepared and ready for his next match on Thursday.

Q. Going back to today's match, you're serving great. You said you made ten aces. Of course, you always serve great. It seems like today Kei had a tough time to read your serve. Can you talk about the variation of the serve and the placement?
KEVIN ANDERSON: I served at a very high first serve percentage and still hitting my spots. If I'm hitting good first serves, it will be tough for any opponent to return it. There were a few 30-Alls. I was able to come through each time today so that was really important.

I think the biggest factor though for me at least was really making a lot of returns being in almost every one of his serve games. He was missing a few first serves and I feel like the ones he was making I was putting a lot of pressure on him and especially on the second serve, too.

One of the goals was being a bit more effective on the returns the last few matches. I haven't had too much success there, so today was a good step there.

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