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BRISBANE INTERNATIONALDecember 30, 2018Jo-Wilfried TsongaBrisbane, Queensland, Australia Q. Jo, how is the body, how is the mind? How have you felt in the off season? I know you had some struggles or challenges last year. How are you feeling coming into 2019? JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah. I'm really excited to play this new season, and try to forget the last one. But, yeah, I'm feeling okay. It's not easy every day when you come back like this, you didn't play for so long. You need to get the rhythm, and it takes time. I knew it was going to take time. But I'm really happy to be back to the competition and be able to play and really happy to be here in Brisbane. Q. When you have to make a comeback like that, what are the biggest challenges or what are the things that people wouldn't maybe understand about what's challenging of coming back to your best level? JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, what is difficult, it's not to play your best level. It's to be consistent at your best level. For me what is the highest difficulty for me is to feel good physically, to be able to play one match, two matches in a row, three matches in a row. That's for me the most difficult. It's not to win one match, because I have, you know, when you played for so long like this, I mean your level is here, but what is difficult is to repeat, repeat it every day. Q. It's been a while since you've played Brisbane. Do you have memories of the last time you played here? JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah. I have good memories here because I won a title in doubles. In singles also I played pretty good. But, yeah, it's always been something special for me to come here, because when I arrived and I see the Pat Rafter Arena, I mean it's great because he was a player I really liked before, when I was a kid. And, yeah, for me it's a nice venue. Of course, there is the heat, but there is roof on the court, so it's good for me. Q. Did you base any of your game on his when you were growing up coming through? JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah. I always liked his attitude on court. But, you know, it's always really difficult to copy somebody, because what is in my mind is not in his mind. But he was one of my inspiration when I was a kid. As Andre Agassi and all the players, like Sampras and those guys. Q. Jo, you mentioned having to bring your top level consistently. If you do win your first-round match, you play Rafa in the second round. How do you see that challenge and how do you focus on just what's ahead of you versus? JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, it's a big challenge, but like I said, the biggest challenge for me is going to be first to win the first match and then to be able to play a second match. If it's against Rafa, it's cool. He's a very good player. It's very challenging for me, of course. He's coming back from injury also, so we are kind of in the same situation. And of course, I wish I could have results like him, especially at Roland Garros. But, yeah, it's for me always a big challenge to play against those guys. I played all my career against them. Was not always easy. Of course, I wish I can go through and play good tournament here. It would be good for me and good for my ranking, good for everything. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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