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QATAR EXXONMOBIL OPENJanuary 2, 2019Karen KhachanovDoha, Qatar (Applause) THE MODERATOR: Hello, Karen. How are you? KAREN KHACHANOV: Good, thank you. And you? THE MODERATOR: I'm good. I would like to introduce you to the conference with our promising players, our future players. They have a bunch of questions for you. Are you ready? KAREN KHACHANOV: Yes, of course. THE MODERATOR: Let's start. KAREN KHACHANOV: Take it easy. Not tough questions. Q. Who was your idol and role model growing up? KAREN KHACHANOV: Sorry? Q. Who was your idol and role model growing up? KAREN KHACHANOV: My favorite tennis player was Marat Safin while I was growing up when I was young as you watching tennis. Q. Which surface is your favorite and why? KAREN KHACHANOV: I would say slow, hard-court and the clay. Why? I think because - I mean, honestly in Russia I was, until age of 15, and we were playing mostly on indoors, most part of the year, in hard-court, in the hard-court, and also on the other side, clay, is because with my technique I like to play on clay, it fits me well. At the end, to be a good tennis player, you need to be, you need to adjust your game on all surfaces, so that's why grass is as well. Q. What advice can you give to junior players who dreams to be pro players? KAREN KHACHANOV: Okay. There's not, like, one word, you know, what I can advise. You need to really work hard, that's the most important thing. You need to also not push too much in the mental way that if something is going wrong, you know to go down, so you need to really believe that you can do it, till the end. Even sometimes it is not working and just, like I said, to believe, to keep working and to keep trying to keep improving, of course, your game. It depends how you play, who you play, the mental toughness is most important. Q. What advice or instruction is the best from your coach? KAREN KHACHANOV: Again, it's tough to say one advice. When I play against different players, there are different advices, there is not one advice he tells me. Okay, just go and play hard, you know. It's always according to the player, always according on which things we want to work on so it's really difficult for me now to say one word that he always tells me. He tells me different things. I think if coach tells you one thing, he is a bad coach. (Karen laughs). Just for you to know. Q. What has your best moment on a tennis court been? KAREN KHACHANOV: I had a few, let's say like this. For sure, when you win first ATP title it stays in your memory. When I won in China at the age of 20, it was two-and-a-half years ago. Then when I won last year first title but in my country, in my home town in Moscow, that for sure is special because you always want to win in front of your crowd, in front of your family at home. And then in Paris, obviously, because it's the biggest title of my career so far. So, I would say these three titles for sure is the best memory, so far. Q. How do you deal with pressure during the matches? KAREN KHACHANOV: Okay. Sometimes as well I don't deal well with it, you know, because it's not always that I deal with it really well, with the pressure. Pressure is for everybody, remember that. Even if somebody is telling you tat he's not, he is lying. In all tough situations, you need to try to push yourself. Sometimes again I cannot do it, sometimes emotions take over me. But most of the time you have to, if something is going wrong, you have to keep telling yourself that you can try to find a way, you can still turn around the situation. And then I think if you are a good tennis player, in most of the situations, you will do it. Q. How do you spend your time outside the court? KAREN KHACHANOV: Always depends where I am. So if I'm at home, it's one thing. I have a big family. So I spend a lot of time visiting my family. Also, if I'm on the tournaments, we go normally with my wife somewhere outside the city, if we have some free time. But sometimes it's also getting tiring because you need to keep your energy for the tournament. Sometimes when you are walking so much around, you see the things, it takes your mental energy. So, basically, in a Grand Slam, it's one thing. Other tournaments, it's another thing. In Grand Slams we have one day between to rest, you have some more time. Q. What are your goals for season 2019? KAREN KHACHANOV: In general, to try to be better person, better player and to continue to improve. If you stay in one position, maybe you cannot go further. You need to have always long-term goal and short-term goals, so basically long-term I want to be the best. But short-term, I want to try to be more consistent, let's say to keep improving my level of the game and, yeah, to try to be top ten player, like, consistently. Q. How many hours do you practice per day? KAREN KHACHANOV: If it's a practice week, let's say six, seven hours, I would say in total. But my day normally starts at 9, let's say, and then finish 7.30, let's say like this, 7.30, 8, but it's with lunch, with rest, but like in the office! Q. When you were a young boy, did you have a dream to become a champion one day? KAREN KHACHANOV: Of course. Otherwise what's the point to do some things that you don't dream about, to be the best, you know. For sure. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. (Applause) FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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