	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 5, 2019

Kevin Anderson

Wimbledon, London, England

G. PELLA/K. Anderson

6-4, 6-3, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Where do you think that went wrong?
KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, it was tough. I haven't played him before. I've only hit with him once in Miami a few months ago. So it's always a little tricky playing somebody for the first time.

He made life really difficult for me, I felt. He moves really, really well. I felt I had a pretty hard time keeping him on defense, finishing out the points. When I was able to do that, I had the most success. Overall I didn't feel like I played that bad of a match. I could have probably served a little bit better.

Obviously I didn't take my chances on breakpoints. That's probably one of the key stats. Right from the first game, breakpoint percentage converted was really low today. Sometimes just winning a few of those can really change a match. Even though it was straight sets, tennis is a game where a few points can really change the direction of a match.

It was definitely a tough one. It was very difficult at times out there.

Q. This is only your second tournament since injury. Do you feel like lack of match play had an impact?
KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, it's always impossible to say. Without a doubt playing a lot of matches and being match tough, having a lot of confidence in that process, is very valuable. I haven't had that right now.

I'm sure that fact is in somewhere along the line. I thought today, even though I haven't played, he was really a tough opponent.

I mean, for me, yeah, obviously a tough grass season, but definitely some positives being back onto the match court, being able to play two tournaments, getting in a few more matches.

Hopefully I'll be able to keep progressing, find more momentum heading into the hard court swing in the States.

Q. Speaking about the factors, Robin Haase was saying his ranking dropped a lot because of the council stuff, a seven-hour meeting. Do you think that in any way contributed?
KEVIN ANDERSON: No. I mean, I've been doing that for a long time. I had a seven-hour meeting last year at Wimbledon and that was fine, and at many of the slams. That was a full week ago, so that definitely didn't play into anything.

Q. What would you consider a successful year for you?
KEVIN ANDERSON: Well, definitely being healthy for the rest of it. That's obviously the first priority right now.

Look, even though today was tough, I felt like in my first two matches I was playing good tennis. I don't feel it's very far away. I feel some of the results I set for myself last year are still attainable. Competing for Masters Series titles, that's going to be a big goal. I still have the US Open. There's still a lot of tennis to be played.

Year-end finals, I'm a little bit behind the curve right now. Just the way some of these tournaments are structured, if I had great results, that would still be feasible.

By no means am I reducing my goals for the rest of the year, but I think just need to sort of consolidate, sit with my team, and assess where things are right now from my body. Even though I was able to play, there was still a few hiccups on the road.

For me, a successful year would be winning some tournaments.

Q. When you go out of a tournament like this, are you the sort of person who sticks around and watches matches on TV or do you kind of shut it off?
KEVIN ANDERSON: I find it quite tough just to shut off completely. Definitely won't be glued watching a lot of tennis, but following sort of scores to see how it's progressing. That's pretty easy to do.

I love the sport of tennis. Even though I'm out, I'm still going to be interested in what's going on. There's still a lot of great players obviously still to play. It's finding a balance.

Probably won't be heading back to the courts. Probably heading home in the next few days, then obviously setting my sights on my next one.

Q. I apologize because this question has been asked so often. We are in this interesting time where the top three have this dominance. The middle generation hasn't been able to get through, the Next Gen. What do you think is going on?
KEVIN ANDERSON: Those three guys are just really good tennis players. They're just so experienced, as well. They know what it's like playing on center courts week in, week out at the Grand Slams. They know what it's like being in the semis, in the finals. That sort of experience just keeps on compounding because nobody else is really having nearly as many opportunities because of those guys.

Nobody can simulate what it feels like going out and playing the finals of a Grand Slam, semis and finals. There's only been a few players actually to experience that over the last while, significantly less than any of those guys.

It's not through a lack of quality other players. It's just those three guys are really, really good, make life very difficult for everyone else.

Q. You sort of have to get two wins over those three guys pretty much.
KEVIN ANDERSON: For sure that comes into it. They just know what it takes to get the job done at the end of the day. It's been amazing they've been able to dominate for so long.

Q. Asking you about Nick. Rafa was talking about him as a future Grand Slam winner still. You reached Grand Slam finals late in your career. What do you think it takes to have that success later on? At what point do you start looking at younger players who haven't fulfilled their potential and think they're not going to do that?
KEVIN ANDERSON: It's so tough. Everybody is going to have a different sort of journey and path throughout their tennis careers. It also depends on what their goals and priorities are.

For me, it's constantly trying to improve as a tennis player. Even as I've gotten older, every day it's what can I do to get better.

There's been a lot of disappointments, ups and downs, a lot of positives, too. I think I've always done a really good job of getting stronger from the tougher moments. I think that's a strength of mine. I've had that since a little kid. I work really hard. I keep pushing myself.

I mean, there's a lot of guys who are still in their early 20s. They have their whole career still ahead of them. I think all of these top guys, if you went through them all, they've all got great potential. Again, it's impossible to say who is going to figure things out more than the others to do what it takes to win slams. At some point in time those will be the ones that will be competing in the finals of Grand Slams.

Q. With your own success, did going away from the game, wanting to come back in so badly after injuries, help discover that further desire?
KEVIN ANDERSON: I mean, that desire is always there for me. In my whole life, I've never felt a day where I've wanted to stop playing or anything. It's always been frustrating when I haven't been able to be on the court.

Even now with the injuries, you just want to have that confidence where you can come back and keep progressing. That's where I need to get to. Even these last few weeks, being back on the court competing, it's always tricky coming back. It's not smooth sailing, at least what's going on right now. But definitely heading in the right direction, which is a positive for me.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297