|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
DAVIS CUP FINALSNovember 21, 2019Nenad ZimonjicJanko TipsarevicViktor TroickiParis, France SERBIA 2, France 1 KRAJINOVIC/Tsonga 7-5, 7-6 DJOKOVIC/Paire 6-3, 6-3 HERBERT-MAHUT/Tipsarevic-Troicki 6-4, 6-4 THE MODERATOR: Any questions in English? Q. A question for the coach. What is your analysis now about the Davis Cup? In the press area we have a lot of confusion over who qualify. Have you been instructed how this is? NENAD ZIMONJIC: For us it was very simple. We had to win both matches and we qualified, which we did. So we are happy that we made it. Q. I just wanted to know because you are facing now Russia, which is such a strong team, with its NextGen players. What are your plans in terms of tactics and matchups for this exciting quarterfinal? NENAD ZIMONJIC: I mean, we won already two matches after a singles. We know that Russia is really a strong team, a tough team, even though Medvedev is not here. But with Khachanov and Rublev, they are extremely good players. It's going to be difficult. But I believe we have a good enough team to get through. The matches will be close, very close, I would say. But I like how Novak and how Filip are playing in singles. Their form is going up and they are very motivated, which is important. And Janko and Viktor, they played really well yesterday in doubles. Today it wasn't that important doubles, but it was another practice and another match situation, which will help potentially if we need to play that one. We played all three matches -- I mean, all two matches so far at the same time, which will be good for us. I believe Russia played the first one in the afternoon, maybe even the second one, I'm not sure. So could be a little bit tricky for them. And both of them I think will play doubles as well. So it depends how long the matches will go in singles. And the good thing is that we have options in doubles as well. Q. I've got a question for Janko. How much was emotional today, the tribute that they give to you? What are your perspective? And maybe compared to last time you won the Davis Cup, what are your perspective? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: If you ask me if I was emotional in terms of seeing this, all my teammates and other players like Jo and Rafa saying what they said on the video? Yes. In terms of emotions of finishing my professional career, I still haven't felt that yet because I feel that the tournament is just starting. We have passed the group stage. We are all very aware that it was a very tricky situation in terms of, because how the system is created, we could have not went through the group stage if we potentially would have lost yesterday the doubles. And you saw how tight the match was with Filip and Jo today. I'm not thinking in terms of it's the end. The decision was made a few months ago. I am 100 percent sure it was the right decision. But in terms of emotions that I'm finally retiring from tennis, they are not there yet because the whole team is focusing on going through and potentially going all the way. Q. This is for Viktor and Janko. As you guys may or may not know, a couple of the doubles rubbers have been like walkovers or retirements in some cases, I guess like Canada because there were some injuries and basically they want their players to get rest. So I don't know if you guys even thought about that, pulling out of the doubles or -- so I'd like to ask you what benefit is there for you guys in playing this match today even though you had already qualified after the two singles? And also, how much of an advantage is it for you guys that there are five members of your team to draw on whereas some teams are basically working with two or three players? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: I personally don't blame the teams which pulled out because the rule is there, and they used the rule to the best of their abilities. And the advantage of the team is to rest their players, to be ready potentially for the next tie. I think something has to be done with the rule next year, that I'm just saying this at the top of my head, if the team is actually retiring, there is an additional penalty awarded for not even showing up on court. It's a tricky rule. If, God forbid, something happens to a player and he twists an ankle or makes an actual injury rather than just retiring because of fatigue or load management, it's a very tricky rule but definitely something has to be done. For us, the benefit of playing today is that, as you know, Viktor and myself are primarily singles players. We haven't played a lot of doubles. It wasn't an easy match. There's a lot of moving around, a lot of emotions, a lot of very close games. But every single match that we can get under our belt helps, because potentially we might play again tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. And lastly, we have the benefit of having five players. You haven't seen Dusan yet but he's one of the few guys who has an ATP title this year in doubles and played quarterfinals of a Grand Slam in doubles. It is giving us an option to shift, to put different players in the mix of doubles if potentially this is needed. VIKTOR TROICKI: I believe we were in a different situation than Canada. I believe they finished really late both singles, and doubles was supposed to start around 1 a.m. or something like that, if I remember well. So, yeah, there was a different situation. I'm sure they wanted to rest the team, they knew already they were No. 1 in the group, as we did today. But yeah, we actually enjoyed, me and Janko, we enjoyed playing against probably the best doubles team right now in the world. We wanted to compete against them, and they were better today. But we tried our best, to practice our doubles game. Hopefully that will help us for the next matches. And, yeah, as Janko said, for the benefit of having five players, we also have a few more players that are not here with us here in Madrid. So we have pretty good options for the whole team and for the -- the captain has a lot of choices to decide who he is going to put in the team and who is going to play the matches. So that is helpful. THE MODERATOR: Questions in Serbian. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|