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ATP CUPJanuary 6, 2020Luka KutanjacNikola MekticIvan DodigSydney, New South Wales, Australia DODIG-MEKTIC/Hurkacz-Kubot 6-2, 6-1 Team Croatia - 2 Team Poland - 1 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. I have to ask, when you hit that, like, spin-a-rama pickup, whatever, lob, whatever you want to call it... NIKOLA MEKTIC: That was him. Q. Ivan? First of all, I mean, I'm sure that you knew it didn't hit your hand, but first of all, what did you think when that shot went in? Did you know it was going in? And then, what did you think of the video review? IVAN DODIG: Yeah, I think it was very tough even for me to feel if I touch, because I didn't hit it with hand, because I would say if I hit it with hand, I hit, like, something with the grip but I felt a vibration, maybe. You know, it's tough. I didn't definitely hit it with the hand. If was, it was with my nail or something. So it was very tough, you know, for me. I could not help from my feeling, but definitely I didn't hit with the hand, the ball. And the point was, yeah, it's happened once in the lifetime, I guess, you know, like was when I hit it it was kind of lob on the line (smiling). It's best possible scenario. Yeah, was nice point. Obviously I would say for now the best one we had it. But it's always nice to have those kind of points from time to time. But I didn't experience -- I had many nice points, but this is one of the best I had. Q. When you're able to hit a shot like that -- you guys were up by quite a bit already, but is that when you sort of know that everything is going your way? IVAN DODIG: Yeah, I mean, there is some days when you feel, like, just great on the court, like we felt today many things was going our way. And then also comes those kind of shots what I played, you know, the things when you wake up and you have just great day. We had it today. I'm happy was deciding match, and I'm happy that we managed to play on the high level today on deciding point. Q. Nikol, the other day obviously you guys won and you played a good match that day, too. But this match had the whole tie on the line for the country. Did that give it any extra special feeling? NIKOLA MEKTIC: Well, I felt like I only had to be solid today, because he was flying and then hitting with all kinds of shots. (Smiling.) Kidding. Yeah, it was a little bit -- pressure was bigger than the first match when it was already 2-0 for us and we won, played that rubber. But, yeah, I mean, we deal with the pressure all year, so this is not something strange to us. We know what we have to do. And if things go our way, good. If not, what can you do? We try another time. Q. And now that you guys are 2-0 as a country, you know that you win your next match you're guaranteed to move on to the final 8 here. How does that feel that you guys are off to such a good start? NIKOLA MEKTIC: Wait. Did you say we are through already? Q. No... LUKA KUTANJAC: If we win. NIKOLA MEKTIC: Oh, yeah. No, yeah, definitely would be great. Such a great competition. Such a great tournament here. We are very happy. We have a strong team. Everybody is playing good. So it would be nice to go through and to go all the way, of course. Q. Luka, how happy were you after Hubie played a pretty good match, I'd say, to have them come and play as well as they did? LUKA KUTANJAC: Doubles is here just as important, singles. Brings one point. I think a lot of the matches will be played at 1-1 in doubles. That's going to be the deciding rubber. These guys, like Nikola said, they play every week with pressure, and for them it's a good thing, I think. Q. Is it cool to see, I don't know, I guess it was water polo outfits, you see Croatians in the crowd, really coming to support you guys? LUKA KUTANJAC: Absolutely. Like I said on Monday, you know, they are really nice. They always in Australia are supporting us, and, yeah, we feel great about it on the court. It's always kind of a full stadium or half-full stadiums, and we will just go now to sign some autographs. We are happy to make them happy. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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