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QATAR EXXONMOBIL OPENJanuary 6, 2020Fernando VerdascoDoha, Qatar F. VERDASCO/P. Andujar 6-4, 6-3 THE MODERATOR: Questions, in English, please. Q. I'm sure people know better than me, but what made you move to Doha and become a resident here? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Actually, that was five years ago already. So right now I really feel like this is my home, and it's unbelievable. When I first moved back in 2016, obviously it was a big change. But now I feel amazing, and I'm so happy to be back every time I come during the year. Obviously it's not easy because of all the tournaments we have around the world. But every time I have a period of time, I find time to come here and to be at home and to take care of my house, actually. It's never easy to leave a house for a long period of time. And, you know, my friends here in Doha, before I came here, they were telling me to move here and to be here and to help sport and to help the country to become better in sport. So I thought that, why not, no? So I think that, you know, I'm in an age already of my career that I have to start thinking -- still hopefully for few more years playing tennis, but obviously my career is going to come to an end somehow, some day. And I think that Doha is the place for me that, you know, that after my career I can really help the country to become better in sport. And I think that this country is improving amazing in that way, making huge events. And hopefully, in the future, after I finish playing tennis, I can have a spot in Qatar in sport and help the country to become even better and bigger. Q. Good win to start with. FERNANDO VERDASCO: Yeah, of course. It was a tough match against a player that we know each other a lot. So it's always a little bit more tricky than the rest of the matches. And obviously being the first match of the year, you always kind of like put yourself in a little bit more of pressure kind of and a little bit more kind of like tight and nervous. But, at the end, also motivated and with a lot of energy coming from a preseason that I work very hard, and I knew that maybe I was going to be getting better or worse, but I was going to be giving my best and trying my best and fighting the whole match. So I think that was the most important thing. And obviously now, after that the match is over, the way that I played, I'm happy of the way that I played. And I still think that I can play a little bit better and just fixing kind of few things that I can maybe think I can do a little bit better. But in general, I'm happy of the way that I played the whole match. Q. A lot of players have been talking about the ATP Cup and this tournament clash, the dates clashing. Do you have any view on this? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, I already said that ATP Cup have positive things and negative things. And obviously, you know, as Shapovalov says, he's not very happy on the way that there are, like, two big team competitions almost right away, the Davis Cup end of November, the ATP Cup the first week of January. And it's strange, you know, to kind of like have two World Cups in two and a half months and almost in a row, because at the end is the last one of the season and the first one of the next season. And actually for me it's a shame that they put it the same week as Doha because I will always choose Doha between this and the ATP Cup. So I would love to play, but I will always choose Doha. So I think if the week is the same that I will never play the ATP Cup. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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