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ATP CUP

January 4, 2020

Novak Djokovic

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

N. DJOKOVIC/K. Anderson

7-6, 7-6

Serbia - 2

South Africa - 0

THE MODERATOR: Who has the first question?

Q. I think you got more than you bargained for tonight. How did you feel about it? You looked pretty excited at the end to finally win it.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I thought it was a fantastic opening match of the season. I told Kevin at the net after the match was done that I'm really happy to see him healthy and playing this well. Obviously, we had some great battles. We played in the finals at Wimbledon a couple years ago. And he's a great guy, I know how hard he works. And absence from the tour, obviously, didn't really affect his game too much. I mean, he's always going to serve well, and I think he loves playing in the big occasions. He's a top player for so many years. I just, I started off phenomenal. I broke his serve right away, 4-1 I think it was break point and he just managed to play a great game, 4-2, break back, then I had a couple more break points. I was kind of close in his serve always in the first set, but just he managed to come up with the right shots at the right time. Just hitting very deep in the court, just penetrating the ball, hitting it flat, taking away time from me, and it was just a high intensity match. As you said, I got more than I thought I would get. I mean, of course, I wish that I come out on the court and play as well as I did. I served well. I'm pretty pleased with my game. To be honest, considering the fact that he was playing at the very high level, I thought it was a fantastic match.

Q. What about that moment in the first tiebreaker when there was a couple of calls from the crowd during the rallies and you sort of yelled at them?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, that was, yeah, that was the Serbian crowd that was a little bit too excited. And, listen, I, look, it was in the heat of the moment and I'm sorry if I offended anybody, but it was just like, it happened a couple of times, a couple of points in a row, and then I really, it was 3-2 in the tiebreak, I really didn't need them interfering in the point and that was it. But I'm really thankful for their support. I thought the atmosphere was Davis Cup-like atmosphere, to be honest. I was really pleasantly surprised and I'm very grateful to all the fans coming out and being patient, staying all the way to the end of the match, especially Serbian guys that really showed the great passion.

Q. It was pretty clear weather-wise here so far in Brisbane. I was talking to a couple guys who were in Melbourne yesterday who said the weather was pretty bad there in terms of the smoke in the air. And the conditions are sort of raising some concerns for them about what it will be like during the Australian Open and also Sydney where you might be going with the ATP Cup if you advance. Also, has had some issues on and off with air. Just curious if you guys' players council or just players generally or you personally have been monitoring it and what you hope thinking could happen or should happen?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I haven't spoken to Craig Tiley personally, but people from my team have, and they're obviously tracking the situation every single day as it's evolving and hopefully calming down with the smoke and fires. I think they will, if it continues same way and if the quality of air is affected in Melbourne or Sydney, I think Tennis Australia probably will be forced to, I think, create some rules about it. I don't know, I mean, it's tough for them because scheduling the way has to be respected in terms of play and the Australian Open starts at a certain time, so there's a lot of different things involved. But health concern is a health concern for me and for anybody. So I know in China, for example, we play in conditions that are pretty tough in terms of quality of air. I think every single player, male or female, will tell you the same. China is probably the worst in terms of quality of air. But this is something different. So I really never had this kind of experience before. We are not feeling anything here in Brisbane, thankfully. I haven't spoken to any of the players so far in Sydney, so we'll see. I don't know. I hope that it's going to dissipate, that this is something that is very temporary. But if it stays like that, I don't know, obviously, we have a council meeting in about a week or 10 days and we will discuss that for sure, if the conditions stay pretty much the same.

Q. Do you think it would ever be feasible to delay a Grand Slam for a day or two days because of smoke?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, I mean, it's fair from you to say that. I'm also, obviously, you have to always take that in a way of, to consider it, because of some extreme weather and conditions that you just have to consider it. But I think that's probably the very, very last option for anything. I think they're going to try to do anything to not delay anything in terms of days and when it starts. I mean, and I understand why, but if it comes down to being, that those conditions affecting the health of players, I think we should definitely consider it.

Q. You watched a good bit of the first match and kind of got --
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Crazy, man. It's so funny with this microphone. It's like you know (laughing) it's cool. Okay. It's a bit awkward holding it, right?

Q. Yeah, it is.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: You can throw it.

Q. You can throw it around. But you watched a good bit of the first match and got into it at times. How do you kind of balance the want to support a teammate but also you need to look after yourself and manage your emotions?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I think experience at the Davis Cup helps, really, in these particular situations. We just had the Davis Cup less than two months ago and the format was pretty much the same, best of three sets, two singles and the potential double. So you know you have, you have, obviously, the general locker room, but you also have room, private room, that only your team uses for the match day. And you can spend some time there and relax and have time for yourself and kind of follow the result of the previous singles or whoever is playing and then try to give your support if it's needed for you to be there and say a few things or whatever. But I think it's kind of balanced between the two, really. Because it's a team competition you're always kind of finding that additional energy and strength and motivation that sometimes is probably -- no, not sometimes, but it's probably always different in individual tournaments, because it's all about you. And here it's, even though there's that factor of individual and elements of individual tournament, it's still team competition. I mean, we, at least in Serbian team, we treat it that way. We have a Davis Cup captain that is here with us, so he decides in a way, you know, talks with players and he decides the doubles. He can't decide the singles because if the player No. 1 and 2 want to play, they can play. But doubles, we give him freedom to choose, and I think the chemistry's great.

Q. So you were thinking about going back out there? Say, it went third set tiebreak or something, you would think, hey, maybe he needs my support or something like that?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: You mean -- sorry?

Q. So you left the court and then you were thinking about going back out to support him?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: You mean Lajovic?

Q. Yeah.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, we have like 10 minutes, 10, 15 minutes before matches, so which is usually enough to get ready, because you're already kind of warmed up on the court, so it depends. I mean, if it's a very close match, yes. I mean, Troicki and Cacic is the other guy who are playing doubles now, they were there to the last point of my match, so, and they had only probably 15 minutes after that. So it's like you care, you're passionate, you want to be out there for your teammate, but at the same time you kind of have to think also to prepare yourself if you're up next.

Q. Novak, obviously, being the top-ranked player for your country, does that pressure get to you at times, particularly in matches like tonight where it's just so tight?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Not -- to be honest, not necessarily. I wasn't thinking, I wasn't feeling the pressure of being top player of my country and kind of expected to win. But because that's, became, I became accustomed to that normally, it's normal thing for me. Over the years being in that situation so many times that it's fine. I embrace it. But, of course, it's a first match of the season, you want to start off well, but then you don't know how you're going to react. You haven't played an official match for a little while. But I thought off the blocks I started great and the quality of tennis, as I was saying before, was phenomenal of the whole entire match, my quality of my game was consistent, I served well, I'm very pleased with the way I'm playing. It's exactly what I was kind of looking for and hoping for.

Q. You mentioned that the crowd, the atmosphere out there, and, obviously, there's been a lot of talk about the vibe of all these team events and everyone and we know what to expect here. Regardless of whether this format is the perfect option or team events, are you sort of a proponent of the fact that this sport needs to change to attract new fans and continue to sort of become more entertainment based?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I, I agree. I think innovation is necessary now in sport and I think tennis is not using its full potential in terms of marketing, for sure. But I see that in the leadership of ATP in the last few years and now with the new guys it seems like they're all aware of that. So they kind of are working towards kind of transitioning in that new age, new era, social media and so forth, attracting maybe different target group fans. And it's tough because in tennis you don't really know always for most of the matches when they're going to start, how long they're going to go for. Basketball, football, soccer, you have 90 minutes or whatever and you know that that's the time. Tennis is a little bit different. So they have been experimenting with playing a set up to four and best of five sets and no ads, trying to shorten down the matches. Sometimes matches are like 25 minutes, 30 minutes. So it's tough to say where is the right balance between the two, because you want to maintain the tradition and the kind of identity of the sport, which has been nurtured for many, many years, over a hundred years in the history of our sport, which is one of the oldest sports, actually, and we have lots of, I mean tons of opportunity throughout the season, we have the longest season of all sports, 11 months. So I think traditionally in some places, like Australia, tennis does well, tennis does really well in Australia, that's from my point of view. But I feel like we can still step it up a little bit, you know, and people are starting to think in that direction, but it's not easy to change things that have been deeply rooted for many years.

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