DAVIS CUP FINALS

September 14, 2022

Borna Coric

Team Croatia

Press Conference

M. BERRETTINI/B. Coric

6-7, 6-2, 6-1

Italy - 2

Croatia - 0

THE MODERATOR: We will start with questions in English. Very strong first set. Do you think you lost some energy and Matteo started playing very well?

BORNA CORIC: Yeah, I think it was a bit of both, to be honest. In the second set I just didn't start very well. I made one double fault on a breakpoint, and just I thought in the second set maybe first couple of games my level of the game just went down. You know, that was enough for him to take over the match.

You know, he's top-5, top-10 player in the world, and I cannot afford that. Yeah, I am a little bit sad, to be honest, because I thought after the first set, if I keep my momentum, I could win the match, but at the end of the day, you know, that's the tennis, and it is what it is.

THE MODERATOR: We saw you at certain times kind of complaining about the call. Was it the bounce, was it something you were...

BORNA CORIC: No, I don't want to say anything bad. It was just a couple of times I just start, you know, thought that the ball was on the line and it was really close to the line, and I saw it was in. I was just kind of complaining to myself and to my team, you know, why he needs to keep hitting the line (smiling).

But, yeah, he was playing too good. It's all good. Just in the match, when you lose your head, and when I started to feel that I'm gonna lose the match, I was starting to feel like I could lose the match. I would just like to complain a bit more. That's it.

THE MODERATOR: After the defeat today, how real are the chances of Croatia still to qualify? Do you still see?

BORNA CORIC: Yeah, absolutely. I don't know the math, to be honest, what we need to do, who needs to lose or whatever. We knew against Italy we were not the big favorites. Actually, we were not the favorites at all. It's not a big surprise.

Obviously we hoped to win, as we always do, but we knew this could happen. I will be prepared for this at the same time, and we know we need to keep our heads up and need to recover for tomorrow. It was very long match. Also very physical match.

I just need to stay strong, and I need to recover for tomorrow. Yeah, hopefully tomorrow I can play better. I need to serve better, to be honest. My serve percentage was very low today, I felt. All the match I was not happy with my serve. Yeah, hopefully I can serve better tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Being back on the team, part of the Davis Cup, the finals, did you enjoy despite the results?

BORNA CORIC: Absolutely. Absolutely I enjoyed it every day since we came. And even today I enjoyed. With the crowd, I always said they don't need to cheer for me. I'm fine with that.

I just like when the stadium is full and when the atmosphere is really crazy. That's what I felt today, you know. That's why we are training, you know, so we can compete in the full stadiums with the great crowd and that's what we had today.

I was very, very happy to be playing Davis Cup again and just, yeah, just to be here. Obviously I would love to win, but it is what it is.