DAVIS CUP FINALS

September 15, 2022

Dusan Lajovic

Miomir Kecmanovic

Team Serbia

Press Conference

Serbia - 2

Republic of Korea - 0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. First Davis Cup win. The disappointment of last year and yesterday. How does it feel today?

MIOMIR KECMANOVIC: Definitely feels amazing that I was able to win without playing a tiebreak, so... I'm really happy that I was able to finally win, give my team the win today.

Q. Can you tell me, does it feel different trying to serve out a match knowing you're playing for your country compared to knowing you're just playing on tour?

MIOMIR KECMANOVIC: I guess it's a little bit more tense in those moments, especially here when you know you're up, you know you're serving to win the tie. Definitely some pressure builds up there.

Thankfully today I was able to handle it pretty well, yeah.

Q. You've got two days off now to prepare for the final tie of this group. Obviously you had a late finish last night, started again today. Looking forward to the two days off?

MIOMIR KECMANOVIC: We play Saturday, so I think it's one day. Definitely going to feel amazing. Yesterday we finished at 1, went to sleep at 2. The guys who played doubles went at 4.

It was great we were able to finish 2-0 and finish a little bit earlier than yesterday. I think we're definitely going really enjoy this day and a half until the next match and be ready to give everything we have on Saturday.

Q. Roger Federer announced his retirement coming up. He was a junior world No. 1, you were a junior world No. 1, but from a different generation. How much has he been an influence on your career?

MIOMIR KECMANOVIC: Obviously he was a huge influence alongside with Novak. It was really a pleasure to get to know him. I spent the whole week with him at his home in Switzerland. I'm really thankful for that experience that I got to know him, just to see how he lives day to day.

I'm extremely sad. I think we're all going to miss him. Then again, I think he deserved this one.

Q. You mentioned on court you were really disappointed the last time you played Davis Cup. Is it really nice to just completely erase that memory and look at the win and ahead in this competition?

DUSAN LAJOVIC: Yeah, I mean, definitely. The last memories of the Davis Cup I had were not great, especially 'cause I put a lot of pressure on myself. The disappointment is greater with that being said.

I'm happy to win today, kind of like after almost a year be back here and play for your country and win. I'm extremely happy that I won the first match and kind of like eased up a little bit for Miomir today, and that he won his first-ever Davis Cup match, which is always very important. It's one of the moments that you always remember.

I'm very happy that we won 2-0, that we can go without any pressure to doubles today and have a day off before Canada.

Q. Looking ahead to that Canada tie, you've got lots of options. Captain has lots of choice. Will you be playing singles? Will you just sort of find out?

DUSAN LAJOVIC: Yeah, we still don't know. We're going to see who feels the best. We'll see the matchups and everything else.

As you said, we have different options. We have the guys who are playing very well, who had some successes recently in the ATP Tour. It's going to be at the end a tactical decision. I believe that we can win that one.

Q. The announcement of Federer retiring, be interested to get your take as a Serbian playing probably closer to Novak and his generation, if you like. How much of an influence was Roger?

DUSAN LAJOVIC: I mean, my idol was Pete Sampras when I was young. Roger still didn't play at that time. Roger came later, so he became kind of my idol because of one-handed backhand.

I've been in that transition period where I watched him play and growing up, then being able to play against him, which is incredible experience, especially playing him in Centre Court Wimbledon. It's like playing in his backyard. It doesn't get better than that in tennis.

You always know that these moments are tough when they're building up, you know that a certain player, especially of his caliber, is retiring. We all know it was going to happen soon. But when that moment comes, everybody gets struck.

I think the moment is right, whether being a couple months before or right now. It's just that he probably feels that he's not competitive anymore, that it's time for some other things.

From our view, he changed the tennis, and he was the first to come and change tennis the way we know it. I mean, what he started doing, then later Novak and Rafa, it's just that we're in that, like, moment of end of an era soon.

It's magnificent for us to be part of that. One day when you tell your grandkids you played in the same era as Roger, Rafa, Novak, and Andy, it's something that lives forever.

From my own, I'm just very happy to be able to play with all of them in my career.