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ROGERS MASTERS

August 7, 2006

Daniel Nestor

TORONTO, ONTARIO

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Daniel.

Q. Are you coming out of retirement?
DANIEL NESTOR: No, not quite (smiling). Make the smart choice and stick to doubles.

Q. You must be happy.
DANIEL NESTOR: Yeah, I was happy with the way I played. Obviously the last two points, not so happy. He kind of surprised me with that forehand return. All I had to do was redirect it. For some reason maybe it came a little harder than I thought. Didn't really want to double-fault on match point.
I was actually joking with my friends the other night that I never double-fault on big points (laughter). They're going to be in my face now.

Q. How good is he?
DANIEL NESTOR: I mean, I don't know if this was his best or close to his best or just regular level, if he plays like that day in, day out. I mean, great, huge serve, not much time to breathe from the baseline. He takes control pretty early. He returns well.
I think I had success changing up the spins. I think when I tried to put a little more spin on the kicker, get it up a little higher to him, especially on the forehand, I had success.
It's just hard. You think a slower serve is not going to work against these big guys, so you got to keep pressing with something that's working. That's why there were times when I was going for big serves and second serves, and he was just shoving it down my throat, like hitting winners. But that's not the right serve. Even if it was over a hundred-mile-an-hour second serve, it's not the right serve. You have to change it up. Hard to imagine you can get away with a 90-mile-an-hour second serve.

Q. How much of a distraction were the fans before that double-fault?
DANIEL NESTOR: No, not really. I mean, it's frustrating a little bit. Not really frustrating. Obviously, I play at times with fans that are against me. I just came from Team Tennis. That was a fun atmosphere. We were playing in different cities. When we're on the road, fans are similar to that. It's just a little bit surprising you're playing on your home court in Canada, and they're against you. I don't know if they thought he was Croatian. They were definitely a pro Croatian group.
I'm always a little surprised when people are that patriotic in another country. They came to Canada to live here. My first choice, when I'm cheering for sports, is Canada. I'm Canadian, even though I was born in another country. Sort of disturbing when you see guys that are that into their native land when they're living in Canada, you know. But that's life.

Q. Can you talk a bit about the challenge you had today, the referee decision?
DANIEL NESTOR: Yeah, I think I was successful on one. He made a good one. Maybe I was unsuccessful on two. He made a pretty good call on one shot that Berdych hit when he was serving on the sideline that I thought was out. The umpire overruled it.
You know, I think sometimes the umpires have an easier time now with this challenge system. They don't feel like they have to overrule. That's what I thought. But he did a good job. I was impressed.
I think it's a great system. I think it gets the fans involved. It adds entertainment value. I think it's great for tennis.

Q. Do you feel it takes over your concentration?
DANIEL NESTOR: No. I think anything to liven up tennis is good. Music in between points, whatever it is. I think tennis needs that. That's why other sports are successful. They're more lively, the fans are more involved. That's great for tennis.

Q. We had Frank and Peter Polansky in here earlier today. They're kind of the two guys the country is looking to in terms of men's tennis. What is your assessment of the state of the game in this country right now?
DANIEL NESTOR: I mean, I think it's great as far as the players we have. Frank, Peter and Phil, a great nucleus of young players. Obviously, we'd like to have more guys like that. You know, three is better than one.
Really impressed with the way Polansky has come back from his injury. It's just an inspirational story. I think he's come such a long way in such a short period of time, such a hard -- unfortunate thing that happened to him. He was able to shake that off not only physically but mentally.
I've been practicing with him the last couple days. I think he's playing great. He's got a great future. He's a great athlete. He's got a good, solid game.
Frankie, he's hot. This year has been his best year on tour. He's going to be top 90, whatever, after today's win. He's very consistent on tour. He wins matches every week. He's got a great serve. He's got a great all-around game.
Same thing with Phil. He's another one of our youngsters that's a great athlete. Probably plays a little bit like Federer at a young age. I think the future is very bright.

Q. You haven't played singles in two years. You go out there against the No. 13 in the world, a couple points. Does it make you think you could have played more singles earlier on? Any regrets?
DANIEL NESTOR: Of course it goes through my mind that I could have played some better singles. Obviously, my body was always a little bit fragile. I don't think I could go week in, week out playing a lot of matches. I always felt like my body would break down, even from a young age.
But, you know, there's always little things I could have done differently as I progressed in singles. When I was younger, I thought maybe I should have stuck to an all-court player. I sort of started serving and volleying on both serves a little too early. I didn't foresee the near future where the game was going to slow down a lot, ball is going to be slower, longer rallies.
It's not that I can't hit from the baseline; it's just that I don't move well enough. Obviously, I think I would have been a lot better mover if I would have played more from the baseline at a younger age.
I've had a good career. I'm not going to complain. I've had two surgeries. I could have had more. I was able to recover. I can't complain. I've done very well in doubles, and singles I've had some good wins. It's been good.

End of FastScripts...

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