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WIMBLEDONJuly 5, 2006Mario AncicWIMBLEDON, ENGLAND THE MODERATOR: Mario Ancic for you. Questions in English, please. Q. If you had had your greatest day playing tennis today, could you have won this match? MARIO ANCIC: That's a very tricky question. Depends as well how good is his day, as well. I mean, I don't know. I thought sometimes that I did some unbelievable shots and did exactly, if I would, you know, put board and then write it how I should play, and I did exactly what I have to, and then I was getting passed or I was getting some winners from nowhere. You know, but I just throughout the whole match, even at the end when I was two breaks down, I knew that I'm playing, I mean, good enough tennis. I continued to fight. I continued to search for solutions. I was keep on coming, being aggressive. But, you know, there's not much you can say even. I think he played unbelievable today. We play in quarters in French. He was in much better shape today. Q. Did the weather affect you at all? Were you pumped up before the match and then lose your rhythm or anything because of the rain delays? MARIO ANCIC: No, no, no. I mean, it's part of the game. It's part of Wimbledon. I'm prepared for that. It's, you know, same for me, it's same for him, as well. I think, you know, he came out even the first -- when he broke me, I did maybe one bad shot. Everything else, then -- you know, you give him maybe small opportunity, then he is all over. But, still, I mean, I had maybe -- I had a breakpoint at 4-3, pretty good return. Then maybe if it was 4-All or 5-All, 6-All, was coming more tighter, maybe I would have. But like this, I mean, he was faultless. Q. How do you deal with the rain delays? Do you try to eat a lot? MARIO ANCIC: I mean, it's not in my jurisdiction, as we would say. So it's not much. Just, you know, if it's nice weather, it's good. If it's raining, you know, just part of the, you know -- I cannot influence that, so why worry about that. Q. What's the difference between the player you beat and the player you met with today? Is it just elimination of mistakes? MARIO ANCIC: I think he is completely different grass court player than he was back then. I remember he served and volleyed a lot, first, second. He was returning not as close as he is returning now. Passings, as well. Especially, you know, on backhand, was much easier to come and then, you know, be aggressive. But at the moment, you know, it's very tough. You know, it's very hard to just say, you know, be aggressive, attack him. Because if you just little bit off the, you know, speed of the ball, approach, you know, you passed. It's very hard as well to stay back because then he's all over. Just, I mean, just Roger. What can you say? Q. Let's go back to your very first breakpoint in this match. You had gotten there by having a long rally in which you finally look very, very comfortable hitting the ball from the baseline. Did you think that that point might have possibly been a turnaround point for you? MARIO ANCIC: Like I said, you know, maybe if I would break him, you know, maybe I would have, if it was maybe some -- you know, coming to the end of the sets, maybe I would get - maybe, you never know - maybe I would get some more free points, maybe some mistakes. But like this, he was really, you know, soon as he took the first set, he was all over. And then I think, you know, from the end of second set and first games of third set, it was, you know, nothing much you can do, I think. You have to be up, stay up and say, you know, be a man and say, Well done, Roger, put your head down and work again. Q. On that breakpoint, do you think you might have shown more patience on that point; you wanted to go for the winner right away? MARIO ANCIC: It's, I mean, like I said, very hard. Why being patient? Then he goes over you. I mean, you have to be aggressive, you have to take chances, you have to be positive. He will not give you match; you have to come and take it. I don't regret any of the points I did. I don't regret anything today. I think I was being aggressive, doing, like I said, exactly what I need, what I thought I needed. But, you know, he was a better player today. Q. You've been watching him for some time now. Have you seen the French Open final, and if you have, what do you think happened? MARIO ANCIC: I didn't watch. I didn't watch. Q. Early in the second set when you had that -- when Federer had that early break, your shoulders seemed to really drop. It looked like you knew you were beaten. What goes through your head then? What do you say to yourself in order to keep yourself going, to try to pick yourself up? MARIO ANCIC: I didn't really look like beaten otherwise, you know, the third set would go fast. If I drop a little bit, I would be in the locker room half an hour before. Of course after, you know, I came from Love-40, I came to 30-40, I had great approach coming in, and then he, you know, smack across. I didn't even see passing. Of course, little bit, but then I think I was really positive throughout the match from first point to last. I was looking for my chances. Hopefully, they would come. Being aggressive on return. You know, that's why I broke in third set. Q. Is there any man here who you think can beat him? Lots of people thought you were the only one. MARIO ANCIC: Uhm, I mean, at the moment, I don't think. I think, you know -- I be very, very surprised. Q. Rafa obviously has had such great results on clay. What do you think would be tougher to face: Rafa on clay or Roger on grass? MARIO ANCIC: I never played Rafa on clay, so... Q. Speaking of Nadal, he's have having a good tournament here. He could very well get into the final against Roger. What do you make of that rivalry, and what kind of a chance would you give him in a potential matchup with Roger? I know it's too far to look ahead. MARIO ANCIC: I think rivalry is always good to have in sport, to have in tennis. I think we have a great now bunch of guys in top 10, top 20, great for tennis. And then especially this rivalry, Nadal and Roger. I think that's always good. In every sport you have to have couple guys, you know, going to each other. You know, so far Rafa is having great, great tournament. If it comes to the final, of course it's a final, everything can happen. But at the moment, I think Roger is favorite. I mean, winning three times here, and the way I think he is playing now, I think he's the favorite. Q. A very brief question about security. Protestors came on to the court today. Did it worry you when it happened today? MARIO ANCIC: No, no. I didn't even -- you know, the moment, you know, he served, I turn around, they came in. I mean, I didn't even see, they were already out. So it didn't worry me.
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