|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ROGERS MASTERSAugust 12, 2007Mahesh BhupathiPavel ViznerMONTREAL, QUEBEC THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. So you guys have won a lot of titles with other players, both you, you both have won a lot of titles in doubles with other players. Was that your first time as a team winning? MAHESH BHUPATHI: Yeah, it's the first time we've ever played. Q. How long have you guys been playing together? MAHESH BHUPATHI: Eight days. Q. Who came up with the ideas other than just -- MAHESH BHUPATHI: I mean, I was looking for a partner so I sent him a message a few weeks ago, and he was already playing with somebody else. And we just got really lucky, because they were not going to get in last minute. And then a week ago he sent me a message, and wham-bam. Q. Beating the Bryans yesterday, that must have been a huge win for you. Did it help a lot with your confidence? PAVEL VIZNER: Always helps to beat the No. 1 team, so we were pretty happy about it. And I think it was a good match. Even for crowds to watch that match, it was a high quality tennis, and some good rallies and that helps. It's just a little difficult to get sleep after this match, and then final had a couple of hours. Q. Is this the biggest win you got to the finals this year at Roland Garros, right? PAVEL VIZNER: Yeah. Q. Is this the biggest tournament you've been in that you're aware of? PAVEL VIZNER: First time Masters Series finals for me. Q. At 37? PAVEL VIZNER: Sometimes you have to wait longer (smiling). Q. Good things come to those who wait? PAVEL VIZNER: I'm a patient person (laughing). Q. You won this is the fourth tournament you won, an important milestone for you? MAHESH BHUPATHI: Yeah, definitely. I mean, you know, I guess four, five years ago I set the goal at 50, so 80% there. And see how long I can play, as long as I can enjoy it. At some point I'd like to get there, but one step at a time. Winning a super nine is always special. Especially the way we did it, beating three of the best teams in the world, so we'll just enjoy it now. Q. Who is your original partner for this tournament that it didn't work out? PAVEL VIZNER: David (indiscernible), he's a guy from Czech. Ranked mid 30's, yeah. And we found out a week before this tournament found out it was going to be difficult to get in, so then I sent a message to Mahesh. Q. And you had played with Stepanek quite a bit this year, right? MAHESH BHUPATHI: Yeah, but we stopped at Wimbledon. So he's just playing singles and I'm playing with different partner. Q. Did you know that you had played against him on the other side of the net with eight different partners and never won? PAVEL VIZNER: No, I don't know (laughing) you better keep this information (laughing). Really? Q. Yeah. You want the list? I just looked this up upstairs. I figured maybe that's why you thought it might be good to be on the same side of the court with him? PAVEL VIZNER: Yeah, I should keep him on my side. Q. With your match -- what is your opinion of the new rules in doubles? MAHESH BHUPATHI: Yeah, I mean, half of us like it, half of us don't. It's been set in stone so we have to live with it. Most of my year I've been losing the super tiebreaks, but this week we won two big ones. I think in the end it evens out. Whoever plays better tennis is going to win. Q. You think with a lot of shorter matches, people are going to be able to play longer in doubles in their careers? MAHESH BHUPATHI: I think if each person is different. Jacco Eltingh was No. 1, and he retired. So I guess guys play until they enjoy it. Q. You guys have played finals where it came after the singles and this was before. Which would you prefer? PAVEL VIZNER: Before. I'm absolutely 100% to play before. Because with this, my experience is like if you played after, it's just ending the match and what is the -- it's just everybody's in a hurry and packing things, you know, and leaving. So this way people come, they enjoy, they have a lunch, they can watch the singles. They can enjoy it, and it's much better. Q. How long has it been this way? Is it at every tournament, do you know? THE MODERATOR: It varies. The rules -- the ATP set up a rule at the beginning of the season asking tournaments to play the doubles final no more than two hours before the singles final. The only circumstance for that can change is through approval with the ATP or if the singles player is playing in a singles final and the doubles final in which case the doubles final follows. PAVEL VIZNER: There you go. THE MODERATOR: Can you just sum up what your thoughts on the match were today? MAHESH BHUPATHI: Well, after beating the Bryans last night, I got like three hours of sleep. So we just wanted to, we played on adrenaline. We played very high quality, and it was tough to beat us today. PAVEL VIZNER: Yeah, it was tough to get sleep last night after the super tiebreak we played against them. And even before the match with Bryans, I looked at the schedule and I saw the doubles is scheduled in the morning. And I was like whoever is going to finish the doubles in the evening, it's going to be tough to come back in the morning, midday to play the match. So I was a little bit worried. But the way we played the Bryans, and we played also the good match against Damm-Paes. I was kind of confident that we could pull through. Q. Do you have any plans to team up again? MAHESH BHUPATHI: Well, I think it would be pretty stupid not to. So I think we'll have to figure out something. (Smiling). PAVEL VIZNER: Sometimes it's difficult to work it out. I have very good partner for this season, and we'll see. Q. How does he feel about it, do you think? PAVEL VIZNER: Him? Q. Your regular partner? PAVEL VIZNER: He's afraid I'm going to leave him (laughing). End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|