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WESTERN & SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS

August 15, 2007

Novak Djokovic

CINCINNATI, OHIO

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Did you feel out of sorts today?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah. Well, I felt a bit tired and didn't have enough time to prepare for this tournament. So it was unfortunately short period of time between the two tournaments. I arrived late last night, actually two nights ago, but I played doubles yesterday.
Yeah, what can you do? Moya is a great player. He had already won one match here on this surface, so it's quite different than Montreal. It's quite different.

Q. When you say quite different, what do you mean?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: The balls are flying more and there's no control. That's why there's a lot of unforced errors by all the players. It's quite difficult if you are not spending two are three days here of practice and matches to play well.

Q. Are you still physically fatigued from Montreal or has that passed?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: No, it hasn't passed. I was playing ten days there then I had this traveling day then I had -- basically I didn't have a day off. I had to play doubles as well yesterday. It's not easy.
You got to go -- you know, I still didn't get used to it. I'm still getting into this, you know, professional tennis by playing every tournament to the end of the basically to the end of the last two, three days I wasn't playing that good in the last few years, but now I started to play much better.

Q. Do you think that as you continue at this level that eventually you'll get used to that kind of schedule?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, sure, sure. It's a matter of time. It's all a matter of experience. I'm not really worried. It's normal. It's natural, of course, and just takes time.

Q. It was said that the first round byes would take care of some of the fatigue from Canada to here. You lost today and Nadal lost today. How much do those byes really help?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Of course they help. If we didn't have the bye we would play Monday or yesterday. It helped, but obviously not too much. We still need a little bit more time. It's normal of course.
Everybody think hard court is hard court and it's the same. It's not the same. Every hard court is different. Here you have no control and basically you need to spend three days here to get used to everything.
But, of course, it all depends from the player and if you get the tough opponent or not, you know.

Q. Moya obviously played well. What was he doing well today?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, he was playing well. Just that. I didn't find myself in the whole match. I didn't get any returns in and he was really making a lot of pressure. But he was playing smart. He was very consistent. I made a lot of unforced errors.

Q. Do you think there's a future for these back-to-back Masters Series, like Canada Cincy, Rome, Hamburg, or has the game got to move to the situation where Indian Wells and Miami is the model?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I support back to back, and 95% of the players which I talked to support back-to-back tournaments. But, okay, this is maybe one of the problems for the top ones, for the ones that get to the finals of the tournament before and then they come to another. So it's a big problem if they have to play very early and don't have time to get used to it.
But, you know, as you said, it's on ATP now and it's on the players as well to get along good with each other and just bring some new and good decisions. You know, because it's going to be very difficult period in the next two, three years, especially next year because of Olympics. It's going to be packed calendar.
You have one week after Wimbledon then two Masters Series then one week then Olympics then one week then US Open, which is impossible. We will have to, you know, find some solution which is going to suit to everybody.
But it's not possible to find a solution that everybody is going to be happy. Somebody has to, you know, sacrifice.

Q. But it's possible to win these back-to-back Masters Series, right?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: It's difficult to say. The newest information says that today ATP wants, and the tournament actually, wants to have -- not to have back to back in 2009. Especially Montreal and Cincinnati between L.A. or Washington. So it's very complicated, and the players doesn't support it.
Especially the European players, because they doesn't want it stay in the States for a while. It's a long journey.

Q. What if next year the schedule is so packed and you have to pick Masters Series tournaments to attend?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I can't say.

Q. If you have to pick between Canada and here, what would go into making that decision?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, it depends. A lot of things. Now, it depends how I do in Wimbledon. If I come to the semis or finals, you know, last day, it all depends from my situation and my health, and of course program in cooperation with the coach and all the team.
Probably I will put my priorities of course with the most important tournaments, and both of those tournaments are very important. So it's going to be a very difficult decision because you have Olympics, which every player of course dreams to play the Olympics. You don't get to play that every year.

Q. You mentioned that balls are flying. How different are the courts here versus Montreal?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Here the ball bounces much higher and it's slower. But as I said, probably these conditions are very different because the balls are flying a lot. Especially players as myself, I'm pretty aggressive groundstroke player and I need to hit the ball, so, you know, I couldn't find any control.
For the players like Moya, he has more spin on the ball so he finds it more suitable to his game.

Q. The courts in New York, how would you classify them?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I can't exactly remember. I know that they're somewhere in between. They're not like Montreal or like Cincinnati. Somewhere in between. The speed is good and the bounce of the ball is good, so everything is ideal.

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