	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

U.S. OPEN

September 4, 2007

Novak Djokovic

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Have you ever seen a guy lose a point by a ball popping out of his pocket?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I never had this situation in a match. I had myself a couple of times the trouble with the ball going out of the pocket, but only one time. It was a warning.
But this is the first time it happened that somebody I play against. First time I experience that I get the point in that way. It was a pretty important point in the end. But he managed to win this set.

Q. Upset stomach, back problems. How painful and difficult was that going into the third set today?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, it was. You know, it was very difficult match. Juan Monaco is the player who prefers most clay, but obviously you've seen him play today and in last couple rounds here in US Open, and he's performing really well and he's playing some great tennis.
For me it was a bit surprising that he was stepping it up. You know, he was staying close to the line and he was being aggressive, tried to take over the control of the match. He made my points and games very, very difficult. So I had to fight for every point. And I had to stay right there with him, which I did in the end.
I can say that I'm pretty happy with my performance today. You know, I played my best tennis on the most important moments, and that's a positive thing. You know, I served it out really well.

Q. How long did it take the pills to kick in so you felt almost normal again?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, you know, those things are now more or less questionable, you know, what you're going to do if you feel bad on the court. So I tried to recover myself. And I had a soreness in my back. You know, I had to call the trainer. And after that I felt a little pain in the stomach. I felt out of energy. So I get those pills and some vitamins. They really helped me out. So after that I felt pretty good.

Q. Your thoughts on facing Carlos.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, you know, I lost two times we played. One was on the clay, and the other was in Cincinnati. So in Cincinnati I really didn't play even, you know, 20% of my game. It was pretty bad match for me.
He's a great player. I mean, he's coming back big time, and you can see his results this year. He's performing probably his best tennis in the career, even though he's 31 years old.
He's very experienced. He knows -- he's been here in semifinals, if I'm wrong. He knows what it feels like to play in the center court, to play the big matches, big points.
He's a very difficult, very tough player to beat. He was former No. 1. So I can say only the nice things about him. He has probably more comfort by beating me the last two times we played. But I can say that it's another situation, and it's good that I have a day off so I can recover, because it was a long match today, very exhausting. Hope I can get ready and challenge him.

Q. You've had three long matches here the last three rounds. As you probably know here at the US Open, semis are on Saturday, finals on Sunday. In best-case scenario, you and Rafael wind up in a three-and-a-half hour match on Saturday, come back on Sunday and play the final.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I'm not thinking about it. I cannot judge.

Q. Is it fair?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: It's not on me to judge is it fair or not fair. Guys who are organizing this tournament, they decide it like that. It's not on us to change the decision. So we just have to play and try to be focused on the matches.
So I still have a long way to the semifinal and finals. You know, difficult match.

Q. Do you feel ready to break this stranglehold on 1 and 2 that Roger and Rafa have had for many, many weeks?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I can say I'm ready. But, you know, it's still a long way till there. I had some amazing runs, especially on the hard court season this year, and on the biggest tournaments I play my best tennis, made some impressive results.
But now, of course, it's understandably all about Federer, Nadal because they're very dominant, two best players of the world. And the tennis needs this rivalry. But in the other hand, the people are not paying attention to the other players. So I can say that I'm one of those players in that smaller group behind, which is trying to, you know, break that -- break it through and make this group of two a little bit bigger.

Q. Is it adding pressure on you as you're expected to go far in all the big tournaments now?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Uhm, well, I'm happy that the people look me as a favorite of the most of the tournaments now in this moment. But, of course, there is a lot of pressure, a lot of expectations as the No. 3 player of the world. People expect me to do well on the most important events.
But it's on me, if I can cope with that pressure or not.

Q. When you got broken back in the third set, what sort of mentality did you have from there on till the end of the match?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: When I broke back?

Q. You broke first game, then he broke you right back. You weren't happy about that, obviously.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, yeah, the people obviously were watching the match, they don't consider some things like conditions, let's say, off court, this wind. And there was one side which is much easier to play on because you play with wind. You know, his ball gets much slower and you have -- you can play more aggressive shots, you can be in control of the point.
So I broke him on the good side, and then I went to play against the wind, so I lost two games very fast. He got back into the game. You know, the service games were really not so crucial in this match, I can say, because we both return really well. But the most important thing for me today is that I served well on the most -- on the important moments.

Q. Have you always been somebody that likes to joke around a lot since you were a little kid?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, yeah. I mean, trying to enjoy the life, you know, and be positive. Why not?

Q. What did you think when the ball fell out of his pocket in the middle of the match for the second time?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I answered the question on the start. I never experienced it, the first time in my life that somebody has this situation that I win the point like this. Of course, looking at the other perspective, it's not really fair, but that are the rules.

Q. On your day off tomorrow, are your legs right now tired enough you want to take the entire day off or will you have a hit?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, I'm going to have a short hit and I'm going to do everything to recover.

Q. How are the legs right now?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: They are pretty tired, you know. I mean, it's normal that after such a long match and a big effort and long points, that your legs and back, basically your body, is a bit sore and tired.
But I think that tomorrow all day and hopefully I can play a bit later in two days, and it can help me out.

Q. In the second set, it looked like you were having difficulty breathing at some point.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: There was a couple of long points. Yeah, probably. But it was just the momentum.

Q. Nothing to do with the old problem you had?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: No.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297