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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 20, 2008

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What was the difference between you and Richard today?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: I don't know. At the end, I won, and him, he lost.
I played well. I was very good in my body. I felt everything good, so that's the difference, maybe.

Q. When you first looked at the draw, and you had Murray in round one, did you think the winner of that match had a great chance of making good progress here in the championship?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, of course, because when you take a seed at the first round, you know after you have his draw. So it's -- you have better chance to play some player not seeded. So it's better, of course.

Q. Are you gaining more confidence as the matches roll on? Do you feel you could match it further in the tournament?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: With who?

Q. With the rest of the players.
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, I feel good. I work a lot before this tournament, so I'm ready to play. And I just take every matches, take step by step, and I do my best, and then I see.

Q. Having beaten Murray in the first round, was it important to you to back that up, beating another player of equal ability and seeding?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, of course. It's good for me, because it's lot of confidence to beat a player like that. He's very good. And for me, it was a test, you know. When you beat somebody like this, you know you can beat a lot of guys, so...

Q. Was it difficult for you to put it out of your mind that he was your friend?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Who, Richard?

Q. Yeah.
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, yeah. It was difficult, but now we play like four times in six months, so that's -- I have to play against him all my career, so...
Now I would like to say it's normal.

Q. You've now played two matches on Rod Laver Arena. What is your impression of the court, and how comfortable are you on this stage?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, I'm very comfortable on this arena. Every time when I played, it was full, so there is a very good atmosphere, and I feel very good on this court, yeah.

Q. What do you think about the comparison between you and Muhammad Ali (laughter).
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: I don't know. It's just an honor for me for me to be compared with him, and that's all.

Q. Do you fly like a butterfly and...
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: No, that's the difference. I'm not flying on the court like him, but I try to fly.

Q. Was it more difficult mentally preparing for Richard as opposed to playing Andy Murray in the first round? They're both the top-10 players.
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Was it more difficult? Maybe you have to -- like you say before, it's difficult to play a friend, and you have to separate everything, say, Okay, we are friends but when we are on the court, it's different, and I need to do my best for beat him. And that's the difficulty.

Q. How excited are you at the way you're playing at the moment?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, I'm very exciting, because it's my best results for the moment. I'm very exciting. But I want to see far, and I have a quarterfinal to play. And I'm just exciting to play this quarterfinal. So I will do my best, and I will take fun and I will see after?

Q. You spoke of center court, enjoying playing there. How important is the crowd there? You said you enjoy the crowd and enjoy the atmosphere and try to pump the crowd up. Do you draw from the crowd?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Sorry?

Q. Do you get confidence from the crowd?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, of course.

Q. Do you enjoy that?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah. I don't know, it's my third or fourth Grand Slam. And I want take every moment. I try to take some strength, because it's just unbelievable to be there. And a lot of people would like to be there. And me, I'm there. And I can play. I can play with the public. I can make a lot of show. And that's just cool. I'm very happy to be on the court.

Q. A lot of players say that this Grand Slam, because it is the most relaxed probably of the four, brings the best out of them. Do you feel that, too, that you are nice and relaxed, you're playing well and that it's an exciting situation for you to be in?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, I don't know if it's the more relaxed, but me, I feel very good there.

Q. More relaxed than the French, probably? More relaxed than playing at Roland Garros?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, I don't know. I never played there. I just played one just one time, but I lost first round.
I don't know. I don't know. I'm just happy to play tennis. If it's at Roland Garros or here, I try to be very, very happy to be there and see the chance I have.

Q. What was going through your mind during the second set when you were serving for the set, and then you missed that, and then you lost the set in a tiebreak?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, I lost the set and I said, Shit, shit, what's wrong with me? And I say, Okay, stay on the court. And I said, Okay, he played the second set like me, and maybe he's going to be tired, also. So we are equal, and let's go for the third set.

Q. The last few years in Australia there's been players that have been the story, I mean, like Baghdatis two years ago and González. You're looking like that player this year.
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah.

Q. How do you cope with all these people and extra attention and being the focus of it all?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Oh, I don't know. I try to stay focused, very focused. And I played -- I played junior before, and it's helped me because when I played junior and I was in semifinal or something like this, it was exactly the same experience for me. So I have some experience of this moment, and I try to stay focused.

End of FastScripts

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