|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
DAVIS CUP FIRST ROUND: USA v AUSTRIAFebruary 7, 2008Julian KnowleStefan KoubekJurgen MelzerGilbert SchallerVIENNA, AUSTRIA THE MODERATOR: Questions for the Austrian team. Q. For the Austrian captain, I think this is the biggest Davis Cup tie here in Austria since 1990. Can you talk about the importance of this series. CAPTAIN SCHALLER: Well, of course, it's very important for us. First of all, we're playing the defending champion. We are at home. We have an advantage I think. We have a huge crowd behind us tomorrow. That's for sure. But it's also I think very important for the Austrian tennis because the interest is very high and we have a good chance. I mean, if we win, we're going to be heroes, that's for sure. But even if we lose, we have a chance to get tennis on another level again in Austria, which is for us of course also very important. Q. How do you feel your players match up against Roddick, Blake, the Bryans? CAPTAIN SCHALLER: I have a good feeling. We're playing on a clay court. Obviously, the Americans prefer other surfaces and it's not easy to play. It's different for them, that's for sure. I think they're not feeling too comfortable here. That should be an advantage for us. Q. Julian, what do you remember from your match against the Bryans at the US Open? It's very difficult to beat them, but you figured out a way. JULIAN KNOWLE: Yeah, I did (laughter). No, obviously they're the best team in the world. I always said that. It's very difficult to beat them. It's even more difficult to beat them in a best-of-five match. But it's different. We're playing on clay. Even I think the Bryans, they like to play on clay. But we will give our best and see what happens on Saturday. Q. How often have you and Jurgen played together? JULIAN KNOWLE: We played a lot. We split actually because of his wrist injury in April last year. But before we played like one and a half years together. So we know each other pretty well. Q. Jurgen or Stefan, you must be aware of your history against Blake and Roddick. Will you look to change up your tactics on how you have played them in the past or will you just go out and give it everything you've got? STEFAN KOUBEK: Well, for me against Blake, we changed already the surface now, so that's good enough. So I'm looking forward. I mean, I never played him on clay court, so I think that's an advantage for me. We'll see tomorrow. I'm fit. I'm ready. I'm looking forward to the match. I'm going to have the crowd behind me this time. Yeah, I think there's a good chance to beat him. JURGEN MELZER: For me, playing Andy tomorrow is obviously a tough matchup. I mean, I have played him six times now and haven't won a set. We played two very close matches in Houston on clay. There the clay is very fast. We're playing here in Vienna on a pretty slow one, so I think I have my chances. It's going to be a very tough match for me but I'm going to give everything I have out there tomorrow. With the crowd in the back, I think anything is possible. Q. What is it about Roddick that's so difficult? Is it his serve, forehand? JURGEN MELZER: I think it's his serve because you have to -- well, he puts so much pressure with his service games that sometimes you're just basically walking left to right and waiting for your service game again. You don't have a lot of chances to break. You have to take them. You have to be very focused on your own serve because once you lose the service game, the set can be done. So that's the pressure he puts on you with his serve. That's I think the most dangerous thing about him. 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
|