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THE ARTOIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 12, 2008

Novak Djokovic

LONDON, ENGLAND

N. DJOKOVIC/J. Tipsarevic
2-6, 6-1, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You were a set and a break down. How did you manage to turn things around today?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, as you could see, it was a difficult - mentally - match for both of us. We never played each other. I think this fact had a role in today's match. I was maybe thinking about some things more than I should pay attention on the match. Resulted with a really, really bad performance in the first set. Then I was lucky - lucky enough to get that break in the second set. And from that point on, I think I played really well. I served very well. So it's good.

Q. Lleyton Hewitt next for you. You have a history with him.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, we played a couple of times. We played on grass last year. It was a great match, a marathon match, really long.
He's I think -- even though he's not on top of his shape, he's not playing like maybe he played before, but he's still a great player and he still is one of the toughest player to play against on this surface. He feels great here, won Wimbledon, ex No. 1, won Queen's a couple of times. He has all the success in his history book.
I wouldn't give myself a role of the favorite, even though I'm third player of the world.

Q. How do you feel about your prospects going into Wimbledon this year? Do you feel as good as you did this year or better?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I think I feel better. I feel better because it's quite different, you know, coming as a Grand Slam champion into the grass court season, winner of a couple major events. I've been playing really well, being very consistent with my results. So I'm really looking forward to Wimbledon.

Q. Do you think of the field as more open this year than the last few years?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I would say so. Nadal showed his quality in the last two years in Wimbledon. He's getting closer and closer. He's a big favorite this year, I would say.
Roger, of course, is still best player in the world. He's coming to the Wimbledon as the biggest favorite to win it again, of course. All credit to that. But, again, we have to admit that the things have changed a little bit. He's losing more than he used to. He's not so dominant. So it can be a key factor in the Wimbledon.

Q. Every player has been slipping on the grass. Murray said it was very slippery. Nadal skidded with his feet under the net and lost a point. You seemed to have a nice line, rolling over and getting up. Have you been watching Boris Becker, who used to be famous for that?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, yeah, not exactly paying attention to Boris. But, of course, he's one of the best grass court players ever.
The goal is for everybody I think to be careful in the start of the grass court season, especially for the ones who did well in Roland Garros and played many weeks in the slowest surface, then having this transition in such a short period of the time, it's really difficult to get used to the surface. It's very slippery, especially now when there was sunset and it gets darker, the court gets wet.
I think I've been moving pretty well. I've been very cautious, though. Hopefully I will not, you know, have any injuries or something like that.

Q. What do you feel you have to do to win Wimbledon?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I've been working on some things lately. The good thing for me is that the grass is slower than it used to be. Baseline players have more success, which is going in my favor. I've been playing pretty well in last two years. Last year I played semifinals. I was unfortunate, though, with injuries.
I need to serve well. I need to rely on that segment of my game. If I'm serving well, then all the things are going much better for me. So I just need to be myself, being aggressive.
But it's two weeks long. It's a long tournament, long event. So mentally you just have to be focused.

Q. You could meet Nadal here in the final or Nadal in the semifinal or final of Wimbledon. Would you rather have the experience of playing him here first or would you rather go into Wimbledon with him knowing less about how you're playing?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: It's still a long way to here and Wimbledon, of course. I understand what you mean.
Probably I would like him to play one time before Wimbledon, of course, to see how is it, are some things changing from last year or is it different to play him on this surface? It certainly is, you know. I think everybody believes they have more chances, and I believe I have more chances against him on grass. Still, he is a great player. He played two times Wimbledon final, but he's not that dominant as he is on clay.

Q. You mentioned when you came in about you were thinking about all the things during the first set. Is that because it's so tough playing against a good friend?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, probably. But it's very difficult. I'm emotional player. We know each other for a long time. So we've been hanging out before the matches, and probably this is not a good thing, when you play against somebody that day. But we've been spending a lot of time together.
We have a good friendship. Obviously I wasn't accepting the official match, the importance of the match, that serious. He used it wisely. He was returning well. But I made all the unforced errors.

Q. How much does it bother you playing in the conditions you were playing in today: cold, late, half-full stands? Does it bother you?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: No. I mean, this is all part of the sport. You have to get used to it. This is, as I said, part of the sport. Every player has to go through these moments. You cannot always have a full stands, of course - only unless you're Federer.
Yeah, we'd been waiting all day. Probably this was one of the factors that was very bad for us because, you know, we were waiting for all day, then we got to the court and we were not fresh, not moving well, especially in my case.
But you just have to accept it the way it is.

Q. Are you still able to enjoy a match like that?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I'm enjoying grass. You don't get so much opportunities to play on this surface. You get only a month a year, one or two tournaments, depending on your schedule. This is the surface that this sport was brought up on. The sport was invented in this country. So it's good to be here with all this tradition, people caring about this sport. So it's nice.

End of FastScripts

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