|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
WIMBLEDONJuly 3, 2008Rainer SchuettlerLONDON, ENGLAND R. SCHUETTLER/A. Clément 6-3, 5-7, 7-6, 6-7, 8-6 THE MODERATOR: Questions for Rainer, please. Q. How do you rank this win in your best of? RAINER SCHUETTLER: Definitely a huge one. I mean, I have to say it could go both ways. I'm just happy to made it through. Definitely it's one of my matches I will always remember. Q. Your reward is a match against Rafael Nadal. He's had obviously more time to recover than you. I think your match today was longer than his last matches in its entirety. How do you think you'll be physically tomorrow to face him? RAINER SCHUETTLER: Of course he has an advantage anyways. He's pretty fit anyway. But I don't really care. I also work hard. I'm physically fit. So I will get a massage later on and I try to go, if possible, to sleep early, that I have enough hours of sleep, and tomorrow I will be fine. We played I think three hours today, and yesterday two. But when you play normal tournaments, you play on hard court or clay court, it's normal. You play two hours one day, and next day three hours, three and a half. It's okay. Obviously he has an advantage, but I will be okay tomorrow. I'm not so tired. Q. What time will bedtime be tonight? RAINER SCHUETTLER: As soon as possible. So I try before midnight that I can sleep eight, nine hours, then I'm fine. Q. Have they told you if you're first or second match tomorrow? RAINER SCHUETTLER: I just saw it. I think it's second match. First would be a tough one (smiling). Q. You said on the TV that you've had to postpone some plans you had for the second week of Wimbledon. May i ask what those plans were? RAINER SCHUETTLER: Yeah, first I wanted to play the challenger in Cordoba. I postponed that on Saturday. I said, I'm sorry, I cannot go. Then I said I go a few days in the mountains in Switzerland, spend some time there, just get away from everything because I'm playing next week in Stuttgart on clay. But, yeah, I'm still here, so it feels good. Q. Are you familiar with the famous Pancho González, Charlie Pasarell match here. RAINER SCHUETTLER: No, I'm not. Q. Second longest in Wimbledon history. You tied it with this match. RAINER SCHUETTLER: Really? It's nice. Some history also. It's good. Q. What was on your mind in the tiebreak in the third set when you were leading 6-0? RAINER SCHUETTLER: I mean, honestly, it was really a strange match. I mean, he was 4-1 up. I was in the fourth 4-1 up. Had two or three breakpoints to 5-1, so the entire match was like, yeah, really, really strange. And after winning six points, I was like, Okay, two sets to one, solid. Now he has to really try to win it and try to be more aggressive, try to risk it. Then 6-All, I was like, Oh, my God, what's happening here? If you make the third set then obviously it's a big advantage. I mean, also mentally. I thought in the fourth set I have it, and then it changed like the other way. So you never know. Even in the fifth set, I mean, I was serving for the match. He had match point. So it was back and forth. Well, that's tennis. I'm sorry for him. I'm very happy that I made it, yeah. Q. Can you talk about how it was coming back after the final rain break knowing that you maybe only had a few points to play, but a Wimbledon semifinal place at stake. RAINER SCHUETTLER: Yeah, right in the beginning I was a little bit furious because I thought I was -- I served for the match. He had match points. He didn't make them. I served for the match. I thought, Okay, that's the one. I played a horrible game. He just went for the shots. I think he played two return winners. Then I had two breakpoints. Didn't make them. And I asked the umpire before, I said, It's slippery. Shouldn't we stop? He said, No, no, let's continue. I felt that it was a little bit slippery so I didn't make them. It was deuce. Of course, I mean I had this chance. I went to the locker room. I was kind of furious with my coach. I was not really happy. But then I had some time to calm down. I came out and won it. Q. Must have been incredibly tense when you came out for the final few points. RAINER SCHUETTLER: Of course, because you don't know what will happen. You can be out of the tournament in five minutes or you can win in five minutes, yeah. And I don't know how, but I won it. Q. In the first point after the break he made a very bad choice. It was the key, I suppose. RAINER SCHUETTLER: Which point? Q. The first point after the delay. He put the ball on your side. RAINER SCHUETTLER: I don't remember. What happened? He made the point? Q. No, you made the point. RAINER SCHUETTLER: Oh, the backhand down the line. I had to pick a side so I just went for the backhand. Yeah, I just said, Okay, now or never. I went down the line. I was, of course, lucky that he played it on my backhand. Yeah, good passing. Q. What do you think you have to do to defeat Nadal tomorrow? RAINER SCHUETTLER: To be honest with you, I'm so far away right now from that match. My coach said, Okay, tonight I have to really think about something we have to do tomorrow to win that match. But I played him a few times. I played him once indoors in Basel and I beat him there, and since then he always beat me. So I have nothing to lose. I just go out there, have fun, try to make it as hard for him as possible, and then who knows. I mean, today I was out of the tournament already, then I won it. Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow. Q. British sportsfans have a tradition of favoring the underdog. Do you think that will happen to you tomorrow? RAINER SCHUETTLER: I hope so. I'm definitely underdog, so I hope they support me. Q. You joined Becker and Stich, the only German Wimbledon semifinalists in the Open era. Heck of an achievement whatever happens. RAINER SCHUETTLER: For me, I mean, I growed up watching Boris win Wimbledon, so now I'm in the semis. I am more than happy. And only Boris and Michael made it so far. Yeah, whatever happens happens anyways. I'm just happy to be in the semis. 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
|