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ROGERS CUP

July 22, 2008

Frank Dancevic

TORONTO, ONTARIO

N. DJOKOVIC/F. Dancevic
6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. The crowd was really supporting you, but at such a close time when you were really close, did that ever have a negative effect and turn into pressure that you didn't want?
FRANK DANCEVIC: No, not really. I think that the crowd was really awesome tonight. I really felt the support throughout the whole match. No, didn't hinder me in any way.
In fact, it made me break back in the second set and be back into the match.

Q. Is there any sense of disappointment that you have that you're the only Canadian in the top 100, or is it not a really big concern of yours?
FRANK DANCEVIC: Well, I think that Canadian tennis was struggling a little bit in the last, you know, five to ten or so years.
We've got a whole new development restructured. In the last couple years we got a new president. Michael Downey came in a few years back. He's really brought some experts in from all over and made an awesome structure for junior tennis.
I think that moving on in the future we're going to see a lot more top 100 players in the future. It's a little bit disappointing that I'm the only one now, but I think in the near future we're going to have quite a few more.

Q. Because you're the only Canadian ranked so high in this tournament, do you feel added pressure when you come here to Toronto to play?
FRANK DANCEVIC: Not really. I just always feel at home here and I always play well here. I look forward to coming back every year. You know, it's only one time of the year that I get to be at home and feel relaxed and feel full support from everyone.
So it's always a warm feeling to come back and to play here.

Q. Your doubles partner thinks that all of Canada should cheer for him now because he's Canadian born. What do you think about him?
FRANK DANCEVIC: Jesse is a good kid. Yeah, he came here and he got through the quallies and won his first round today. I think he's a great player. I think he was born in Ottawa. I'm not sure exactly where. Yeah, he's Canadian and lives down in Florida and plays down there down south.
But, yeah, we teamed up here to play doubles together and we'll see what happens.

Q. Who is the tougher player to play against: Djokovic or Nadal?
FRANK DANCEVIC: That's a tough question. I mean, Novak, today it felt like he was just on top of his game from the first ball it felt like. His returns were getting better and better as the match went on.
Usually I get a lot of free points on my first serve, and today it felt like a lot of balls and returns were coming back. So it put a little added pressure on my side of the court and made it a little more difficult to play.

Q. You were at the net quite a bit. Do you enjoy playing at the net, or do you only approach it when obviously the ball is dropped short and you have to?
FRANK DANCEVIC: I try to make it part of my game to take advantage of shorter balls and take advantage of opportunities, sort of finish the balls off at the net, finish the points off.
That's sort of my what game plan is sort of structured around. I try to do it as much as possible.

Q. That first game you had a couple of chances to break him. If that goes different, do you think this is a different result?
FRANK DANCEVIC: Yeah, I mean, it's tough to look back on those things to look at one or two points here or there. Yeah, I'm sure it would have made a difference. I would have been up a break and it could have gone 5-All or a tiebreaker first set, and then it could've gone either way, too.
We can't really look at those things ever. I had some chances, but that's the way the match turned out and that's it.

Q. When the crowd started chanting, Go Frank, it started to sound like a hockey game, didn't it?
FRANK DANCEVIC: Yeah. It was really awesome. I don't think you could fit a pin in that crowd. It was awesome, and the ambience was awesome. I could hear that the people were yelling at the top of their lungs at the end.
It was really fun to be out there and a really fun experience. It was cool. I really felt the support out there.

Q. Some of the top players put pressure on you in different ways. How did you feel pressure from Novak? What was part of his game that was toughest for you?
FRANK DANCEVIC: Well, I was extremely impressed with the way he moved for a tall guy. I felt like he was really on balance and ready for every ball that I hit. He never seemed like he was surprised or off balance.
You know, he just put a lot of the pressure on me and was returning a lot balls back and he was taking advantage of every opportunity he had. You know, and made it more difficult on my side.
He put pressure on me to go for bigger shots and to go closer for the lines. You know, that's what made my miss a little bit today.

Q. The crowd obviously loved you tonight and you were feeding off of it. When the wave is going on and the chants are going on, does etiquette play into your mind, or is that all positive for you?
FRANK DANCEVIC: Oh, it's all positive. I love fans, and that's what make tennis. I think that the fans were awesome tonight. I really wasn't sure what to expect. I have never played in front of a big crowd like that here in Toronto. It was really cool to see that, you know, to have that much appearance an hour away from my house. I live in Niagara.
I think that, you know, it's fun for the people too when it's a full crowd like that and it's really loud. It's just really cool for everyone.

Q. You mentioned doubles. You move on to doubles now tomorrow. Are you able to still put as much focus on doubles? Do you try to set this aside now?
FRANK DANCEVIC: Yeah, I mean, singles is -- I can say that singles is my main focus on the tour, to try to do well and stuff.
You know, doubles is sort of like I still focus and try to do great at it. It's not my main focus, but this is a really big tournament and I'm playing in Canada and in front of my home people. I want to do well here, and I'm going to do everything I can to prepare with Jesse and play well here and see what happens.

Q. How far are you from the level of playing of a guy like Djokovic?
FRANK DANCEVIC: I don't know. I don't know if I can answer that question. I really couldn't tell you.
I mean, you know, it only takes a couple good tournaments a year to make sort of a breakthrough and then you gain confidence. You don't know from there where you can go.
Sort of little breakthroughs have happened in my career where I made finals and quarters last year, so maybe this year I might have a breakthrough like that and gain some confidence. We'll see what can happen from there.
I think the Top 3 guys, Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, they're sort of dominating the game right now and on a different level than everybody else. To get up there you need a lot of work and a lot of consistency in your wins.
You need to consistently do well in Masters Series and Grand Slams. That's a really tough thing to do. So, I mean, you got to respect that and you got to respect those guys that they're able to stay up there to get the ranking to be Top 3.

End of FastScripts

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