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January 12, 2009

Tommy Robredo

SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES

T. ROBREDO/J. Melzer
6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How did you feel out there today?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, I felt pretty good. I think that it was a very windy, and it's tough always to play the first match.
But, well, I think I was very focus, and all the time I had the control of the match. So, yeah, I'm happy.

Q. How was your off-season? What did you do?
TOMMY ROBREDO: It was a nice off-season. For the first year after six or seven years I could get two weeks off without doing anything. Just enjoying with my new horse and enjoying with the mountains where I am living, and the friends. It was nice. And then I could do a month and a half of hard practice.
So, yeah, I'm pretty happy about my pre-season. As I told you, it was one of the first years that I could relax a lot and also practice more than six, seven weeks. So it's good.

Q. What kind of horse?
TOMMY ROBREDO: I have a -- well, it's a German one. A guy from Russia gave it to me. The horse was born in Germany. It's the one -- the horse that they jump.

Q. For show jumping?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Yeah. So it's very young.

Q. So you jump horses?
TOMMY ROBREDO: No. I just take care of him. And maybe when I finish the season maybe I'm going to start riding him. During the season, no, because he's so young. He's six years old and he has a lot of power, so I have to take care of him.

Q. How many horses do you have, just one?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Just one. The first one, but not the last.

Q. So is this a career after tennis that you want to go into?
TOMMY ROBREDO: No. I don't know, it's just...

Q. Because they can go into their 60s.
TOMMY ROBREDO: Yeah. I love animals. Where I live is a lot of place for them, so it's great to have one, or a couple of them.
Then I don't know. It's just go to the mountain and just walk with him and run with him. But no jumping. Jumping, that's dangerous.

Q. So have you always had horses?
TOMMY ROBREDO: No. It's the first one. A friend has four, so I'm always with him and going with him, riding them. The other ones he has I ride sometimes, but mine, not yet, because I'm a little bit scared because he has a lot of power.

Q. Yeah. So how long have you been riding? How old were you when you started?
TOMMY ROBREDO: I ride only a couple of times a year when I have time. I love to be there with him. I just enjoy being with him and touching him and giving him food and making him run.

Q. How old were you when you started riding?
TOMMY ROBREDO: I don't know. The first time maybe I was five or six.

Q. So you've been doing it all your life?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Long time. Then when I was 12, 14, yeah. But I'm not very good rider. I just go. I get on top of him and just try to stay on top of him and try to run.

Q. What are your goals for this year?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, the last year I didn't play pretty well. I have been two years in a row top 10, and last year I finished 21. So the goal is try to be top 10 again. It's a great goal, and I have been practicing hard for that. Hopefully I can manage to arrive there.
If not, I'm going to give everything on the court on all the tournaments and try to be there. So it's a nice goal.

Q. Can you put the your finger on anything last year that saw you slip a little bit?
TOMMY ROBREDO: It's tough to say. I think that maybe I have been couple of years with a lot of pressure trying to be there, trying to be there.
And then as soon as you don't push the accelerator 100% and you move up a bit, then there's a lot guys that are just fight you. So I didn't start pretty well, and then it was tough to recover the confidence and to start to win a lot more matches.
Last year the first matches I won was in Australia and that was not on clay. So I played pretty bad start of the season. I just hope this year I can start a lot better, and let's see how I can finish.

Q. So you're a little bit mentally tired from the previous years, you think?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Yeah, could be. You know, I'm not sure. I think that it can be a little bit of the reason.
And also, when you don't start well a year, then, I don't know, you put lot of weight into your back. Then it's tough to manage to run with a lot of kilos behind you.
When you start well and you're playing good then it's easier, because you can go and try to do your best and then it's okay.
But when you start bad, you really have to win, you really have to win, and then it's a lot of pressure. I think that I didn't manage pretty well that.

Q. Does that make your time in Australia this time around especially important?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, I don't know. Obviously it's a Grand Slam here in Australia, so it's important. It's important. It's very important to prepare the Grand Slam as good as possible.
So I'm here, that's why I'm here. I'm just going to try to do my best and win as much matches as possible here.
Let's see if I can get the best of my shape this year, this week and next week, to see if I can do as well this year.

Q. Who do you say is the favorite for the Australian Open?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Obviously the world No. 1 is the favorite. But Murray is playing great. I think no one can say Federer has no chance. Djokovic is there again, Roddick.
I don't know. There is always great names, so we will see who is in the best shape. Hopefully they are not in good shape and I can get that. Hopefully I can be the surprise. It would be a nice present.

Q. Is it an exciting time to be part of the men's tour given the fact it's so open at the moment?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Exciting? I don't know exciting. No, it's -- I have been eight or nine years on the tour already, so it's always exciting for me to be there and try to do my best and try to see if I can win match by match. That's the exciting part.
Then if we have a world No. 1 that is not losing a match or if we have ten guys that they're so good or everything is very close, I don't care that much. I just get excited every time I get into a court full of people cheering for me or the other and trying to support us, watching that I'm doing what I really love and being there and just enjoying it.

Q. What's the name of the hours?
TOMMY ROBREDO: Sebastopol.

Q. Is he a thoroughbred?
TOMMY ROBREDO: He's a good one. His brother was Olympic, so...

End of FastScripts

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