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BARCLAYS DUBAI TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPSFebruary 27, 2009Novak DjokovicDUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES N. DJOKOVIC/G. Simon THE MODERATOR: Questions for Novak, please. Q. Do you feel a little bit lucky to get out of that one? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, yes, but I think you have to work for luck. I think it's not just -- it doesn't just fall through the sky. I think I fight my way through in the match, really believed till the end, and mentally, this is a very important win for me. Q. The third set, coming from a break down like that, how did you keep up that sense of belief? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, look, this is my profession. This is what I do all my life. If I -- as I was saying before, if I want to stay on top of the men's game, I have to win these matches, because Simon is certainly one of the best players in the world. He plays a very unique game. He's very solid from all sides, and playing with a very small number of unforced errors, which, you know, when you see him, you don't think that physically he's that strong and he has great endurance. But actually when you play against him, you get a totally different impression, because he moves so well over the court; fantastic. Q. He was unhappy with his game today, and he made the suggestion that you were both below par, you both didn't rise to the occasion. What's your view of that? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, look, everybody has opinion. I don't think we played a bad match. I think we -- a quite solid match, we played. The thing is that I made a lot of unforced errors in the first set and at the start of the second set. I think he was playing kind of solid and one style of the game throughout the whole match. It was just a matter of, if I can change something in my game so I can, you know, start winning the games and points, and that's what I did. I started being more patient and more come from the baseline, Opening up the court and giving myself opportunities. Look, in general, you know, we can't always perform 100 percent. But I don't think we played a bad match. Q. So if you put it on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your performance? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I don't rate his performance, I rate mine. So yesterday, I played better, I think in general, but it's two different encounters. You have a Cilic, who is very aggressive, makes a lot of unforced errors and gives you a lot of free points. And then you have Simon on the other side who makes you, you know, play a lot of unforced errors. So I can't really judge. Q. Moving on to the final, it's going to be in darkness; do you prefer it that way? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, look, once you get used to something -- you know, I've practiced at the Australian Open for 10 days, two weeks indoors, playing Marseilles indoors and playing the first three matches here in the dark, and suddenly I come up on the sunlight, and it's quite -- it's totally different. First of all, the sun; second of all, it's a big heat; and then the ball is much faster during the day than in the night. So I needed some time to get used to that. And on the opposite side, he played all his matches during the day, so I would say he had a little advantage by that. But I think I prefer night. 7:00 is a perfect time. Q. Were you wilting out there in the intense heat? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Sorry? Q. Were you wilting, were you tiring badly? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, yes, I am, but as I said on the court, this is for both of us the same. As I mentioned before, maybe a slight advantage for him playing during the day, but again, you know, you have to adapt to the conditions. This is professional tennis. You just play the best you can. THE MODERATOR: Anymore questions? Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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