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WIMBLEDON

June 23, 2009

Joshua Goodall

LONDON, ENGLAND

M. LLODRA/J. Goodall
4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Close but no cigar, wasn't it? Hard to take?
JOSHUA GOODALL: Yeah, I was disappointed, but I think on general I'm pretty proud of myself. I've improved massively, even in the last couple weeks since Queen's.
So I can take that match and obviously look at what I need to work on. I'm quite happy with the performance.

Q. Did last night's break hinder you at all?
JOSHUA GOODALL: No, not really. I think we both wanted it. It was getting too dark. We were serving quite big, and it was starting to get slippy at the back of the courts. It was better to come back and play it today.

Q. Any consolation that you've taken part in a good match, arguably the best match of the tournament so far?
JOSHUA GOODALL: Yeah, I mean, obviously I'm on the losing end of it. But, no, I mean, it's good to play this. These are the first two sets I've won at Wimbledon. This is my fourth time playing Wimbledon. To be involved in a five-set match is obviously pretty exciting.
But obviously I would like to be winning these matches.

Q. You were 4-4 in that final set. It looked there at that point, you were dealing with your serve and you had got on top of his serve.
JOSHUA GOODALL: I had some chances at 3-All, I think. I had a breakpoint. I had a lob. That's what I need to work on in my game at the moment.
In these sort of tournaments, I'm not taking those chances. But the good news is I'm getting these chances. I think I'm gonna -- it's getting better every tournament I play, so I think I'm going to be able to sort it out.

Q. Amazing service game, six or seven deuces. You served it out in the end. Did you think at that stage you'd got him or you had the momentum?
JOSHUA GOODALL: Yeah, I mean, you get those games in matches where for the life of you you cannot win the game. It just turned into some sort of nightmare.
But, yeah, I mean, I was relieved to win the game in the end. And then, to be honest, I sat down and I should have refocused. I came out and played a poor first game in the fifth set.
I think those are the sort of games you really need to make these players play some shots instead of missing some simple returns.

Q. What can you learn from that kind of experience, from that kind of defeat?
JOSHUA GOODALL: I mean, I just talked to my coach. There is a lot to learn. I think there is a lot of -- especially the last game, 5-4 down, obviously I missed that easy smash. But if you look at the point before it, I had a simple volley where I should be putting them away. I just put it to the open court, but I didn't stick it enough.
So I need to be a bit more ruthless with my volleying and some of my shots and put them away.

Q. A year or so ago you would have got down on yourself after a result like this.
JOSHUA GOODALL: Yeah.

Q. Regardless of the fact you took it to five sets.
JOSHUA GOODALL: I agree. I've mentally improved a lot. I mean, I took Queen's, for example, against Gilles Muller. I felt like I should have done better in that match. I looked at what I needed to work on. I went to Eastbourne, played a good first round, and improved again from there.
So, no, I'm starting to learn a lot more now from my mistakes.

Q. You also turned out for, I think, Sutton Tennis and Squash Club the last couple weeks.
JOSHUA GOODALL: No, I'm quite loyal. I enjoy playing -- I think it's important to have the fun side of tennis as well. I like playing NCL, and I like playing for my county.

Q. What do you get out of it? Is it that you're able to work on stuff?
JOSHUA GOODALL: It's nice to play tennis, I don't want to say stress-free, but play tennis in a more relaxed atmosphere, as well, and see some old friends.

Q. Last night you were banging down plenty of aces. Today you weren't able to. Was it the sun?
JOSHUA GOODALL: No, that's tennis. Sometimes you're serving well; sometimes you're not. Obviously it's important to keep your percentages up. I'm not sure what my percentages were today.
Last night they were pretty high. I had 90% in the first set. I mean, that's like freakishly good. I can't expect to be hitting that many first serves in.

Q. Pleased with the way you carried on from there not serving aces but still winning service games?
JOSHUA GOODALL: Yeah, I struggled at the start of today with my serve. After speaking with my coach, Jeremy, I wasn't mixing up my serves well enough today.

Q. Jeremy said that you changed your racquet just before the start of the championships a couple of weeks ago, which is a bit of a gamble. He also seemed to think you played a hell of a lot better with a shorter racquet.
JOSHUA GOODALL: Yeah, I mean, some people would think that is like a no-go. They'd never be able to do that. I don't know, I've got a weird head. Things like that don't bother me. I knew it was going to benefit me more to change to a shorter racquet.

Q. Why?
JOSHUA GOODALL: I don't know. I think with the Wilson racquets I was using, they were an extra half inch longer. I didn't think that was benefitting me on groundstrokes anymore.

Q. What is your overriding emotion right now? Do you feel pride in your performance, or are you frustrated at the big upset that just got away?
JOSHUA GOODALL: Well, obviously, firstly, I'm disappointed. It would be great to have won that match, but I think can I take a lot of positives from that.
The good thing about tennis is you've always got a tournament the next week. I can go to Newport. I'm going to try and play as many grass court tournaments as I can that are left this year, go over to Newport and start again and try and finish these chances I'm creating.

Q. How determined are you to get what would appear to be the second singles spot on the Davis Cup team again?
JOSHUA GOODALL: Yeah, I'd like another shot at that, to be honest. I thought Davis Cup, it was a great experience, but I didn't play anywhere near as well as I think I can.

Q. How do you feel the season's going? Are you happy with the way the season's progressing?
JOSHUA GOODALL: Yeah, I'm definitely improving. So, I mean, firstly, obviously results need to follow, but I'm pretty confident that they're going to.
I mean, it's not been a disaster, this grass court season. Semifinals of Nottingham, then second round of Eastbourne, then a good match today.

Q. Looking forward to the doubles?
JOSHUA GOODALL: Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. I love doubles just as much as singles. I'm going to be well up for that.

End of FastScripts

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