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WESTERN & SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS

August 19, 2009

Novak Djokovic

CINCINNATI, OHIO

N. DJOKOVIC/I. Ljubicic
7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you talk about your win today? Seemed like you were serving we well. You won 18 out of 18 first serve points in the first set, and only dropped one first serve point the whole match.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, that's quite a good stat I think for the first match. It's really important to get my serve going and have a high percentage of the first serves in, which wasn't case really in my last match in Montreal.
That was kind of my main struggle and problem towards this second tournament. I was working on that, so today I served well when I needed to serve well. I made only one double fault. It was in a bad moment though, but I came back with some good serves.
In general, I got a feeling it was a pretty fast court. He was serving really well, and he was going for the shots. He didn't really care to play too much long rallies.
It was not easy to hang on, but that's what I did, and made a crucial break in the second set.

Q. How do you feel your preparation is going for the US Open?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: So far so good. I got a couple matches in Montreal. I thought I could even go further, but haven't been serving well against Roddick.
You know, I had couple of days more to practice and get ready for this tournament. I think it's really important to do well here. I'll take one match at time. I have no high expectations, to be honest. Played finals last year, and I hope I can repeat the same success, which would be great before the US Open.

Q. A lot has been asked about Todd Martin joining your team. What's your take on that?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, well we have been talking about it, and these days we are finalizing the conversations and negotiations. Hopefully we are gonna be able to start working prior to the US Open.
That would be a great experience for me. Of course, he's experienced long years on the tour as a player and as a coach as well, and it will help me a lot.

Q. I'm working on a story about injury timeouts and the use of them. There are some people in the game who feel that it has strayed from the original intent. Anyway, in short, I'm wondering your philosophy on this opportunity to call for a trainer? Do you feel it's well-handled by most players now, or do you feel the rules need to be reconsidered and maybe made more strict? If so, how could you do that?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Look, I think everybody, first of all, individually has a different opinion, and everybody can say whatever they feel like. My own opinion is that the timeouts are there and they should be used, in a good way, of course.
I'm not saying that 100% of players who are using them are using them in the right way. There are some who are just using in their favor to irritate and provoke the opponent.
But that's not my case. I was having a lot of timeouts in last couple of years, and I know that they were for cause there. I don't see any reason why some players are just irritated by the fact that somebody else has a timeout. If he doesn't feel well, obviously it's there. He can ask for help.

Q. You played last year with a Wilson racquet. This year, Head. What are the advantages, and do you play the same tension and same strings?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, I do use the same strings, and more or less the same tension, although this racquet is a faster racquet. I got this feeling.
Wilson racquet has a little bit more control, but we're working on the Head racquet to be able to have the combination of the strength and the control in the same way.
So I think having played with the racquet for eight months already I got used to it.

Q. You said this racquet is faster, but is it fast enough to beat Andy Murray?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, look, I think I have enough quality to beat anybody. Just a matter of a good day.

End of FastScripts

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