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ROGERS CUP MEN

August 12, 2010

Kevin Anderson

TORONTO, ONTARIO

R. NADAL/K. Anderson
6-2, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Obviously disappointing to lose, but what was the experience like? Did you feel you gave yourself justice?
KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, you know, it was a great -- I thought I played pretty well. You know, in the second set I think it came down to one or two points. Obviously it's a pretty big two points. Nothing is easy when you're playing him, but I think for me it was a great, you know, something to judge where I'm at.
You know, he's the best player in the world, and obviously he's been playing really well, and, you know, I just gotta look at the positives. I think there was quite a few things that I'll be able to take from that match and some areas that I need to improve, and I think if I combine those two things I'll be able to play more often.

Q. Even though you ended up losing, taking a guy like the No. 1 in the world to a tiebreaker like that, do you still find that an accomplishment right now in your career?
KEVIN ANDERSON: I wouldn't say so much an accomplishment as much as a motivation that I'm pretty close. I think even in the first set I felt, you know, just pretty calm, and, you know, it's unfortunate to get broken at 2-All when I was 40-Love up. All three times I was broken, it was pretty close games.
So, yeah, I wouldn't say so much it was an accomplishment. Just motivating and just to kind of see where I am, and, you know, I think just a big positive. I feel, you know, I have been working pretty hard, and I think I'm doing quite a lot of the right stuff, and if I continue on that, I think I will just continue to get better.

Q. You've clearly improved, you know, to the point where now just a couple points are determining the matches, and now as you're progressing to better levels of players, you know, first -- I was there for the Atlanta match with Isner where a couple points in the third set determined, you know, what was going to happen. Even here tonight with Nadal it was, you know, again just one or two points turns. Do you go back and look at video? Does your coach go back and see what could you have done differently? Is that something that you guys focus on?
KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, I definitely will try and get a copy of the match today. I haven't talked about it through yet, but, you know, just coming off the match, you know, my coach said he was pretty excited. I think there's a lot of stuff I can learn from the match and stuff that I can see what I have been working on and kind of a confirmation of that.
You know, just some of these matches these days, it's one or two points here and there that wins or loses matches. I think my last match against Querrey, that was a good one for me. I think I've come pretty close a couple times. I felt good making that break-through.
Obviously today is a bit of a different level. I've just gotta get better. Obviously beating Nadal, you're just gonna have to play really well. But, you know, it's definitely a challenge. It's why I'm playing tennis. It was a great atmosphere and fun being out there. It's definitely something I'm going to strive to do more often.

Q. So just to bite on that a little bit, when you're training, are you working on these specific scenarios, doing certain things in certain moments like certain set plays?
KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, definitely. It kind of starts with my serve, setting up my plays with that, sort of serve and first ball, and returns I have been working pretty hard at.
And from the baseline just being more aggressive, just imposing myself more. It takes time, it takes work, but I think each match I'm starting to see improvements in all those areas.

Q. Can you talk about the win yesterday and what it meant to you? You lost to Querrey three times. You play a similar game. Your second-highest seed that you've beaten. The importance of that match.
KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, losing to him before, it's always been a close match. Most of them have been in three sets, as well. LA was pretty disappointing. I played him just a couple weeks ago.
I felt I had my chances and end up getting beaten pretty badly in the third set. You know, I felt I didn't have to do anything too special. You know, in the third set again I found myself in the position where it's gonna be one or two points that's gonna win or lose me the match.
It felt great being able to rise to that challenge and get the break of serve and hold out. I knew that winning that match would have given me the opportunity to play Nadal today, which is, you know, great.
It was a great experience for me, so all in all I think, yeah, it was a good week. You know, coming through quallies is always tough, and definitely gonna take the positives from this week.

Q. I assume you're going to Cincinnati? Do you have to qualify again, same sort of situation you started this week?
KEVIN ANDERSON: Yep, in quallies on Saturday. So, yeah, we leave tomorrow, and, you know, get ready for Saturday's play.

Q. Do you feel that what you've done here is going to -- you've got to the third round of a North American hardcourt event. You're going to another one. Confidence must be pretty high at the moment?
KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, definitely. I think it's just another sort of just acknowledgement of what I'm doing, and I think, you know, I really see if I stick to that and play my game that I'm going to have success, and combining that with, you know, working hard and getting better at those things, again, looking for, you know, a very good week of getting through qualifying and hopefully bettering the performance this week.

Q. You had a bit of a letdown last year after 2008, and I know you changed coaches or you hired new coaches in the beginning of this year. What goals did you set up for yourself early in the season? Are you progressing on those?
KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, you know, last year was pretty tough. I was injured for a lot of the year, and even though I was able to play, I wasn't able to do a lot of the things I wanted to do.
I think I had a pretty good offseason in Florida last year in December and kind of just reset things. I think this year the biggest thing is just make a definite change in my game of really playing the way I want to play, you know, what best suits me, you know, being tall, and then setting specific goals as well.
I wanted to finish this year top 30, which is a tough challenge, but I think it's definitely something I'm capable of.
It's always tough. You're going to have your ups and downs throughout the year, and I've had this year, and I've had a little bit more success. I don't know exactly what my dreams are, but I think just hard work and all uphill from the end.

End of FastScripts

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