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BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS

November 24, 2010

Novak Djokovic

LONDON, ENGLAND

R. NADAL/N. Djokovic
7-5, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You were playing very well until 4-All or so. What happened to your eye? Did it ever happen before, something like that? Did you lose the contact lenses in your eye or you couldn't find it or what?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I really feel sick talking about it, to be honest, because it's just incredible that this happened to me. I mean, it never happened to me in the life.
You know, I felt great these days. I'm just really annoyed by the fact that something like this can really affect the match. It did because my right eye got irritated, and from the 5-All I could not play. I could not see a ball, especially the return. It was just terrible.
I don't want to find any excuses for my loss, but the fact of the matter is that I just could not play. I could not play. Yeah, these things happen. It's out of my control. Unfortunately, it happened in the very important match, in a very important moment. You know, I cannot do anything about it now.
I will try to see a doctor and see if there is something more serious going on and in two days hopefully I can be ready.

Q. Can you tell us if you lost it inside the eye?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Look, I mean, I don't even know. Doctor told me that he didn't see anything in my eye. You know, later on I had two lenses, then later on I had three lenses. Keep on going around and around. Yeah, it was just so bad.

Q. In any case, you still have that match, you can still qualify.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I know I'm in the tournament. It's not I'm angry about the match loss. I think everything is lost, whatever. It's far away from that. I know I'm still in the tournament. I have big chances to qualify. It's just that these things make me very angry, you know.
The fact was and the truth was that I was feeling great on the court. I had time to prepare for this tournament mentally, physically. I put all my effort into it, desire to win. Then you get on the court and this thing happen to your eye, the most important thing for your body, coordination, sight, everything you can think of. And I needed some time to make it right, but I didn't have time. Everybody was hurrying me up. Three minutes, 30 seconds, come to the court, play your match, whatever. You know, I just don't have time for that.
So, yeah.

Q. Looking ahead to your match with Roddick, you must be still quite wary of what he poses even though he lost two matches.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, he's a huge server. Is always tough to play him. He played great against Nadal. Today I didn't see how he played.
You know, it's still open. The group is still open. I guess in two days, both matches will decide who's going to go through.

Q. Do you feel like you should have been given more time, given the unusual circumstances?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: It's not a question for me. I don't know. I'm just saying that I needed more time, so...
If I was supposed to get more time or not, that's a question for the officials. But, you know, I don't know. You have to ask them if that was a case where they have to find an exception. But obviously they didn't realize, you know, the situation, so it's okay.

Q. Did the bright lights and the flashing from the cameras make the situation worse?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, I mean, it made it definitely worse. You know, it's just playing with one eye is not enough, especially if you have Nadal across the net. So basically I was trying to hit the ball as hard as I can. If it goes in, it goes in.
I realized that I could not make it right and I could not give my hundred percent on the court, so it was just a routine win for him in the second set.

Q. You've had a problem with allergies in the past. Might this be connected with that?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: No, it's not. It's nothing connected to this. This is just the first time in my life that this happen. Never. I mean, it's one in a million chance that this happens really. Okay, I had in the past sometimes I have a situation where I have little problems with the lens and the eye, but I fix it in 10 seconds. I move the lens and I know that everything is right.
But this was unbelievable. It didn't go away. I still don't see well in the right eye.

Q. Can you tell us if you were happy the way you were playing until 4-All? You were playing probably better than him until that moment. Also, when did you start to put the contact lenses, when you were three years old or 18 or what?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: When I was I think 17 or 18 I started putting the lenses. But let's not get into that too much because it really doesn't matter. There is no history of this problem with me. There is just this situation that happened unfortunately in a very bad moment. Yeah, it was just very unusual because I didn't do anything wrong. Yeah, I don't know.

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