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AEGON CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 6, 2011

Oliver Golding

LONDON, ENGLAND

N. MAHUT/O. Golding
6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. First of all, what was it like playing at Queen's for you?
OLIVER GOLDING: Yeah, it was amazing. It was -- I have been coming here since I was very young. It was pretty much a dream come true, really.

Q. You said it was a dream come true. I'm sure the result wasn't what you wanted. How did you find Mahut?
OLIVER GOLDING: Yeah, he's a pretty good grass court player. He was coming forward quite well today. He serves really well. I think those three break points that I had he came up with big serves on all of them.
You know, I didn't play that badly, and there are some positives to take out of it, as well.

Q. You say there are positives to take out. You must be very pleased going into a senior match like that you come out quite well?
OLIVER GOLDING: Yeah, it's my first ATP tournament. I haven't even played a challenger main draw before this. I mean, it was quite a step up for me. Yeah, I thought I dealt with it quite well.

Q. Obviously there's no Andy Murray or no Nadal here today. There has been a lot of British interest. How have you found the crowd and everyone looking at you with you potentially being the center of attention?
OLIVER GOLDING: Yeah, I quite enjoy it really. The crowd were great today. They really got behind me, so that was pretty good.

Q. What do you hope to take from this looking at the Wimbledon fortnight?
OLIVER GOLDING: You know, definitely need to sort of keep it in my head I can live at this level. I thought I showed that quite well today and I played some good tennis.

Q. How is it compared to child acting?
OLIVER GOLDING: It's a bit different. Obviously the amount of people out there, there was a lot. Yeah, it was good.

Q. Was that the biggest crowd you've played in front of or maybe at Wimbledon last year?
OLIVER GOLDING: I think -- that was by far the biggest one, I think. I can't remember which court was the biggest one I played on last year, but it was definitely a lot bigger.

Q. How did you feel playing in front of a crowd like that?
OLIVER GOLDING: I was a bit nervous the first few balls of the warmup, not to hit it sideways or something. After that, yeah, just really enjoyed it actually.

Q. A bit surreal going from juniors in Paris to here today?
OLIVER GOLDING: Yeah, it was. I mean, it's happened so fast, sort of last week walking around with all the other juniors and looking up to the seniors so much, and then suddenly two days later I'm playing the same tournament. It's a bit weird.

Q. What's the biggest difference? Is it power? Is it pace? What's the biggest difference?
OLIVER GOLDING: I think almost the sort of intensity. I mean, if you make a couple of mistakes and that's it, they don't give you another chance to get back into the match.
And today, you know, definitely I played a couple of cheap points to give my serve away, once in each set, and that was it. I managed to get into a couple of his service games, but, you know, the three breakpoints, just -- you know, he came up with something too good.

Q. Do you enjoy playing on grass?
OLIVER GOLDING: Yeah. I really like -- I struggled a little bit today with my forehand. That was the first match I played on grass this year, and I have been on clay for the last four months.
It was bouncing a little bit lower. I was struggling to get down to it a little bit, but I think in the end I adapted to it quite well.
Yeah, grass I think is probably my favorite surface.

Q. Are you itching to get amongst the seniors permanently now, or are you quite looking forward to one or two final junior appearances and maybe winning some big tournaments?
OLIVER GOLDING: Yeah, I think obviously the juniors is great to sort of, you know, to get a feel for the Grand Slams and stuff, but I think from now on after Wimbledon I think, you know, it will be pretty much seniors from now on.

Q. What's it like hanging around amongst the seniors, being in the locker room and seeing Andy Murray around and that kind of thing?
OLIVER GOLDING: Yeah, it's amazing just to see how those guys prepare and stuff. They're so professional, and that's the reason why they're the top in the world.

Q. What will you do in terms of from here through next week?
OLIVER GOLDING: I'm not sure. I think I'm going to take a day off tomorrow, for sure, because I didn't have a day off after the French and I sort of carried on going and going. So I think my body needs a day off, get back on the practice court and try and keep improving.

Q. What about next week, week before Wimbledon? What will you do then?
OLIVER GOLDING: I'm not sure yet. It depends. You know, maybe if I could hope to get a wildcard for the quallies of Wimbledon or maybe Eastbourne quallies. I'm not sure.

Q. I take it you weren't surprised to see Fratangelo winning after the way he played against you?
OLIVER GOLDING: No. I mean, he played unbelievable against me. Two weeks before that in Milan, as well, he did exactly the same thing. I was going out there, and I thought there's no way he's going to play like this again.
I played him. He did. Yeah, it was great for him to win it.

Q. Do you feel you've got all the tools you need?
OLIVER GOLDING: Yeah, I'd like to think I have quite a big game, and I thought today I wasn't a million miles away from the level that I've got to be at. That guy is a very good grass court player, and I thought I was with him for a lot of the match.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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