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ROGERS CUP MEN

August 13, 2011

Janko Tipsarevic

MONTREAL, QUEBEC

M. FISH/J. Tipsarevic
6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Janko.

Q. You looked a little bit tighter today than you have all week. Did you feel as comfortable today as you did leading up to today?
JANKO TIPSAREVIC: I didn't. It's been a great week, you know. Just playing semifinals in a Masters Series event is a good result for anyone.
But I really am not happy about the performance today. I didn't feel tight before the match or like I didn't have a feeling that this is the match of my career or something like that. I felt I was too much focused on fighting for every point rather than being focused on what I need to do on court, you know?
Even though I was nervous at some points, I felt I had a good fighting spirit. But the problem was that the ball was just not flying from my racquet. On the other hand, you had Mardy Fish, who I feel he played a great game from start to finish.
But it's really simple, I said it yesterday: in order to beat Mardy Fish, I needed to play good. I didn't play good today, so the result today was 6-3, 6-4. Very simple.

Q. Is Mardy difficult to play in that he throws so many different looks?
JANKO TIPSAREVIC: Yes. He's mixing up the game, as I said yesterday, and changing up the pace and the rhythm. I have obviously a negative score against him, 1-4 at the moment.
But you need to stay focused playing against him from start to finish because he's not playing, let's say, like Tomas Berdych, in the same rhythm the whole match. He can go to the net, stay back, be aggressive, be defensive. Combining that with a great serve, and I have to say a very good first-serve return, which he improved so much, he's definitely a top-10 quality player.

Q. You were talking about the positive things that happened this week. What is the most positive thing that you'll take into the next two or three weeks of the hard court season?
JANKO TIPSAREVIC: I guess the confidence between the next two tournaments. I was talking to my coach I think yesterday what would have happened if I lost the match against Verdasco where I had three, four match points, and it went on to the third set. It would for sure destroy my confidence before Cincinnati and the US Open.
But the most important thing is that even though I played a lot of matches in Washington and here, including doubles, I feel healthy, fresh and fit. I'm ready to play more and win even more matches.
I saw that I will be top 20 on Monday, which is a big achievement for me at least. But the goal is to finish the year. I still have some points to defend.
I'm playing good, I'm feeling good, so let's see what happens.

Q. You said yesterday you had a plan for Mardy Fish today. Did he do something that mixed you up or surprised you on the court?
JANKO TIPSAREVIC: The two things which I was surprised about is how well was he returning my first serve. Yesterday against Tomas, I was getting a lot of free points from my first serve. And Mardy today somehow happened to return most of it.
Second thing, I felt that he was going serve and volley awfully a lot. In the previous matches, even in Wimbledon that we played, I didn't see him at the net that often, you know.
But then on the other hand, I just didn't play well today. Maybe I could have won against a different caliber of player, but not against Fish.
It was simple: yesterday against Tomas I played a great game and I won; today I didn't, and the result was like one break in each set or whatever, 6-3, 6-4.

Q. Novak said yesterday that he would love to face you in the final. Was that in the back of your mind?
JANKO TIPSAREVIC: I heard that today before the match. But I think he said it only because, you know, we're good friends. Just having a Serbian Masters final, that would be really something else. Obviously he's a different caliber of player than Viktor and I am at the moment.
But, yeah, sadly that didn't happen because I under-performed today and Mardy was just better.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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