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WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN

August 18, 2011

Fernando Verdasco

CINCINNATI, OHIO

R. NADAL/F. Verdasco
7-6, 6-7, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Talk a little bit about your approach coming into the match. You had never beaten him. What were you trying to change, aside from the outcome? Any previous match you wanted to improve on?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: No. Just the same and just try to do my game. Nothing different.

Q. You seemed to be talking to your player box the entire match. Talk about that.
FERNANDO VERDASCO: The what?

Q. Seemed throughout the entire match you were looking over to your player box and talking to your coaches. Can you talk about that?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: No. Why? It's my box. They support me, and I don't need to talk anything about this. It's private.

Q. What kind of comparison can we make between this match today and the match in Melbourne that was great, too?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: Every match is different, and there was five sets match, also very close. Just the difference of today it was in the tiebreak of the last set; there it was no tiebreak.
No big difference, because he played the same style as in Australia, and I also tried to do the same as I play in Australia.
So just there are many points during one match, so there are many situations. Every match is different.

Q. Even though it was a very close, competitive match the whole way through, a lot of points seemed to be ending on errors rather than winners. Does that change your attitude in the match when it's that way?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, there are more errors because he push you to that errors. He play very high and deep many times. He tries not to let me get my forehand, because I think that's the weapon I hurt him with more. So he just returned with lobs trying to be deep so I cannot really attack and be offensive - like every time we play.
He's the defensive player; I'm the offensive player. When you try to make winners, you make errors. When you just try to put the ball in, you don't make winners and you don't make errors.

Q. When you play him, how much is about offense/defense and lefty/lefty, and how much is just mental?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, tennis is mental always, and he, of course, is a great mental player, one of the best. It's tough, no? It's tough.
But when you are on court, you just try to do your job, try to play as best as you can. Of course he has also a better forehand than backhand, so it's a fight of who is getting the forehand before tactically.
That's it, no? Just some points he got it before; some points I get it before. Even if you get it, then you need to finish the point, because it's not easy to just get one forehand and make a winner.
So he's just one player that makes less errors than me, but also less winners.

Q. You're one of the players that's mentioned most in the adidas program working in Las Vegas. Talk about that and what you do.
FERNANDO VERDASCO: I didn't go to Vegas since December, so it's been almost eight months. I talk about this many times. I don't have nothing new to talk about right now.
I think I just played a match, a great match with Nadal, and in Las Vegas it was in December. I said many times that I like to practice there, but it's so far away from home.
I don't know when is the next time I will be able to be there.

Q. Did you enjoy it anyway, this great match?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, you enjoy always a good match, but when you lose in this way, of course it's not easy lose, because can be a big win. You have it so close; tennis is like that.
Tennis is very tough. It's a very hard sport, not easy mentally. You need to be strong and not let these situations to affect you.

Q. I heard something about you having a problem with your practice court earlier, and it was with Maria Sharapova. Can you talk about what happened there?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: No. I don't want to talk about problems. I don't want to talk about situations that is not my fault, and maybe it's not either her fault. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding.
But of course I want my time to warm up and she want her time to warm up. It's normal.

Q. Being part of the Western & Southern long tradition must be still a good feeling to be here on a day like today and support that long tradition here at the Open.
FERNANDO VERDASCO: If I am happy to be here? I don't really...

Q. Yes.
FERNANDO VERDASCO: Yeah, I'm happy. Why not? It's a great tournament.

Q. Excellent.
FERNANDO VERDASCO: I came many years, and I hope to come more years. Of course, like I said, it's a great tournament, and I enjoy every year that I play.

Q. How do you recover from matches like this one that were, I'm sure, very physically and mentally challenging?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, right now I don't care how I recover because I don't play until the US Open, and that's far away.
But if I should play or I need to play tomorrow, I will just, you know, have a massage maybe, just eat right before the match to try to recover energy as soon as possible. Not really much more, no?
I think matches like this are tough, but you need to be prepared. You need to practice hard to be ready for these matches day by day and be like a normal thing.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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