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U.S. OPEN

August 29, 2011

Bernard Tomic

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

B. TOMIC/M. Yani
6-3, 6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Looked comfortable on the scoreboard. Was it really that way?
BERNARD TOMIC: Not as comfortable as it looked. He's a difficult player; beat me twice already. I beat him last time, so I knew I how to play him. He's also got some matches under his belt. I was pretty confident.
I'm happy the way I played today and got through.

Q. Obviously bit of interest at home in possibly a third round against Roger. What was your thoughts when you saw the draw?
BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, definitely saw his name there. Yeah, faced Rafa in the third round, and Wimbledon against Novak, so if I could get to Roger here it would be good. But I have a tough player next match. We had a tough match in Australia a few years ago, and I think it's going to be a big battle when we play on Wednesday/Thursday.
So I have to prepare as much as I can this time to beat him this time and have revenge on him.

Q. Did you have someone out there scouting him? Do you look at the video? How do you attack it now?
BERNARD TOMIC: As opposed to playing Marin? Well, I know the way he plays and he knows the way I play. We've hit a lot of times, so it's gonna be obviously one end favor to me and also favor to him.
I don't know. I've got to come out there serving well. I know he can get his serving down in the 50% range. So if it's not good serving day for him I think I have a lot of good chances, but we'll see on match day.

Q. You have an unusual style. Do you feel players are starting to get more of a read on your style of play?
BERNARD TOMIC: Of course. I mean, the more you play these guys the more you hit with the, the more they're going to figure out they way you play. Might as well not even hit with 'em. Pretty much have to.
No, yeah, they're gonna figure me out eventually the more time you plays. Like playing Marin last time, he's obviously figured out my game, so now maybe coming into the match he's probably gonna do things differently.
So I've got to do that, as well. Probably have a good match against him because I can believe I can win against him.

Q. Your hard court season, do you feel like it's heading in the right direction?
BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, I've played the last three tournaments and didn't do that well, but obviously I was preparing for this tournament. That was my main priority. You want to play well at the Grand Slams. You still want to do good at the others, but if you can perform really good in the slams, that's what your main and my main focus is.
I think I've prepared well for this. I think I played reasonably good today. It's my first round, and I can go into the second round feeling confident against Marin.

Q. You slowed down the first serve. It was really slow.
BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, I do that a lot. I mix it up. The main thing is I don't give the player the same shot I gave him before, and that's where it can be tricky for the players who are playing me, as opposed to some of the guys play that sit back and play the same sort of tennis and you can figure them out fairly quickly.
I enjoy the way I play; I don't know if the opponent does.

Q. Have you ever had a hit with Roger, or ever talked to him or had conversations with him?
BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, I've spoken with him before; never hit with him. I think I had one, two rallies down at the Hit for Haiti down at the Australian Open, but I think in one way it's good I've never hit with him if I get the chance to play, but my main focus is to play on Wednesday or Thursday against Marin, because that is gonna be a very tough match.
He's obviously been in the quarters here before, as well as the semis in Australia, so he can play tennis. I've got to play well on that day to beat him.

Q. What would you like to improve on from today?
BERNARD TOMIC: Maybe a little bit on my return. I know I've got to return well to play good on my next match. I think I hit the ball pretty good today. Just probably fix up my movement and feel good and confident and read to go when I play and move around on the court on Wednesday, Thursday.

Q. How much better are you than you were last time you played Cilic months ago? Must be an astronomical change to where you have been.
BERNARD TOMIC: We will see about that. I think it was by a point last time. You know, 6-1 in the third and I had break points at 4-3 in the fifth. I don't know, I could lose in straight sets. That doesn't say I've improved or not improved. You never know. Back to how good I'm gonna play on Thursday, I could play much, much, much, much worse. You don't know.
But hopefully I've improved. We'll see.

Q. At the risk of asking something obvious, but what happened at Wimbledon, what has that done for you going into the next slam?
BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, confidence-wise knowing, you know, you played your last Grand Slam in the quarters is a very different feeling going into a slam. I think that's the main key for me, is to be confident.
You know, having those results under my belt leading into the US Open is a good feeling.

Q. I have heard you talk in the past about you're still growing and still adjusting all the time. Is that an ongoing process, or have you stopped growing yet? What's happening there?
BERNARD TOMIC: I think I have stopped growing. Probably not as -- I think I'm always losing kilos and adding kilos. I think that's where I heard Mardy talking about it's tough to find my kilo range, because I think I'm still growing in a way out of my body.
So I think I'm always gonna be up and down in that. I think I've definitely stopped growing height-wise. That's a good thing. I think last few years I was growing height-wise and my balance was changing and I wasn't as confident as I was.
One week I was playing good and the other week not so good. So I think now my height has slowed down, and I think that's good for me.

Q. What have you stopped at?
BERNARD TOMIC: I'm at 6'4" now, 6'5" now, which is a good height for tennis. No more taller than that, otherwise I'll have to play basketball.

Q. 195, 196?
BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, 195.

Q. Why are you so confident you've stopped growing?
BERNARD TOMIC: I'm not that confident. I mean, I assume so. I haven't grown in the last eight, nine months. I would imagine so. I could have another growth spurt in a year. If that a happens I might have to switch sports. Only joking.

Q. With your weight, are you on like a downward phase or an upward phase?
BERNARD TOMIC: Well, one week I'm 92 kilos, 93; the other I'm 89. So it's weird. I think that, you know, hearing Mardy talk before, it's important to always get the right weight, especially for a tennis player.
You know, it affects the way you play, the way you move on court. You can't be two, three kilos lighter than two weeks before. You're not going to be able to run. And then if you add three, four kilos you're a bit heavier and don't run as fast.
So I think you've got to find that balance and always be on the same line. I think that's where I've got to start paying attention and focus if I want to improve.

Q. Would you rather play here under lights or daytime? Are you enjoying the heat or too hot today?
BERNARD TOMIC: What do you mean? Second round?

Q. Yeah.
BERNARD TOMIC: Well, last time I played Marin was at night. I think the faster it is for him on the groundstroke rallies is probably going to be more benefit for me. So I'd like to play him in the heat and the sun, I guess.

Q. Will you share some thoughts on working together with Pat? Are you impressed? And some background story around how this working relation started with Patrick Rafter.
BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, he did help in Wimbledon. He was there at the match today. But it's different. He's part of the Davis Cup team, so he's coming to watch everyone's matches I guess, if you're an Australian.
I have my team. It's good that Pat comes along sometimes and sits and watches your matches and you get a bit of an output from him. But I think he's really there because the Davis Cup is coming up soon and he wants to watch the matches and see how the players are going.
But apart from that, I think I'm with my team happy and I'm doing well.

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