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BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALSNovember 23, 2011Janko TipsarevicLONDON, ENGLAND T. BERDYCH/J. Tipsarevic THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. That was some match. I suppose you'll maybe kick yourself for missing the volley. It was a remarkable performance given everything that's happened. JANKO TIPSAREVIC: Thanks. If I have gotten the chance one more time, I would still take that ball early and go to the net and play the volley. So I am not honestly at all disappointed because of the way I played on the match point. I am, if I can say, pissed about myself that I managed to make my first double‑fault at 6‑All in the tiebreak and that I completely managed to put Berdych back in the match. He wasn't playing great at the beginning, maybe because of the influence and lack of confidence that he got from losing to Djokovic with the match point up. Not putting myself down, I felt that I was playing some good tennis in the first set. For no particular reason, I stepped two meters back, gave him more time, more space to get back into the match. Even though I played better in the third, as you could see, just a couple of points decided the winner. Q. How are you now after that fall at the end? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: I am okay. My right knee still hurts. But I'm feeling this dull pain. It was just a hit on the ground. We'll see what's going to happen when I cool off. But my feeling now is that I will be ready for practice tomorrow afternoon. Q. You seem to have a tremendous level of support out there. I think you probably got yourself a few new fans as well after today. JANKO TIPSAREVIC: I feel that fans like to see a challenge. They like to see, if I can say, an underdog challenging the best players. Even though I'm ranked No.9 in the world, I feel the crowd here sees me as an underdog, somebody who doesn't have much chance to beat the top eight. In a way I felt I was playing good. I was playing aggressive tennis. That's what I crowd wants to see. Q. In a way do you have nothing to lose coming in as a late substitute? Is it an unusual feeling coming in after the tournament has started? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: It's an unusual feeling. You know, you come to an event as No.9, and you should feel like you are part of it and that you will play. But at the beginning you are not. Then every day you hear the stories that this guy is injured, the other guy is not feeling well, whatever, and you kind of need to be ready, you know. I felt that I didn't disappoint anyone with my performance today. I think I could have won much easier. But there is still one more match to go. If I beat myself about it, that's just not going to help against the world No.1 on Friday. Q. What do you think you're going to take away with you for next season after this experience in the Masters and the good season you had in 2011? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: From this tournament, let's say from this particular match, what I would take for next season is that when you compete against the world's best players, the victory is not going to be given to you. This is what I was doing in the second set. I was playing really good and really aggressive and taking my chances. In the second set I was kind of hoping that Tomas gives me the victory. This is not going to happen under any circumstances against anyone within the top 10. So if I want to stay here and improve, I need to beat these guys on my own, not to wait for them to give me the victory. Q. After your practice on Sunday with Andy Murray, were you on alert, if you like, thinking that perhaps he could be injured and that you might have to play? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: No. I don't know what did he say to the media. This is the second time I'm hearing this question. But on practice, it honestly never crossed my mind that he could be injured. The only guy who I maybe suspected that might change was Mardy Fish before he played Rafael Nadal. But then when I saw him perform and play I think a good match, at one point I was certain that I'm not going to play. Regarding Andy Murray, I never, ever thought that he might pull out before we practiced or after the practice. Q. He had a shortened practice, didn't he, on Sunday? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: He shortened the practice. But I saw that he wasn't feeling great. I saw him also against David Ferrer. I felt that, you know, he was running okay but he wasn't feeling good on the court. I honestly never thought, you know, that he has a physical issue. Sometimes players feel tired, whatever. We actually scheduled our practice for one hour. Then we changed it to one and a half. Then we stopped after one and 15. We actually stopped after playing one set. I honestly never saw that he had any kind of problems on court. Q. Are you saying you played one and a quarter with him? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: One hour and 10 minutes. We had a long warmup. One set. After the set, we stopped. Normally when you play a set, and there is like 10 or 15 minutes left, sometimes if you have a court longer you just stop. But I never thought that he stopped because he has a physical problem. Q. Mardy Fish said the other day that if you fly first class once, you don't want to go back to economy. JANKO TIPSAREVIC: Okay. Q. My question is, how is the appearance in the London final different than other tournaments and how does it motivate you to stay in the first class in the next few years? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: It's definitely a motivation to play on big center courts against big players rather than playing, you know, on different venues. But we all know that this experience which we get this week in London is only a motivation, I feel for all of us, to work even harder to be in a position to play London next year. Even though I lost today, I can only take good and positive emotions and experiences from this week, however it ends. Q. You've been practicing with Novak this week. Is that an advantage now that you'll come to play him? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: I don't think so. I think him and Viktor Troicki I practiced probably one million times. I think I know their games inside out, as well as they know my game inside out. So practicing with him for, I don't know, two, three hours this week, I don't think that this is going to help either of us on Friday. Q. When did you find out that you would actually be playing? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: I found out yesterday afternoon, after my practice with Novak. Q. Did the fact that you've been here and you've been practicing, did that affect your preparation at all? It could have worked out that you didn't play at all. JANKO TIPSAREVIC: It didn't, you know. Obviously it's nice to be an alternate in a tournament like this, being world No.9. But I can tell you, it's not a great feeling that you have to come here at 12 every day and leave at 9 or 10 every day, knowing that you don't play. But luckily I found out early enough that I will be changing Andy Murray today. So as soon as I finished my practice, I was released by the ATP because I became an official part of the tournament, which means that I went to my room pretty early, I went early to bed, and I did everything necessary whether I'm playing a match today. I cannot blame my loss today on anything, you know, that I was here each and every day for 9 and 10 hours apart from myself. I don't know if I should say this, but I am happy that I got the information in time so I can make my preparation and schedule for the match today as needed. Q. Did you get a door with your picture on it? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: I did, you know. This morning they had a special car for me, bodyguard, which I didn't want to take in the beginning. I didn't want to change my players alternative locker room, you know. But then I heard like apparently there was a girl or a lady working on it yesterday like all day and all night. Then I felt bad, you know, not to take it. So, yeah, I have my picture in the locker room. Great, yeah. Q. The previous occupant didn't leave anything behind by chance? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: I didn't look thoroughly. But so far I can see only Janko, Janko, Janko everywhere in the locker room (smiling). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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