|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
WIMBLEDONJune 27, 2012Novak DjokovicLONDON, ENGLAND N. DJOKOVIC/R. Harrison THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Did you ever hit the crossbar out on the court today, like the soccer kicks? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: No, but I watched it now. It's quite exciting when it gets to the penalty shootout. It's a gamble in the end. Q. You played pretty well today. NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I did. I thought he played really well. He had his chances in the second set. But other than that game I thought I served really well. I was winning comfortably my service games, which is encouraging fact for the next rounds. You know, he had the high percentage of the first serve, very efficient. It was a little bit of a different condition. Under the roof when you're playing it's a bit more humid, so you have to adjust your movement. The ball, I think, travels through the air because of this humidity a bit slower, balls get a little bit bigger. But it was great to be under the roof once again. I thought it was a very exciting match to be a part of as a player, and I thought the crowd enjoyed it as well. Q. Obviously we have the top three in this really dominate position. Could you give us your analysis of why there's been the separation of the three of you. NOVAK DJOKOVIC: It's difficult to analyze that. You're always going to have in every generation a couple of players that stand out. I'm very fortunate to be able to be in this position to be one of those top players winning for Grand Slams and favorite for every Grand Slam that I play on. I think every tennis works his whole life to be in this position to be able to win Grand Slams, because those are the most important tournaments that we have in sport. Federer, Nadal were the two most dominant guys up to a couple of years ago where Andy and myself joined. Of course, Del Potro, Roddick is there. I believe right now men's tennis is experiencing some really interesting times. You have some up‑and‑coming young tennis players, and Ryan is definitely one of those. I believe we have a good future. Q. Could you take a minute and talk about your two rivals and talk about their baseline games, defense to offense. NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I believe that they both can say tennis has changed quite a bit, especially Roger who has been playing on the top level for many years, more years than Rafa and myself. He was a part of that generation of the serve‑and‑volley players where they were dominant, like Pete, Becker, Edberg, Ivanisevic. Nowadays even the grass is a bit slower. The game is going around the players whose games are based on the baseline. We all had to adjust to that in a way. Obviously defensive skills are Nadal are probably the best there are. It's incredible the way he is getting the balls in all different surfaces, especially on the clay courts. Then the variety that Roger has. But I think over the years, both of them, including myself and the other players, we needed and we felt that we had to improve our game. Now if you want to be on the top of the tennis, men's tennis game, you need to have offensive game. It is equally as important as the offensive game. You need to have a very complete game on all the different surfaces. The ball is returned now better than it ever was. Makes it a little bit more difficult to get to the net. But grass as the fastest surface makes you come to the net a little bit more. That's what I'm trying to do as well to have that variety in my game. Q. What advice would you have for someone who is all of a sudden playing an indoor match at Wimbledon? Anything you should know? Can you prepare for that? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: It's hard to prepare for that because you play indoor match on the Centre Court maybe once every couple of years. 2010 was my only match under the roof aside from tonight's match. It is quite different. I think the lights were really good. The attendance was fantastic. The crowd enjoyed it. It was a spectacular match from a player's point of view. Sometimes it's good for a change to be under the roof. It makes it more interesting as well I think, if you go to the late hours. Q. Two tactical things from tonight's match: it seemed like you got a lot out of approaching to his backhand. Doesn't seem like he could hurt you. Is it something you think he needs to work on? You seem to hit your forehand down the line. Is that going to be an important shot for you at this tournament? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yes, being aggressive is something that I'm aiming for on this surface, as I said before. I knew that Ryan has a forehand as his weapon, let's say, from the baseline. He's mixing it up with the slice. That's where I was looking for my chance tactically. It was working quite well for me. I was patient when I needed to be. I was aggressive as well in important moments, which is really good for myself, because I'm going around mostly the baseline and I try to use the opportunities to get to the net and use the volley to make the points shorter. I think he has a great potential. He's very young still. He looks very professional. He looks like he has nothing to has to lose on the court, and he wants to win regardless who is across the net, which is a great mindset for someone his age. Obviously, there is time to come, and he needs to get experience playing on a big stage. He needs to work on his shots in the game. He knows better than I do. But his serve is something that he can use as a weapon. Q. Talk more about Roger a little bit more. What it's like up there against him? Does that variety ever astound you? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Look, I can't talk about his game too much. He's going to talk about his game I think better than anybody else. But he's I think playing really well for somebody that has been so dominant the last couple of years, and then he dropped to No.3 of the world right now. You can still see the desire in him to come back to No.1, which makes him very dangerous. He's definitely one of the candidates to win every Grand Slam he plays on. There's no reason to think that he's underestimated or something. He's performing now in these last two rounds incredibly well. You can always expect Roger and Rafa to perform well, as they always do. But, look, it's a Grand Slam. It's Wimbledon. We all want to win. We always need to believe we can do that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|