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BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALSNovember 10, 2012Janko TipsarevicLONDON, ENGLAND D. FERRER/J. Tipsarevic THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. In these days in the ATP, the professional players playing at the ATP, apart from the physical strength, are very tall. From your point of view, is that a disadvantage, not being that tall? You and David are 180. Is this a disadvantage? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: I don't think so. If you look at the game of tennis, in my opinion the point which improved or the level that increased in the last 10 years is not the offense, it's the defense. My point being that even tall guys like Del Potro, Berdych and Tsonga, know and are defending incredibly well with their height. If you look at Sampras and Agassi, all these big guys before, they used to be very aggressive, but they couldn't really defend. Being tall, I think it's honestly a bigger disadvantage on the return, because you're not tall enough to reach some returns, than on the serve. In the overall game, I don't really think so. If you look at the two players before Novak came ‑ Rafa and Roger, who were dominating the support ‑ I think they're like 185 or 186, so not really tall. I don't really see it as a disadvantage. Q. There are not too many. JANKO TIPSAREVIC: Yeah, but I am saying even guys let's say 10, 11, 12, like Gasquet, Almagro, these guys are 183, 182, so it has nothing to do, in my opinion, with the height. So I don't see it as a disadvantage. Q. You seemed to be feeling better. What was motivating you tonight to keep going? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: I wanted to win a match. I was feeling better, as you can see in the first set. As the match progressed, I was running out of fuel, and the points which I was sometimes winning in the beginning of the match, the long rallies, I just ended up losing them. Because of the fatigue and the tiredness, my serve start to drop. I didn't win as many free points as I did in the first set. In the end, David used that in the best possible way. Q. How would you evaluate your year overall and what are your goals for next year? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: Overall I'm happy. What I'm not happy about is I didn't manage to progress in the Grand Slams, which was my big goal for 2012. But I'm happy with the consistency that I had. I didn't lose too many matches with guys who are not top 20. I managed to stay consistently top 10 until the end of the year. Everybody's aware I'm here in London because Rafael Nadal pulled out. But being here is a big honor for me for the second year in a row. My goal for next year is, I want to rest first, really, 'cause 33 weeks, including Davis Cup, it's too much. If I have the same schedule like I have this year, if I have it next year, I will not stay top 10. I will drop, I promise you. So I want to rest good. You cannot believe how much I cannot wait to start pre‑season because I didn't really have time this year to upgrade my tennis. And I'm aware that if I want to attack the top five, six, seven, four, whatever, or even dreaming about winning a Grand Slam one year, I need to upgrade my tennis and play better. This is one of the reasons why I cannot wait to start practicing after resting. Q. You made it to the quarterfinals of the US Open, semifinals in Canada. Those are the two big achievements. You won a clay court title. Other than those things, which matches of the year are you proudest of? JANKO TIPSAREVIC: This might sound silly, but I'm very happy that I managed to beat Gilles Simon two times this year. I lost to him every single time I played him before. I'm happy I managed to. It's always nice to beat a player you never won before. He can be higher or lower ranked than you, but it's a very good feeling. Of course, I won against Novak one time. I won against Berdych one or two times. I'm very happy, obviously, that Serbia won Dusseldorf as a nation. I was very happy to present and play for my country. I can see it was a little bit under the radar in 2012. People were not seeing it as a very big achievement, but it actually was with a lot of top‑20 players playing that event. I guess it's the ranking. I didn't make any huge achievements this year. I played semis in Madrid, in Montréal, Toronto, US Open, quarterfinals and everything, but it's really not easy for me mentally. You have to understand that most of my life I was 40, 30, 50, 60, playing challengers even sometimes. All of a sudden, I'm top 10 and I'm the favorite against all of these guys, which I don't really enjoy. I don't like being the favorite. You need to cope and understand the pressure on court. I'm extremely proud how I managed to do that in 2012. So I have one year of experience behind me. It's very simple: if I want to attack those guys in front, I need to take my time and become a better tennis player. I believe I can do it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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