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APIA INTERNATIONAL SYDNEYJanuary 9, 2013Bernard TomicSYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES B. TOMIC/F. Mayer THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. From 3‑Love down in the tiebreak, you really powered home. BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, a little bit difficult to be down 3‑Love to get out of that position, but I'm happy. I think I served two good serves and gave myself a chance. I think he played a good point at 3‑2 and it was 4‑2 him, but from then I returned well and served well to be up 5‑4. From there I played two good points and won that set. Q. Any leftover fatigue from yesterday? BERNARD TOMIC: No, I'm not really that fatigued. I actually practiced yesterday after my match and today, so I'm still ready. I've got so much energy. This match for me was physically nothing. I have to get ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a little bit more intense because Jarko plays a lot balls back in the court and moves really well, so I've got to to be ready for that. Fitness‑wise I'm ready, so there's no problem. Q. Nice to get that win after three losses to Florian? BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, it is, because he's one player I don't like playing. There is always these guys on tour where don't like playing, and for me he was a very difficult opponent the last few years that I faced. I'm just happy I won. I was confident playing him. I played well. Q. You serve, what does that indicate about where your game is at moment? BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, that's just showing I'm improving so much. After the match he said, You're serving unbelievable. Nothing I could do. It's good to hear that from all the players I'm playing. There is talk now that I'm serving really good and my groundstrokes are really good, too. I'm moving really well. There is nothing much more I can ask myself at this stage. I want to get on court and win matches and do well. Q. What is it about Florian's game you found difficult to deal with in the past? BERNARD TOMIC: I think just because he's smart, he understands my game, and it's difficult to hit some shots to him because he knows what's coming, as opposed to other players that struggle with my game a little bit. He's had a feel for it a few times and he's beaten me, so he's more confident. So playing him and getting in the position today to play him is still difficult. He's a great player and he beats the top four guys when he's playing well, so I'm happy that I did play good and win that first set. I played pretty good in the second. Q. You clocked a 207 serve out there. What's your fastest serve? BERNARD TOMIC: I did see that one, in fact. But I feel like I can serve 10% bigger, I think 5% at least. At least another 5 to 10k's. It's just I dont go 100% on my serve. I like to serve at 90% so I hit the spots, and that's what I'm doing now. I put a lot work in in strengthening my shoulder up, and now 90% is still really at 200 kilometers an hour. Once you hit the spot I think at 170 it's still going to be an ace, especially with the angle my serve is coming from. I'm serving consistently at 190 and hitting my spots, so there's nothing these players can do because I have a quick swing and I'm hitting my spots really well and I'm happy with my serve. Q. Has that been the secret, getting more strength in your upper body? BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, a lot more strength in my upper body. And it's important to be flexible as well. I think I'm getting much more angle in the court. It's not about how hard you hit the serve. I think I'm acing a lot of guys at 150, 160 out wide because I've got one of the lowest trajectory serves that hits that deuce corner. I love serving like that. Even if they get it back, you've got the whole court to do anything you want with the shot. So the serve is really my key where I've changed everything probably the last few weeks, a well as my attitude. I'm playing really good tennis, and I want to keep it up. Q. What exactly did you do to improve it? BERNARD TOMIC: I hit a lot serves, a lot of specific target practice on the serve. You know, it requires a lot of work. And serves, it's really boring to just sit out there and just serve and serve. It's a very strange task. But I put a lot hours into that serve, and now players are finding it difficult. I'm happy the way I'm serving today in particular and over the past week. Q. Is it hard not to get overexcited at this point given how good your start to the season has been? Just sort of keep it level and not think too far ahead and just play each match at this point? BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, I think exactly you're right. I think whereas before I got carried away; I started overthinking. Now it's just who I play on that day. I know my next opponent, and that's who I've got to to beat. I don't look too much ahead now and just focus on who I have to play and play as best as I can. That's what I'm doing. Q. Five men's seeds dropped out of the draw today. Were you aware of that? The draw is obviously going to open up a little bit. BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, I saw John go down to Ryan. I think Ryan played well. Obviously Florian was seeded 5, and Gilles pulled out, I think. So there is a lot open sections now. I'm obviously playing Jarkko, the defending champion, so it's not easy. He's a good player and plays really good in those conditions. So I have to play good tomorrow. I have to serve well. Q. You said on court that you were the most confident you've ever been. That's a fairly big statement given what you did at Wimbledon and last year and here at the Australian Open. BERNARD TOMIC: Yeah, I'm much more confident than I was in Wimbledon. Wimbledon for me was my first big tournament that I really did well in. I wasn't under any pressure and I was relaxed and sort of the underdog, which felt good. I could go for my shots. Now there is still pressure, but I'm really fit and I know I've worked out, so the pressure sort of fades away when you know you've put in the hard work. Q. What do you know now that you didn't know then when you made that splash at Wimbledon? BERNARD TOMIC: I think back then I was playing really good tennis as well, but I was much more relaxed. I was down in qualifying in Wimbledon and I was supposed to lose. I thinkI was down 4‑3 in the third. It's just amazing sometimes. Any tournament you can get through a first‑round match and it could be tight, and then you could win the tournament or get to the finals. But, you know, I've learned from that experience of playing Novak, especially in that quarters. Now this past week has shown me a lot about myself and how much I can improve. I'm going to keep improving, and that's the important thing. Then I'll get my rank up high. Q. If the Australian Open was tomorrow, is your game where you want it to be? BERNARD TOMIC: No, I'm fine. I think now is this tournament and this task and playing tomorrow's match. I'm not thinking about the Australian Open now. I'm thinking about tomorrow's match. This is how I'm going to get the best chance, is to prepare every match in every tournament I play in. After you know, one tournament focus on the next. I know it's coming up really soon and I'm feeling really confident, but I've get to keep winning matches here and keep going. Q. You said you trained yesterday after that game. Would you have done that a year ago? BERNARD TOMIC: I wouldn't have, no. Every time I play now, I look at the stuff where I probably lacked on the court and I go work on it for 10, 15 minutes after. That's the best time to do it, when you feel confident with yourself, when you've won, and you know there are little things that you probably didn't feel as good on court and you go work on that and target that really quickly. I did that today as well. I think I'm confident to play for tomorrow's match. Q. What did you work on today? BERNARD TOMIC: I worked on a few of my returns that let me down a bit in that first set. You know, it's really important that you know what you need to improve after a tennis match, and not just go back to the hotel and it's all done. You got to do what you need to do and what you need to improve. As before, I probably wasn't looking into that stuff; now I am, so... Q. Davis Cup, earlier in the week you said you weren't going to play the second tie. Hewitt today won down in Kooyong, but in his press conference he said he was unaware that you weren't playing that second tie. Have you had a word with Pat Rafter about that? BERNARD TOMIC: I spoke to him. I was very clear. I don't think we'll be in contact until September. From there we'll see. That's all I can say. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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