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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 17, 2013James DuckworthMELBOURNE, VICTORIA B. KAVCIC/J. Duckworth THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Have you ever experienced anything like that in terms of physically what was happening towards the end of that fifth set to your body? JAMES DUCKWORTH: Uhm, I've cramped a few times in my life, a couple of times in Asia when it was really humid. But, yeah, the last three days have been pretty long and tough and my body certainly started to feel the effects of that in the end of the fifth set. Q. It looked beyond what most of us know as cramp. Explain what was happening. JAMES DUCKWORTH: Yeah, I mean, from about, oh, 3‑2 in the fifth my hamstring and quads were locking up. I started off just on serve, and then kind of when I was moving around the baseline. Any kind of sharp movement or quick movement, yeah, I'd lock up. It was quite painful. Q. What is the mindset when that happens? Are you just trying to hang in there? JAMES DUCKWORTH: Well, I was just trying to focus on holding my serve, making a lot of first serves. Then if the ball got into play, I knew I had to be in control. I couldn't have him dictating and running me around. Then on his serve, I was just trying to somehow jagger a point or two at the start of the game. If not, I was kind of swinging if I got down 30‑Love or something like that. Q. What is the primary emotion for you here? Pride that you were able to hang in there? Disappointment? What is it? JAMES DUCKWORTH: I'm not too happy right now. Yeah, I was pretty shattered. I probably didn't play my best tennis today. It was a big opportunity to play in the third round of a Grand Slam against Tsonga. Yeah, I let it slip. Q. How frustrating is it when you've been out there so long, you're so close, you're right there, and your legs aren't doing what you want them to do? JAMES DUCKWORTH: Yeah, it's tough. It's something that us tennis players have to deal with from time to time. Like I said, right now it's pretty disappointing. Q. Do you know physically how many kilos you lost? JAMES DUCKWORTH: No, I didn't weigh myself before or after. It seems it was a lot. Q. Regarding the fifth set, what do you have to do? JAMES DUCKWORTH: Yeah, I was drinking as much as possible. Had a few bananas, a few energy drills. A bit of Coke for caffeine. Started having some salt, just plain salt, trying to help the cramp, yeah. Q. He looked like he was feeling as badly as you were physically. Neither of you were going to give it up. Just his approach, what did you make of it? JAMES DUCKWORTH: Yeah, he fought hard as well. He didn't give an inch. Yeah, he was too good today. Q. You half expect someone is going to sort of throw in the towel, perhaps not voluntarily. You just refused to leave that court. JAMES DUCKWORTH: Yeah, I mean, he's a tough competitor, as well. I pride myself on my competitive ability. We both just were hanging on for dear life. Unfortunately he came away with it in the end. Q. About the weather, how hot was it out there? JAMES DUCKWORTH: Yeah, it was pretty hot. The court actually felt really hot underfoot. My feet were burning every time I pushed off to sprint. I was sweating bucket loads. Yeah, it was tough conditions. Q. Can you share your plan for the year, where you're at, what you want to achieve for the year now that this is over? JAMES DUCKWORTH: Yeah, I'll sit down with my coaches, speak about things that I need to work on, look at the schedule, where I'm going to be playing, how I can improve and get better. Q. Would you like to play more Grand Slams this year? JAMES DUCKWORTH: Of course, yeah. It's the pinnacle of tennis. I played all of them last year, all qualifying. I had a couple of tough losses at Wimbledon and US Open quallies. But, yeah, it's great playing the Grand Slams. It's something that I'm going to strive to play. Q. Do you think you've got the Aussie fans on your side? Do you think they're excited to see where you might go this year? JAMES DUCKWORTH: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I had great support two days ago in my singles and then yesterday in the doubles and again today. It was a lot of fun playing out there in front of so many people. They really got behind me. Hopefully, yeah, everyone will keep supporting me for the rest of the year. Q. Just after the match, have you been on an IV drip between now and then? JAMES DUCKWORTH: No. I just went on the bike for a little bit. Q. Went to the bike? JAMES DUCKWORTH: Yes. Thought I'd smash out a 10K time trial (laughter). No, just a light cool‑down. Had a bit of a stretch. Saw my physio. Had a bit to eat. Actually I don't feel too bad right now. Poor Kavcic walked into the locker room and locked up and went full‑body cramp. He's on morphine now. He's struggling a bit more than I am. Q. If you made it over the lines, do you think you would have been in fair shape to play on Saturday? JAMES DUCKWORTH: I would have recovered as best as I could. I didn't feel too bad this morning. You know, I did play a 7‑6 in the third doubles yesterday as well. It would have helped having a day off, hitting for 20 minutes tomorrow, then playing the next day. I think I would have been okay. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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