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MUTUA MADRID OPENMay 5, 2013Fernando VerdascoMADRID, SPAIN F. VERDASCO/D. Goffin THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Congratulations for the victory. In Madrid you always achieve good results. Last year you made it to quarterfinals against Rafa. What does Madrid give you? What does the audience give you? You always manage an optimal level here in Madrid. FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, in the first place, it's clear what makes me to have a better level here or a good level here in Madrid, but it's not always that you have a good level you win. There have been years I had really good level and lost first round. In a tournament like this one where we have the best players, you can lose any match because all the players are very good. It's clear that this is my city, my hometown. I'm here simply feeling all those feelings. My friends and family are here. It gives me an extra boost of energy when I'm there on the court. It gives me an extra point of nerves and I want to do everything really good. Sometimes that could be a negative thing, too, because I want to do as good as possible and things don't always come out the way I want them to. In general, I think the motivation and the will to do everything good are there, and they are bigger than the negative things, are over the negative stuff. Those things make you get a better level, and then maybe your better level comes. Like in other tournaments perhaps I don't have such a good level. Q. I don't know if you have changed racquets. Is that true? If you have, how have you adapted to it? Has that been difficult? Also, what is the ribbon? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Yeah, well, talk about the racquet, and, well, I've been a long time with the same brand, with Dunlop, which is my brand, trying different racquets with different flexibilities. Well, I had some problems because I haven't been adapting as well as I should. I have been three years trying racquets, and, well, actually, it has been difficult to adapt to it. In a tournament like this in which I always‑‑ as I said before, in the question before‑‑ I always want to give my 100% level, and altitude here in Madrid makes everything to be even more difficult. I think that with this racquet is the one which I feel the most comfortable. That's why I have been training with that one. That's why I will be playing with this racquet this week. Talking about the ribbon, it's about the ex‑president because it's a really great loss for the tennis world from here. I will just say thank you to all his family. Q. This week you have a new racquet or three years with the same racquet? FERNANDO VERDASCO: No, I have been trying different racquets. It's a little bit difficult for me to adapt, to find the suitable racquet, the best one for my game, the one that makes me feel more comfortable out there on the court. This week I have decided to play with this one. It's all black, as you can see, because it's a prototype. There is no painting, no graphics. It's not a commercial model yet, so that's why I have been playing with it pitch black. Maybe in Rome or in Roland Garros, well, it might have all the paintings and look as the others, not black. Q. I would like to know, in a complicated moment, the career of athlete, maybe not in your best moment, where did you find the motivation to keep looking forward? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, I motivate myself in many different ways. It's clear that in difficult moments, well, it's hard. It's hard to find the confidence. There are the nerves. But what I focus on is trying to work as hard as possible. The confidence comes back when you work harder than you normally do and pushing it. If you normally push it up to 100%, well, I have to pus it to 200%. That's the way it is when you're in a bad season. It seems all the things are against you. When you are in a good season, it seems that everything is working out perfectly. So you just have to fight against everything, against the current in those moments. Well, the fact of playing here in Madrid also helps, the extra motivation that Madrid was going to be my next tournament. Perhaps that made me train even harder, at a higher level. I think that I'm well‑prepared to at least being competitive this week here. When you're playing well you can lose against some really good players, such as the ones that we have here in this tournament. But, well, as I said, I'm really prepared. I have trained well. Well, I think that you simply have to give your 200% to make things work out fine. Then we just to have pray a lot to have a little bit of extra luck on your side that in those difficult moments the things come out properly and don't go badly. Q. I would like to ask you, have you felt comfortable, and do you think the change of surface benefits the players? And on the other side, even though you're not 100%, do you want to take this tournament home? Are you happy about it? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, you know, the trophy is very far away from me or from any other player. We have just recently started the tournament. I think that in the tournament you got to go step by step, day after day, match by match, and give your maximum level. The fact that I'm playing in Madrid, as I said, gives me an extra boost of motivation and the will to do everything as good as possible. You know, you always want to do everything really good. Obviously nobody likes to lose. But, well, the fact of playing here in Madrid gives you more will to win, to go out there and to triumph in each match. As I'm saying, it's a very difficult tournament. We will have the best players in the world. To win this tournament is very complicated. Talking about the court, as you said, the tournament has done a really good job. From what I've heard, they've laid out the courts earlier than last year, and also afterwards I think they have hired the people that lay out courts in Roland Garros or Monte‑Carlo. That's what I heard at least. The courts are really good. All the players I've heard talking about them say the courts are better than previous years. I think the tournament has done well until now. The courts are fine. I hope they continue to be in those optimum conditions. It's always going to be fast because it's dry and the altitude here in Madrid. If it's dry, it's always going to be a quicker court than Valencia and Barcelona. All the players are really happy from what I've heard until now. Q. I would like to ask you about the first set and the second one. They were very different. What are your feelings? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, it's clear that at the beginning I was a little bit more irregular. You know, I have played sometimes better. That's clear. That happens to everyone. You don't do always things the same way. But, well, I haven't started badly, you know. After that, from 4‑1 to 4‑3 he made a break and he also had two games where he has done it really well. He has some passing shots close to the line or just on the line that were really difficult. I couldn't do anything about it. You know, when the opponent does those kinds of things, well, there is not much you can do. You just have to keep on trying and wait for the opponent to not be in such a good way, you know, playing so good. It was a little bit difficult. I think the set that I had played a little bit worse is when I was serving. To close the serve I committed two errors that were quite stupid. After, in the tiebreak, I managed to come back and to center again, not to commit errors, and go to the change with 5‑1. I think that, yeah, gave me enough confidence. As soon as I won the first set, well, I had a lot of confidence. You know, the second set I was playing much more confident, much more calm, relaxed, more settled down on the court. Q. Physically how do you feel? Also talking about the knees. FERNANDO VERDASCO: Yeah, well, you know, the knees, it's something that is there. It's always there. It's not an injury that is going to be repaired 100%. I think for the time being, you know, I have tendonitis in one of the knees that's chronic. Well, that's not going to be solved. You know, sometimes it hurts more; sometimes it hurts less. Depends on the day and the movements that I make during the tournaments or during the matches. Sometimes it's more inflamed. Other times it's less. I simply try to recover as soon as possible and treat them as good as possible to be able to play so that they don't hurt. But in general, recently they are quite well. The only tournament where I was a little bit weak with more pain was in Miami. Because like four days before playing I had a pinch in the tendon, something wrong, and there was quite a lot of pain over there during that week. But now in the clay season it's going quite well. Talking about other things, everything is well. Been training good last week, this morning, this afternoon, double sessions every single day with a lot of tennis, four hours per day of tennis. Well, I feel prepared physically and mentally to play this tournament, so I hope that things come out properly. Q. An optimistic detail: With all the class that you have, you've done already two doubles with Feliciano. But with David Marrero, as he is Canarian, is that going to bring you good luck? You could go to the London Masters. FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, I think that last year we did a really good year. We won four tournaments. Well, we finished the year No. 10 without playing any Grand Slam‑ only the US Open. Sorry. It was just as if we haven't played, because just after my singles match we played the doubles the next day and my knee was not in optimal condition. It was really bad and we lost in first round. So that doesn't count. This year we really started from Australia, making it to the quarterfinals. Now in the last two tournaments we made it to the semifinals. We're having a good year, a good 2013. I think we are the No. 6 of the race. He's a really good person. He's a person that I know from a lot of years ago. Not maybe as much as Feliciano, you know, because my family and his family are friends. We've been really close since we were 12, 14 years old. Was our relationship much more intense during those years. But David, I also know him from a long time ago. He's a really good person and partner. He's a really good player. You know, he just plays doubles, which is something that‑‑ two players that used to play singles playing together, it's a little bit more complicated to understand each other. If you lose in a singles tournament you just want to leave and you don't see it with the same eyes. Also playing with him, when I lose in singles, I go there. He only plays doubles, so I feel bad saying, Look, I'm leaving the tournament because I've lost in the first round in singles. So then it's just a good experience. I'm happy about playing with him. He has helped me a lot. He's always trying to cheer me up and give me positive things. So we hope this year we can go to the London Masters. It's something that I'm looking forward to, of course, because I've never been in London Masters doubles. But I think he's looking forward more than me because he only plays doubles. Trying to be in London, it's something that's really motivating me. I am really going to fight for him, for me, for both of us to try to be up there and have that experience. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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