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AEGON INTERNATIONALJune 20, 2013Fernando VerdascoEASTBOURNE, ENGLAND F. LOPEZ/F. Verdasco THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You seemed a little unhappy at the end of the first set about the... FERNANDO VERDASCO: I feel that the conditions was not right to play even before the match started. I told the umpire. I mean, I told him like that the court was slippery, and just in the warmup that you don't even move to the sides. I could feel it when I was in the volley. Of course in the baseline‑‑ yes, in the center there is no grass anymore, is not slippery, but once you get into the court or you go to the sides, you feel it. So I felt it when I was making the volleys in the warmup, I told him, you know, I just ‑‑I just thought that it was like that. After doing the set, I saw that I was right, that we couldn't move right and it was not good conditions to play. But, I mean, is normal of course that you can think that the one that lose complains and the one that wins wants to keep playing, but I also think that the conditions like that that were better for him, of course, no? He's a big server, and when the courts are slippery like that, it makes even harder to return his serve. Also, his slice backhand goes bounce off the lower and is even more difficult to attack him. Everything, you know, I think that it was better for his game than my game. So is normal that he wanted to keep playing and I don't. But, you know, I just ‑‑I also noticed that at the end of the set, the last games of the first set, it was not raining but like looking to the roof that is dark, you could see like a soft rain coming down that was making the court more wet. So I just told him and Tom Barnes, the supervisor, told me, It's not raining. I said, It's not raining big drops, but I'm playing. I'm telling you that it's getting more wet. But, you know, they just wanted to play no matter what. Of course, if it's raining you cannot say no, but once the conditions that were able to play more or less, they wanted to play. I just saw it on them and I said, Okay, if you want us to play like this, we will play like this, but then after, if somebody get hurt, who is responsible of this? Because the ATP is not going to be responsible of us getting hurt because the court is not good. So, you know, I just keep playing and trying. I think that that little rain, soft rain, that it was coming at the end of the first set was not coming more after few games in the second set. The ball and the courts and everything was still like a little wet, but was not as much as the first set. So at the end, I just decide to play. And you know what? I win, I win. If I lose, I just go up to London and get ready for Wimbledon. But I just need to say that I don't think that the conditions was good to play. That's all. Q. How do you feel about that now? Do you feel disappointed you're not taking more notice of? FERNANDO VERDASCO: I don't want to say that I lost because we didn't stop the match. Even like that I had my chances.  I had a break point. He served so high percentage of first serves. With a break point in the 5‑4, he just made unbelievable serve to the T that I couldn't put it in. Then I was 4‑1 in the tiebreak. I made a good passing shot backhand, and he just read it and put a good volley, and, you know, it was like a close tiebreak. I had a chance with 4‑1‑up, and he was just more lucky or a better player in the important or in the key points today, no? I just tried my best with the conditions how they were, and I can just say that it was not the best for me. That's it. Q. What was this sort of friendly exchange at the net at the end? Are you good friends with him? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Yeah, well, everybody knows that we know each other for, I don't know, like 20 years or 18 years. I have been practicing with him many years. I have been practicing with his brother, with his dad. We have been like almost like brothers or, well, like cousins, you can say, for many years. And I have been playing doubles with him for almost all my career. We were playing Davis Cup many times. So of course it's a big relationship over the years, and, of course, on the court there is no friends, even if you play your brother, your real brother. But once you finish the match, even if you are not happy with the conditions, everything like that, just stay on the court and then you can be friends, no? Because in few years we will not be playing tennis, but we need to be still be friends. So at the end of the match, I just, when I just missed the passing shot, I just ‑‑I just say, like, I hate you. You serve unbelievable. (Laughter.) I said ‑‑ well, I cannot say what I said. I said, like, You served today as a mother... ‑‑ you see? And then, I hate you. And I punch him. I push him with the chest. He started laughing. He say, like, I'm sorry. I say, like, I'm sorry, too. (Smiling.) But, yeah, I think he served unbelievable. I think that also at the beginning of the match when he saw that his serve was hurting me a lot, because the ball is like sliding so much on the grass, he got confidence and he started, like, serving ‑‑we know each other a lot. We practice a million times and playing against each other like before we been professionals so many times and during professional six times. So I could see that he was loose on his serve, and once he gets loose on his serves, he's like really hard to return his serve even if I know him a lot and I know where he serves normally in the special moments and all that. But like I said, even the times that I read and I knew where the serve was going, the ball was coming like 130, 135 miles an hour, and sliding so hard on the grass, and it was like so heavy to return the serve. So I just told him, I just told him that I was not happy on the way he served today. I just think I play well. He played also really well. I just wish him the best of luck on the tournament. Now that I'm not in the tournament anymore, I hope that he wins the tournament. Q. Back to the conditions, was it just that you weren't able to the play the way you wanted to, or did you think it was dangerous out there? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, I think both. I think the conditions that were not the best for me to play the best style of my game on grass that I can do, and also, it was better for him. So I think it was a little bit of both, no? Q. And also you thought the court was dangerous? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, the court was dangerous for both of us. You could see that when we were like moving to the sides, we needed to make like so short steps and be so careful, because it was pretty slippery. And, you know, after that I just, like I just said, I just think that the conditions today, because the ball was heavier and the court was more humid so the bounce was lower, it was better for him because his style of game, like the slice and block the return and the serve, like he slice the serve more than me. I used to do like kick more or flat, but not slice that much. Even if I try, it's not my natural serve like his. So is what it is. The conditions was better for him, and he knew today how to get that on his side and play well and win the match. Q. Did you consider defaulting? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Defaulting, mean like go out of the court? Well, if I was Rafael Nadal, I can say, I don't play, and I'm pretty sure that the ATP will say, Okay, we wait till the court is good. But because I'm not Nadal or Federer or any of these guys, I need to say, I need to do what the ATP wants, because if I said, I go, the tournament will not say, We wait. Then I will get a fine from the ATP because I didn't want to play in the bad conditions. So what I need to tell you? I think you have enough experience to know how life is. The ones that are here (indicating high up) they have everything they want. The ones that are not there, you need to do what the other wants. So me? I wanted to go and don't play because I didn't feel good. Not the conditions was better for him. No, about being able to move right even if the conditions were better for him. At least I want to move well or be able to move well. But I don't have ‑‑I'm not in a situation right now where I can just say, I go, and I lose the chance to be in semifinals in one tournament, you know, because I need points right now. I have been injured all February, lost a lot of points in Acapulco, like 300 points, and after that I have been playing for almost month and a half trying to be able to find my level, my game, like trying to be able to play like I played these three matches. You can win or lose, but you are competitive every match and have chances to win every match. So now that I am playing better, I'm not in a situation to be able to just say, I go. Like if you tell me this like when I was 7 in the world, 2009, maybe the situation was different. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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