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WIMBLEDONJune 28, 2013Jurgen MelzerLONDON, ENGLAND J. MELZER/S. Stakhovsky THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Congratulations. JURGEN MELZER: Thank you. Q. I thought your returns were very good today. Did you have a good read on his serve? JURGEN MELZER: Well, in the first set, yes, I had a very good read on his serve. I mean, his strongest serve is T on the deuce court. I tried to cover it a little bit, but he wasn't playing his best in the first set. I felt like I was better for one and a half sets. All of a sudden I'm break down in the second. Then for a set and a half he was playing really well. He was serving the corners. I could not get any connection to the ball on my returns. I could just block it, and then he was playing really good at the net. It was very important for me to break back at 4‑2 in the third set. Then I felt like, Okay, I have a little better read, I'm connecting to the returns, and then he was in trouble. I think overall I won it because I found a way to return his serve. Q. Do you think it's tough for him to follow up a match like that on Centre Court the other night and come out to an outside court? Or were you really thinking, Crikey, this guy can be dangerous? JURGEN MELZER: Sure I thought he's dangerous, and I knew he was confident if he beat Roger on Centre. As you said, it's different story and a different match. It's like he for sure did a lot of press the last two days. There was a lot of focus on that match. This match he already played so it doesn't help him beating me. I don't know how much he did, what he did. To be honest, I don't really care. I won, and that's, for me, the most important thing. Q. You play Jerzy Janowicz next. Quite a tough match.  He's in good form, he's hitting the ball big. What do you think of that? JURGEN MELZER: Well, I have to get my return going. Usually I don't mind playing big servers. Let's see. The key will be to return his serve, to get a read, and get as many balls back as possible. Then, yeah, playing Janowicz in the fourth round of a Grand Slam, in Wimbledon, yeah, you take it. Q. I know tennis players often use the mantra, One match at a time; don't look too far ahead. Can you help it? I mean, in your half you've had Nadal and Tsonga drop out. Do you look ahead at all? JURGEN MELZER: Well, sure. There has been so much talk about it you cannot ignore it. If I don't win the next match I don't want to think about that one in the quarterfinals. Sure I know the highest seed is Benoit Paire if I beat Janowicz. Se we will see. I'm playing well; I'm feeling great. It's the old sentence, Let's take it one at a time. Q. A lot of players get into their 30s and talk about their experience in the game. Talk a bit about if you're an older, wiser player, how that maybe helps, and maybe give some examples. JURGEN MELZER: For example, today it was ‑‑ probably ten years ago I wouldn't have gone back to my apartment or house that we rent here and like take a nap for probably 45 minutes. I would have probably stayed here, which takes your energy. Those small things you learn over the years. Of course, I mean, I knew it; he knew it. It was a great opportunity for both of us to make the fourth round of Wimbledon. I felt like I dealt well with that pressure. I was playing well when it was close moments today. That comes with experience. I have been there; he probably hasn't. I really don't know. It just makes you a little calmer inside. Q. Because you've already experienced this stuff? JURGEN MELZER: Yeah, because you have been there. I have played a few third rounds of Wimbledon ‑‑ six or seven. I don't know. I knew what I had to do. I tried to be as calm as possible. Of course you're a little nervous, especially in the beginning when you don't know if you play, how does the rain look like. Looked like we have to stop two, three times, but we didn't. I think this altogether helps you. I mean, it would be strange if you're 32 and you would have a lack of experience. I think that comes with age. Q. I'm sorry if this is a repeat, but when you're playing a guy that has just come through that kind of win, is the object to get out there and just try to demoralize him a little bit right a way? JURGEN MELZER: Sure. You go out there and show him that I'm not Roger Federer and I can return his serve and make him play tough volleys. That was my goal today. The sets I won I have executed well; the set I lost I have been returning terrible. So that's the key thing I have to do. I didn't think too much who he beat last round. Obviously I'm playing him and not Roger. I had to just stick to my game plan, and I felt like I did a good job out there. Q. Is it a vastly different game plan when it's a guy that loves to serve and volley? JURGEN MELZER: Yeah. The thing is first of all you focus on your service games, because you don't get too many chances on his. He has been serving well throughout the tournament. Then the thing was does he have a pattern? You guess sometimes. I think it was for me very important to be aggressive on the return, show him also that even though he serves good, I can hit winners on his serve. That's one of my strengths. I had to do that today, and I think I did a good job. Q. I was doing some of research on your ambidexterity. JURGEN MELZER: What's that? Q. Your right‑handed and left‑handed play. It was in German and my German is rubbish. Is it correct that in everything else in life you use your right hand? JURGEN MELZER: Not everything. I eat, write, and play tennis left. The rest I do with my right hand. Q. Every other sport? JURGEN MELZER: Every other sport, yeah. Probably squash I would play left because it's close to tennis. And badminton. Everything with a linger racquet. Table tennis, for example, I play right handed. I throw a ball and darts right handed. Q. That's quite strange, because normally if you're ambidextrous you do all of the sports with the right. JURGEN MELZER: I play soccer with my right foot. A lot of people have that, left hand/right foot. I don't know. I grew up like that. My dad always in the beginning wanted to change it to my right because he always felt I'm right‑handed. Thank God he didn't. Q.  Could you talk about playing mixed doubles with your wife? JURGEN MELZER: Unfortunately she's injured. But it was fun. Q. Can you tell me the disadvantages and advantages of playing with one's wife? JURGEN MELZER: You have to watch out what you say. (Smiling.) No, there was of course a little difference. When we first time played here we haven't been dating and we haven't been involved. We were friends. That's when we won. I mean, we had another quarterfinals of Australia Open. But it's a little different when you're dating and once you're ‑‑ we haven't played since we were married. Q. Not at all? JURGEN MELZER: I mean tennis, yes, but not professional or one of the mixed doubles events. It's fun still. You got to go out there and enjoy. You know her better. It's not that we have fought or something because she or I played a bad shot. It's fun. I hope she comes back and we can play next year. Q. Good communication is the key, yeah? JURGEN MELZER: In life and in marriage and on the court. Q. What's the injury? JURGEN MELZER: It's a shoulder. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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