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COUPE ROGERSAugust 5, 2013Jesse LevineMONTREAL, QUEBEC J. LEVINE/X. Malisse THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. He's a helluva striker of the ball. What is it like playing against him? JESSE LEVINE: Xavier and I are actually very good friends. We grew up training together at Bollettieri's when I was younger. I actually owe him lunch still because he beat me on the golf course. Pretty good friends. So when you go on court, you have to put that aside. It not easy sometimes. He had his moments where he was hitting some winners from anywhere, then he had his moments where he was giving me some freebies as well. I was trying to stay solid and happy to get through. Q. Next up for you is Rafael Nadal. How do you feel about that? What do you think you can do to try to beat him since he hasn't played since Wimbledon? JESSE LEVINE: Well, last time I played Rafa was in Toronto I want to say 2008. You know, he's definitely a tough task. Obviously this time I'll have nothing to lose. I can swing freely. Like I told Arash on the court after the match, I don't have to bat lead‑off and have the pressure of getting on base, I can bat clean‑up and swing for the fences. I got no pressure. It's nice to play in front of a home crowd. Hopefully they'll get behind me. I'll do the best I can and we'll see what happens. Q. Can you talk about your memory of playing Nadal five years ago. JESSE LEVINE: I remember I got off to a really, really good start. I was up 4‑1 in the first set. Then I was kind of sitting on the changeover. I remember kind of looking at the scoreboard and saying, There's something wrong about that. Next thing you know, I lost the set 7‑5, then lost the second set 6‑3 I want to say. I don't remember the exact score. But, you know, obviously, I mean, Nadal is one of the best in the history of the game. Like I said, it's a tough task. I'll sit down with my coach and work on some things tomorrow. Vasek and I are actually playing doubles tomorrow. I can keep my match rhythm going and come back Wednesday, I don't know when we'll play yet, I'm assuming maybe Wednesday night, I don't know, but we'll see what happens. Q. You played in this tournament before. First time you played as a Canadian. Feel any different? JESSE LEVINE: Yeah, it was a big difference on the court. I had family and friends here from Ottawa cheering me on. It's a rare feeling to have family and friends there at a tournament because we travel all over the world playing different tournaments. Rarely is it so close to home. So for me it was really special. The crowd was getting behind me at some crucial moments in the match. It was really nice. I can't imagine what it would be like to play on even the bigger court. Hopefully I'll get that feeling and it will help me out. Q. What generally was your strategy going in against him, your plan of attack? JESSE LEVINE: Against Xavier, like you saw, he's one of the cleanest ball strikers there is. I was really trying to keep him on the move because if he gets set in one spot he really can take it to you and he's super dangerous. I was trying to not hit too many to the same spot, keep him on the run, keep him honest. His serve is tough at times, he was hitting a bunch of aces. I was trying to stay solid and get hopefully my chances. It happened, it was solid. Q. You practice with him a lot in Florida, so you're very familiar? JESSE LEVINE: Yeah, we're very good friends. Q. More than anybody else almost? JESSE LEVINE: Yeah, when I'm in Bradenton I practice with him all the time. I practiced with him before I went to college, then we remained friends. After college, when I turned pro, we still practiced all the time. Like I said, in Indian Wells we played golf maybe three, four times. I mean, yeah, we're good friends. We texted right before the tournament started here. We didn't even know we were going to play each other. Then the draw came out. A mutual friend of ours is actually here with him. Hugo Armando was here as his coach. He's one of my friends as well. It was kind of weird having both my friends playing against him, then his coach as well being my friend. It was interesting. Like I said after the match, we're friends again. Yeah, it's never easy to play a friend, but you have to put that aside when you're playing on the court. Q. Did you ever get ahead of yourself tonight thinking, I'm going to play Rafa? Did that ever cross your mind? JESSE LEVINE: It didn't cross my mind. Once I won the match, you know, I kind of celebrated, was getting pretty pumped up, getting the crowd into it. Once Arash came out there, then it kind of hit me, Okay, now I'm playing Rafa. Obviously I'll enjoy this and tomorrow we got doubles, then I'll prepare for Rafa on Wednesday. Q. You made history tonight, becoming the first Jewish Canadian along with Sharon Fichman to make the main draw of the Rogers cup since 1969. I wanted your comments. JESSE LEVINE: I wasn't aware of that until you just told me. Obviously it's pretty special. Sharon and I are pretty good friends. I'll definitely have to send her a text later and tell her we made some history. Thank you for the fun fact. I didn't know. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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