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COUPE ROGERSAugust 8, 2013Vasek PospisilMONTREAL, QUEBEC V. POSPISIL/T. Berdych THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Have you changed any of your goals over the past week? VASEK POSPISIL: Yeah, they seem to be changing every week this last month. No, obviously pretty incredible for me. If somebody told me a month ago that my ranking would move up from 90 to I don't know what it's going to be now, somewhere near 50s, I would be obviously extremely delighted with that. But just like everything, goals change quickly. When you achieve something, you're never quite happy. For me, that's the case. I'm going to be looking to move forward from here. Q. You have a top 10 and top 20 win. The next guys are 44 and 83. VASEK POSPISIL: If I'm playing quarterfinals against someone ranked there, they're there for a reason. They beat ranked players as well. It's going to be a bit of a lottery. Obviously the way I'm playing now, if I can keep on like that, at least I'll give myself an opportunity. There's a chance, for sure. I mean, every match at this level is extremely difficult. So I'll just try to prepare the same way. Q. In the tiebreak, what emotions are you going through there? VASEK POSPISIL: Uhm, well, I wasn't really thinking too much luckily. Lucky for me (smiling). But, I mean, I was just trying to stay positive. I was up a break. A couple not loose points, but a couple points I shouldn't have. Then he played a great end of that game to break me back. He returned too good. So when you return like that, he deserved the break back. I just tried to stay positive and keep going. I said, Okay, at least hold my serve, get to a tiebreak, anything can happen. Yeah, I was serving extremely well at the end. It just went my way. Q. Athletes often say when things are going well that the game slows down. At what pace do you feel you're playing at right now? VASEK POSPISIL: Yeah, for sure. Well, I mean, obviously this is huge for me in terms of confidence. I feel I can play with anybody now, if I just beat a guy 6 in the world. That's huge for me. Even going into the match, I was confident. I wasn't really sure what to expect because I never played somebody that's that good from the baseline. I wasn't sure how I was going to handle that. But, yeah, I mean, the key was really not thinking too much out there. When there's big moments, stick to the patterns, try to be solid. Yeah, obviously I was fortunate that it worked out. Very happy right now. Q. The crowd was electric. What did you think? VASEK POSPISIL: Pretty amazing. That was the best match in terms of atmosphere at the end that I've ever played. Obviously, Davis Cup, the doubles, those two were very even in terms of atmosphere. They're both amazing. I can't really choose which one felt more emotional out there. This was definitely the most emotional ending and best match of my career, without a doubt. Q. You were talking the other day about the technical improvements in your game. What about the game between your ears? To get to the level where the top players are, so much of it is not necessarily the groundstrokes but being composed in the right moments. You've been very good at that. VASEK POSPISIL: Yeah, for sure. That comes with a few things. To be honest, maturity, for sure. If you keep working on it, it becomes a habit to have your emotions under control. But it is very closely related to your level of play, as well. I mean, if you have the level, you're playing well, then it's easier to be in control and emotionally there because they're very closely connected. When you're confident, it's easier to be composed and mentally there. But like I said, it's also the maturity. I feel like I've matured there in the recent years, yeah. Q. How tough was it to manage your energy when you play a guy who only played two sets in the whole tournament, you played quite a while? Did you feel a breakdown in your energy? VASEK POSPISIL: I felt some pains in my legs a little bit, a couple muscle tweaks here and there. But I think more I had a bit of an emotional letdown in the second set. The fatigue like got to me a little bit there. I kind of lost the plot for a few games. When I lost the second set, I told myself that now I have to refocus. It's one set to decide the match. I just tried to be positive and do what I've been doing these last two weeks. Yeah, luckily I had enough strength in me to stay composed and play the way I did. Q. From your point of view, what happened with the underhand serve? VASEK POSPISIL: From my point of view, from what it looked like to me, I mean, the umpire gave him a time violation, then he served, and he wanted to take the point. I'm not really sure. The umpire just finished speaking. I'm not really sure what happened there. I'm a little confused. He was standing as if it was supposed to be 40‑Love. But the umpire basically just like spoke. I don't know. It was kind of fun in my opinion because he started laughing. I don't know if it was supposed to be a joke. That was honestly a very confusing moment. Luckily I didn't lose the point like that. Q. You seemed pretty disbelieving at the end of the match. How do you feel now? Has it sunk in? VASEK POSPISIL: I don't really know what's going on now (smiling). Right now it's okay. It was pretty emotional, I mean, just the hard work that I've put in. I mean, to have my first top‑10 win here, in front of that crowd, was extremely emotional. I was having difficulty controlling it. But, yeah, now it's sunk in a little bit. I have an opportunity tomorrow that I don't want to pass up. I'll prepare well for it, go out there, give it my best. Now I have tomorrow to look forward to. Q. Are you going to go watch a bit of the match now to see who you're going to play? VASEK POSPISIL: My coach is watching them now. I'm just going to do my recovery, massage, try to get ready physically for tomorrow. I'll speak to my coach about what he saw, the game plan. Q. A lot of expectations were there for Milos at the beginning. People didn't know you as much. Seems like you're the story of the tournament now. How does it feel? Do you feel this is your week that people will remember you now? VASEK POSPISIL: It feels amazing. I mean, hopefully it won't be the only week people remember me by. Hopefully I'll have a few more weeks. It's definitely extremely special. No doubt about it, the best tournament of my career by far so far. So, yeah, it's huge for me. Yeah, we'll see where it goes from here. THE MODERATOR: Questions in French. Q. How would you rate this victory and the whole week in general? VASEK POSPISIL: This win is the best of my whole career, especially in front of my home crowd in Canada. It's a lot of emotions. It's my best win in singles. Q. Where do you find all the confidence? How can you explain it? VASEK POSPISIL: As I said, it is thanks to all the hard work I've been doing. When I was seeing during practice or in my matches that I was able to play against the best players, I became more and more confident. So it's the work I did and it's the victories against top players that I had during the past two years that gave me all that confidence. Today I was able to play without ever thinking that I had the possibility of winning against a top‑10 player. It's better if you don't think too much. Q. Sometimes you were asking the crowd to support you. Was it very important for you? VASEK POSPISIL: Yes. I did it a couple of times. The crowd helped me considerably. Without them, it would have been difficult for me to win that match. At the end I was able to play very well, and they helped me a lot. Q. What are you most proud of? VASEK POSPISIL: My ranking. Also when he broke me in that second set, I was able to stay very calm and to keep fighting until the end of the match. I'm very proud of that. Also, of course, I'm proud beating a good player like him. Q. How is your energy level right now? VASEK POSPISIL: We'll see how it is tomorrow. Of course, I'm tired now, but I played many matches. But this is also what I was saying before this match, and I had the best win of my career. I believe it's good to be tired. Q. But if you're tired, it also means you've been playing a lot of tennis. VASEK POSPISIL: Exactly. It's a good thing I'm tired because it shows up in winning many matches, and I'm confident. I believe I prefer to stay tired and be confident rather than being fresh and without confidence. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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