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U.S. OPENSeptember 2, 2013Tommy RobredoNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK T. ROBREDO/R. Federer THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. What does it mean to beat Roger Federer for the first time in 10 tries? TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, it's amazing.  For me, Roger for the moment is the best player of all times. And to beat him in a huge stadium like the US Open and in a Grand Slam, a match of five sets, it's like a dream, no? I am so, so happy. I am in quarterfinals again. It was a great day. Q. Roger said you didn't play any different than the previous times; that it was all him making the mistakes. Do you agree with that? What made the difference this time? TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, obviously if you play with Roger, we all know the way he plays, how easy he can do everything, no? If I wanted to beat him, I had to put the match very tough, to play all the rallies as long as possible, and try to let him play on the backhand, no? Obviously his forehand is amazing. So, yeah, I'm really with him. I always played the same. But I think the difference today was the breakpoints conversion. I don't know the numbers, but maybe he had 20 and he converted only 2, and it was in the first set when he was break down. In the second and the third, he didn't do any breaks. Then when I was with a chance, I was getting it, no? I think that was the only difference. But, yeah, sometimes it happen. And today I was the lucky one. Q. We're seeing a lot of the older players doing well in this tournament. What do you put your success down to? TOMMY ROBREDO: Yeah, it's great to be one of the youngers still doing good, because I feel very young (laughter). I don't know. It's always the same question, no? I don't think there is really an easy explanation. I think right now all of the players, we take a lot more care of our body. We have physios, we have trainers. In our team, we are a lot of professionals. It helps the players to stay a little bit longer on the tour. Also maybe the youngers, they are not pushing as hard as before. Maybe if we have to see Rafa, with 18, he was world No.1. Federer, with 19, he was world No. 1. Hewitt, as well. Right now all the youngers, they are not even top 20, no? I think that's maybe a little bit the differences. But I am happy that I'm one of these guys that I'm doing okay. But anyway, I'm feeling very young (smiling). Q. Did you have a feeling going into the match it would be different this time around? TOMMY ROBREDO: You never know what's going to happen, no? But obviously Roger, when he was No.1, to the Roger right now, he's not maybe with the same confidence, no? Obviously he's the same player and he plays unbelievable. But I knew that if right now I had a little bit more chances, maybe he will had a little bit of doubt, no? But anyway, I wasn't thinking that I was going to win. I just was going into the court trying to give my best and we'll see, no? At the end, the important for me was to give everything. If it will pay back, I will be so, so happy. If not, what I want to do is leave the court knowing I did everything. That is what I was thinking before. Not only playing with Roger, playing with any player, no? I think that today was a good day for me, and, as I said, to beat Roger, it's something amazing. Even when we were getting into the court, when I was getting inside, it was like 2% of noise. When he was getting inside, it seems like a concert. It was so good to have the chance to beat one guy like him in such stadium. Q. This has been a big year for you coming back, tournament wins. You had a great victory in the French Open, epic match. Could you talk about what this year has meant to you. TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, for me, as you said, it's an amazing year, especially because one year ago I was 100 something, trying to come back. I wasn't sure if my leg will be perfect or not. You have the doubts, no, that if your body's going to respond, and your tennis, if you're going to get the confidence back. In the end, in a sport like tennis, you need to be healthy, you need to be also playing good, and also this confidence. Because in the end, in the breakpoint, you can have it or not. It's just the small things that it can change. So I was worried because I didn't know if that will happen, no? I was working, working. I think that till Casablanca this year I wasn't sure. After there, when I win the tournament, I just realize myself that I could be able to just enjoy again and try to be back on the top rankings. And since then I'm just believing and believing and believing. I don't know, right now, next week which ranking I'm going to be, but for sure top 20, with not many points to defend till April of next year. So, yeah, it's an amazing year for me. Hopefully I can keep going because I'm enjoying a lot. Q. Lleyton Hewitt has had a similar comeback from injury. What have you made of his performances here so far? TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, obviously Lleyton is world No.1. For me it's amazing to see a guy like him just trying to be back because when you have been that good, maybe it's tough to see yourself that far, no? From 1 to I don't know what is his ranking, there is a lot of difference. And I know how difficult it was for me, and for a world No.1 it has to be a little bit more difficult. Every player who get inside the court and give everything like Lleyton does, it's something that the crowd and the people should respect a lot because he does everything for tennis and he enjoys it a lot. So I'm happy that he's doing very good. Q. When you had the match with Evans, it was a similar style. You play on Armstrong and beat Evans. No way you can compare Evans to Federer. Do you feel in some ways the match with Evans actually prepared you for Roger today? Do you feel you had an advantage coming into this match? TOMMY ROBREDO: I played there once more than Federer, of course. He had beaten me 10 times and me 0. He also had a lot of advantage. He's also better player than me. So he had a little more advantage there. If you compare Evans to Federer, there's no comparison. No, obviously they play a little bit similar. But the ball from Roger, it comes like fire, no? All the time it's so, so fast. You have to be trying so hard with your legs to go down and try to put the ball in. With Evans it was different. From the backhand, all the time he was slicing. It was time for me to get the chances. With Roger, even if he slices or hits the ball, the ball goes very, very fast. You have to be very focused all the time. But anyway, both matches have been good for me, and I just hope that next one can be the same. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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