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BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALSNovember 11, 2013Novak DjokovicLONDON, ENGLAND N. DJOKOVIC/R. Nadal THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. At the US Open we saw Rafael Nadal positioning himself on the court like he never did before against any other opponent. He seemed to have found a solution to play you. What did you do to counter that adaptation that he showed in the US Open, and a comment on this final as well. NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, looking at the tennis matches that we had against each other in the past few years, it has been shifting, you know, who is winning more matches in a row. It hasn't been the case that one player wins, you know, 10 in a row being very dominant because really goes up and down. But, as I was saying before, we push each other to the limit. We make each other better players. We make each other, you know, work harder on our games, especially when we play against each other. It's always a huge challenge. He has improved his game immensely on the hard court this year. You're right, he has been positioning himself really well, staying closer to the line and using his forehand around the court really well, as well as serving more efficiently, which was of course giving me and other players trouble to play him. Of course, I think up to that fact that he's one of the fittest and physically most prepared players in the world. He made himself even more complete player on the surface that was the least preferred and least successful in his career. Other hand, after the US Open final, of course, I needed to, you know, take things slowly and see and analyze what I did wrong, especially in the matches against him, to understand what I need to do in order to win against him. There is a big team of people around me that, of course, are very professional and they've done their best in order for me to improve my game. I think the results are showing, that we had a great improvement in the last two and a half months. Q. 22 matches now. Compared to other kind of golden spells in your career, how sort of high does this rank? How does it set you up for Australia in the new year? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, next to the run that I had in 2011, this is definitely the second best I've had. Just for me, the most positive thing that I can take from this two and a half months is the fact that I managed to regroup after a few big losses after Nadal, especially Roland Garros, US Open final and Wimbledon final. As I said, work harder and play better, become an even more skillful player. I think I've worked on a few things in my game and serve that has helped me win a lot of matches in last two months. This is definitely the best possible way that I can finish the season, of course, the official ATP season, not including the Davis Cup final that I have in a few days' time, where of course I hope we can bring another title to our country. This can serve as a great platform for 2014 season. I'm extra motivated and inspired to work and get myself, first of all, rested and recovered in the off‑season, and then work on my game and get ready for Australian Open. Q. You just mentioned the Davis Cup. You had some mixed reaction from the crowd through your matches. Sometimes they supported your opponent loudly. You thanked them after this match for their passion. Can you talk about how you feel about the crowd and also how you feel about going home soon and playing before the crowd in Serbia in a few days? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, look, you know, it's not the first time I'm playing such big matches against players who have achieved so much in their careers, and they have a lot of fans and supporters around the world. But, again, I had also my supporters. They were loud. I enjoyed that support. Of course, it's necessary. It's very welcomed in this particular situations. But, look, you know, when you're playing a match, you're very tense, you're very concentrated, and then you try to stay calm. But sometimes the emotions take the best out of you. But most importantly for me was that I played well throughout the whole match. I managed to keep the concentration and not allowing him to come back in the match. Regarding the crowd, they were great. What I said after the match I meant. They love tennis in London. They love tennis in Britain, first of all, because of Wimbledon. Then they have this tournament which is the strongest, most competitive tournament after Grand Slams. Packed stadium throughout the whole week, of course it gives all of us players motivation to perform our best. Q. We've seen you coming to the net a lot more this season. It served you well tonight. How important is it to have this extra dimension, especially against Rafa? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: He's one of the best defenders in the world. Obviously I know that my groundstrokes are good enough to allow myself to have a shorter ball from his side, and then I need to go ahead and come to the net and go for an approach or winning shot. That's what I have done. Maybe I haven't done that in US Open final as much as I should have. In our last two matches, in finals of Beijing and here, I've done it pretty well. I feel more comfortable on the net than I was last year, that's for sure. Q. Can you tell us what you will be doing between the Davis Cup final and the new season. In particular, are you playing any exhibitions? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yes, I am. As soon as I play the Davis Cup final, I go for a week of exhibition events in South America, first in Chile with Rafa, then in Buenos Aires, in Argentina, another two matches. One of them for sure again is with Rafa. We'll be seeing each other quite often. I see him more than my mom actually (smiling). We'll have fun. Of course, exhibition events are very special. You know, you can relax. Of course, it's not as important if you win or lose, but you want to perform your best and allow the people to enjoy the high level of professional tennis, but yet again show the funnier side of our sport and our game. It's something that I enjoy very much. After that I'm going to allow myself to have few weeks off. I deserve that time. I'm going to speak with my team, if I'm able to rest myself. Q. If you had to choose, what would you prefer to win, Roland Garros or reach No.1 next year? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I lost both, so I cannot choose now. I would choose to win both next year. That's only thing that I'm doing. I'm looking ahead. What happened happened, and everything happens for a reason. As I said before, those losses that I had against Nadal in the big matches made me understand what I need to do to become a better and stronger player. That's all that matters now. I mean, I won over 20 matches in a row. With this particular confidence, I'm getting into the new season that hopefully can be the one for me where I can challenge Rafa on Roland Garros. Q. Losing the No.1 ranking, is winning the title compensation for that, or are they just two entirely different things? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, look, year‑end No.1 is deservedly in Nadal's hands because he had two Grand Slam wins, the best season out of all players, the most titles. I think that's no doubt, cannot question that. Even though I had an incredible two and a half months since the US Open final, but he was the most successful player this year. For me, I tried to put aside the calculations and the rankings after US Open and just tried to focus on one tournament at a time, one day at a time. That kind of attitude has helped me to get to where I am at this moment. Q. How do you feel about completing a hat trick of titles here? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Hat trick titles here? I won two titles here. I don't know what you're referring to. Q. Altogether. NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I understand now. Well, as I said before, the highest quality of tennis that you have next to Grand Slams, because every match that you play, you play against a top‑10 player every second day. Especially this year, with back‑to‑back Paris Bercy tournament and London, wasn't easy for sure for me, all the other players who were playing many matches, like Rafa and Ferrer, in order to recover and get ready for high‑quality tennis during this week. But I am very proud of the way that I managed to recover and perform better and better as the tournament went on. I had the tough three‑setters against all of the opponents in my group, and then I managed to raise the level of tennis in the semifinals and finals when it mattered the most. Q. How much of an advantage for you this time will it be, the transition to Davis Cup, the fact that you won't have to be switching from a hard court surface to clay? Is there any chance you'll fly back to Belgrade on a plane with your name on it? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I've been in more difficult, I guess, situations. For example, this year after US Open final, I've had to fly back two days after and arrive on Wednesday afternoon and then get used to the time zone and totally different conditions, play indoor clay. I managed to adapt really quickly and really well and to play great tennis and win both of the matches that I played. So I think it's a fact that it's been a very long season for me and I'm exhausted in every way. But God knows if we going to have as a country another opportunity, another generation like this to win a Davis Cup title at home. We have very tough opponents, defending champions, but the Davis Cup is the only team competition in our sport that brings the best possible energy and willpower in me, and I can speak in the name of my teammates. I'm going to do my best to recover the next three days and get ready for that one. The next question is the plane. I'm not going to fly in a plane with my name on it, but I'm going to fly in a plane as soon as you let me go. Q. After the final last year you told us considering what you went through in the year of 2012, it was more satisfying than 2011. At this moment can you tell us how satisfying the year of 2013 is for you. NOVAK DJOKOVIC: It was very satisfying. Definitely after the last two and a half months even more. But the only thing I'm not as satisfied about is the fact that I lost the three big matches in the three Grand Slams. The Grand Slams are the tournaments where I want to win, where I want to, you know, get my hands on the title. That will be my highest priority for next year. Q. Do you ever watch any of the replays of some of the amazing shots that you get back and actually wince and wonder how you do it? NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I do watch replays mostly on the matches that I won. On the ones that I lost, I do watch, but I have to watch them in order to analyze my mistakes (smiling). But with a pleasure I watch the ones that I won more than the other ones. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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