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APIA INTERNATIONAL SYDNEYJanuary 7, 2014Marinko MatosevicSYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES M. MATOSEVIC/F. Mayer THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Good, hard, tough win. What was your take on it all? MARINKO MATOSEVIC: Yeah, I played Florian three times. I beat him on hard court the first time, then last year I lost two three‑setters on clay, one in Munich, second round in three sets, and then one in Madrid at the Masters. I was 5‑1 down in Madrid in the third. I got it back to 5‑4, break point, he serve and volleyed a second serve and he hit the volley winner. So and then last week he beat Murray. Made semis in Doha. So I'm very happy with the win. It's a great confidence boost beating someone like Florian. Q. At the risk of sounding corny, but you were in the box when Lleyton beat Roger up in Brisbane. MARINKO MATOSEVIC: No, I wasn't. I was there for the first set against Nishikori, because I trained that day after my belting from Roger. Rochey and Woodforde got me on the court in the morning the next day, and then I watched Lleyton's first set against Nishikori and had to catch a flight after that. Q. Okay. Still, Lleyton having a win up there, does that stir you guys on a bit? MARINKO MATOSEVIC: I've never doubted him. I've hit with him. I've been to the Bahamas with him. I've seen how hard he trains. I hit with him before the tournament, and the courts was fast and really suited him. He just kept on fighting every match. He's a great example to us all, you know, what happens when you just fight and hang in there and never give up. Q. What was going through your head in the second set? Few double faults, a few loose shots. What was going through your head? MARINKO MATOSEVIC: I looked at this stats. Not really. One or two double faults ‑‑ only two double faults. But, man, he caught fire. Everything he got his racquet on he seemed to hit for a winner. Like the first break point he hit a great second serve. He hit a jumping backhand. I challenged it. Clipped the line. I hit some great serves out there, and he just thumped them as hard as he could. I just hung in there and got it back to 5‑4, but with the new balls he served it out. He was too good. I just had to weather the storm. Q. What did you take out of the loss from up in Brisbane? MARINKO MATOSEVIC: Not much, to tell you the truth, because I was out of energy in ten minutes. I was like so overwrought and Roger suffocated me. I grew up watching this guy and cheering for him in several, you know, matches. You know, I think every player admires him, not just the way he carries himself, but he's got probably the most beautiful strokes of all‑time. He's very aesthetically pleasing to watch. I'm watching this guy, and I'm drenched in sweat and he's like not even sweating. Not even using a towel and not taking a sip. I like had no energy. I had the Love‑40 first game; didn't get that. It was like, yeah, really weird. It seemed to go really quick. I'll watch the tape and see. I haven't seen the tape yet. But I'll watch it. I'm interested to see how I went. Q. I notice there were a couple of your mates in the crowd calling you Mad Dog. Where did that come from? MARINKO MATOSEVIC: I don't know. Some idiot put it on Wikipedia. I never get it anywhere besides here, besides in Sydney. I think it's a Sydney person. They're having me on or something. I've never ever got it before. Last year I came to Sydney, some journalist asked me about the Mad Dog. I was like what the F? Q. You don't like it? MARINKO MATOSEVIC: It's okay, but Mad Dog, what is that? Like a dog with rabies? I don't know. I don't get it anywhere but in Sydney. I think it's a person with Sydney. They have too much time on their hands on Wikipedia. Q. It's a recurring theme every year, but the injuries for players before the Australian Open; been about 30 in the last week that have pulled out of different tournaments. Any theories of why that happens every year? MARINKO MATOSEVIC: No, I don't know anything about the women's tour, but on the men's tour it's very physical. Every guy is an unbelievable athlete and they're battling on all of the different surfaces. It's hard competition. There's no easy matches‑‑ except for Roger against me last week. There are no easy matches out there, so it's no surprise guys get injured. I missed the last four weeks of the season last week with the shoulder and I was in some of my best form. My last match of the year I lost to Ferrer in three. Everyone is susceptible to injuries. I missed the last few weeks. I felt like I could have finished top 50 again if I didn't miss that. Q. Do you get the feeling there might be a bit of a renaissance round the corner for Australian's men's tennis? There has been a lot of talk the past week or so about the rankings and where they're at. When you look at, what, four Australian guys now in the top 100 and then you got Kyrgios, Kokkinakis, guys coming through. You could have sort of six, seven guys by the end of the year in the top 100. Is that sort of something you've thought about or think might be the case? MARINKO MATOSEVIC: Yeah, Todd Woodbridge was the first to believe in me. When he saw me play he's like, You can make it for sure. He helped me out. I think he's done a great job, but he's just left his post. But definitely with Lleyton and obviously Bernard‑‑ Lleyton leading the charge, Bernard, then myself, even Ebden in the top 100. Guys like Kyrgios and Kokkinakis they're unbelievable talents. But there's like two more which I think are going to be good. Blake Mott, he's very good. He's just recently beaten Luke Saville, the two‑time grand slam junior champion. There is Brad Mousy from Adelaide who won the under‑18s. He's very good. Jordan Thompson is pretty good. Obviously Luke Saville. Yeah, definitely think there could be a renaissance in the next few years definitely. Q. Lleyton and Bernie obviously dominate a lot of the attention. You're the third‑ranked guy. Do you feel like you're fighting for a bit of recognition? MARINKO MATOSEVIC: No, I mean, I finished No. 1 last year. No, in 2012 I finished top 50. It doesn't matter. Lleyton has obviously put the runs on the ball with world No. 1 and two Grand Slam wins, Davis Cup wins. And Bernard has made quarterfinals of Wimbledon as an 18 year old. You can't take anything away from them. I'm happy. Until I get the results in the big tournaments, I'm happy to play third fiddle. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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