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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 15, 2014Matthew EbdenMELBOURNE, VICTORIA V. POSPISIL/M. Ebden THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. What did you make of that? MATTHEW EBDEN: I don't know just yet. I can't really believe it at the moment. Yeah, I guess it's tennis and sport, a bit like that. I guess I got a bit tricked. I sort of felt he was struggling a bit, but then he was serving amazing and still seemed to be running side to side amazing. I guess that's on me. But still, I tried to do everything I could. I don't feel like I played that great. But I still feel like I‑‑ well, I think I had set points in the second and third as well. Came close anyway. But just didn't fall my way. A bit puzzling. I'll obviously have a look at it and see what went wrong. Yeah, just strange. Q. When you say 'tricked'... MATTHEW EBDEN: Well, I guess I had the same thing last week. I withdrew from the doubles, as well. I had a bit of an injury. I knew he won his first round in straight sets. Sometimes he's standing there looking like he can't stand up. Then the next minute he's serving ten first serves over 200, moving side to side, ripping balls unbelievable. Make of it what you will. At the end of the day, I try to forget about that, try to play tennis. Got to give him credit. He served amazing for the next hour and a half at least. And off the ground he was playing good, too. I didn't return well. It was a problem. Q. There was criticism from the TV saying you needed to have more of a killer instinct and your ability to close out sets and matches. How do you respond to those comments? MATTHEW EBDEN: Oh, at the moment, I don't know, it's tough. I'll have to have a look at it, evaluate it. You know, obviously I had the first set. Had some breakpoints in the second set I think at maybe 4‑All, I had Love‑40. He served obviously an ace, unreturnable. Yeah, at one point I was probably a bit passive. Yeah, had one chance there. He misses a ball, I win it. I make a good shot, I win it. Didn't happen. Didn't fall that way. In the breaker, I went to 10‑8 or something. Had a pass that clipped the tape. Maybe yesterday or tomorrow it's a winner and I'm up two sets, maybe I win in straight, he struggles. Like I say, I'm still, yeah, obviously pretty unhappy with it. But I'll have to look at it and see what I can do moving forward. Q. Fourth game of the fourth set, you saved one breakpoint. The first serve was called a fault. Tell us about what happened from there. MATTHEW EBDEN: Yeah, you know, it is what it is a bit, I guess. Umpires call it. Is that what you mean? Q. Yes. MATTHEW EBDEN: I served a ball that he could barely touch with the edge of his racquet. There was an out call I felt as he hit it. He clearly couldn't touch it. Same thing happened in the match last night. The umpire made the call the other way. I was a bit confused as to why there was a replay when he couldn't touch the ball. Had no play on it anyway. I thought that was my point. But umpire's call, so what can you do? Q. If you're playing an opponent who is injured, do you subconsciously go a bit easy on them? MATTHEW EBDEN: No. Opposite, I guess. You try to be the opposite. But maybe it hinders you a little bit because you're thinking about it. But I was playing my game and I was trying to use my forehand, I was running him side to side, and he was covering a lot of ground, a lot of points. Still seemed to be serving amazing, so... He says he's sore and he looks sore, but it didn't show in the tennis. Maybe a few points early in the third he didn't run for a couple serves. Other than that, he seemed to be moving real good. He's serving amazing. Unfortunately, I couldn't return well enough to break him. Just kept him in the match. Yeah, got so close in both tiebreakers. Same in the fourth, couldn't break him as well. Q. Do you finish the summer in a better position than when you started it? MATTHEW EBDEN: Oh, absolutely. Well, four weeks ago I wasn't sure I was even going to be able to play the summer tournaments. I did my ankle quite badly. The last three or four weeks has been non‑existent really. I've been trying to rest so I could just play. Last year I didn't win any matches. So, yeah, of course, definitely feel better for it, yeah. Q. Where to from here? MATTHEW EBDEN: I think I have doubles and maybe some mixed doubles. We'll play those. Look at my matches. Same as always. Keep evaluating, keep trying to improve, move forward. February in the States. There's a Davis Cup coming up. I'm not sure if I'm going to go to that. We'll see what team they want for that. But I'm in the States from February. Q. He said he might have pulled out in the third set, but then obviously went on to win it. He took some painkillers. They kicked in. Do you think you'll look back at this as a missed opportunity? MATTHEW EBDEN: I think every match you lose is a missed opportunity. It's an opportunity you had to win a match. But every match has every circumstances. Sometimes there's wind, heat, sometimes there's things. Today the guy appeared to have some pain, but he's serving over 200 every ball and he's running side to side crushing balls. Take from it what you will. It's a different situation. Q. Despite the result, you must take a lot of positives. MATTHEW EBDEN: Yeah, absolutely. It was great to win the five‑setter against Mahut. He's a quality player. He won two titles last year. He won 's‑Hertogenbosch and then Newport beat Lleyton in the final, so he's a quality player. First two sets, it was great, he came back. I've shown a lot of good things the last few months. Definitely confident with where my game is heading. Had a bit of a setback the last few weeks with my physical preparations which didn't really help. But, yeah, you know, I still can't believe it. I feel like I should be maybe through to play Stan on Friday. But, yeah, it's the same as always. Everyone is going to lose here except one person. We all just keep going and try to keep improving our games and enjoy our journeys, I guess. Q. Did you find the atmosphere different to Court1 to center court? MATTHEW EBDEN: Yeah, I guess because it's much bigger, it's not as vocal. I didn't find it as much of a real buzzing atmosphere in there. I think it's a little bit of a different crowd, whether it's just the nighttime or after a long day in the heat, I guess everybody is a bit subdued. Yeah, there wasn't that real buzz I guess from the crowd. Obviously on the show courts, Margaret Court, it's closer in. You get an incredible sound from the fans, the Fanatics and that. Maybe because it's bigger, it's a bit more subdued. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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