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ROLAND GARROSJune 2, 2014Fernando VerdascoPARIS, FRANCE A. MURRAY/F. Verdasco THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please. Q. You lost after a very tough match. Did you have problems of like you expected to win the second set maybe? You put lots of energy. Did you have a lack of concentration after losing, after being two sets down in the beginning of the third? And do you think that Murray has improved on clay? How did you find his game regarding his chance for the tournament? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, about the first question, I didn't expect nothing about winning the second set or anything. You know, I was just trying every point to win, every point, next point, next point, next point. But I think I didn't have my best day. He played better than me. He played very deep. Also I need to say that the court, I didn't like it. It was much faster than Philippe Chatrier, so for his flat shots was I think a good advantage. So it was ‑‑ you know, he had played I think very deep, very good shots, very good control, close to the lines, but the court was very fast compared to the Philippe Chatrier. Completely a different tournament. And I don't think that one tournament like Roland Garros must have two courts that different. So for that part, I'm not happy at all. And for my part, I didn't play a good match, of course. I played short, many shots. He was able to step in, and he did it pretty well. He have also big part of his win he played well. And I cannot say like much more. I tried, I fight till the end, but it was not my day. He had a good day. About his chances for the tournament, I don't know. I think the favorite is still Rafa for me, and he will always be the favorite here, because the final is in the Philippe Chatrier, not in the Suzanne Lenglen. Like I said, it's a different court. It's a different tournament. One court from another. This court is much slower. So I think that it's going to be different once he play in this court. We'll see, but, yeah. I cannot really say nothing else. Q. You have been working with Thomas Enqvist for a couple of months now. What are your thoughts on your cooperation so far? Will you continue to work together throughout the year? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, I said two days ago ‑‑ or yesterday, sorry, about my relationship with him. I said that I'm very happy and we are working many things. You know, I cannot really say nothing different that I said yesterday, so about keep working together. When we start we said that we would speak again in Roland Garros, because we didn't know each other. We were gonna be together for this clay court tournaments. And after here, after Paris, we will talk and we will see if it was worth it for him or it's worth it for me. So I cannot really tell you anything else, because I didn't speak yet with him. Q. In the third set you had an amazing run of saving break points, and then on the last point you had a service winner that was overruled by the chair umpire, and then there was some argument going back and forth. Can you explain to us what exactly happened? What you said, what he said, what Andy said when he got involved. FERNANDO VERDASCO: I think it was just a thing, just a thing of the game. I don't really want to talk about that kind of stuff, because I don't think it's worth it. I don't think it's worth it for me, I don't think it's worth it for anybody, so it's better to just forget about it. That's it. I was just fighting for the ball because I just thought that once I served to the line and Andy returned with the frame to the crowd, Pascal was saying that the lineman was calling out. I said, I don't care because it was ‑‑he didn't miss the serve because the lineman call out. He missed the serve because, the return, because my serve was to the line and he couldn't hit it with the strings. So it was completely out of sense to serve a first serve again. I said to call the supervisor, and Andy said that it was fine, and it was a point for me. So just, you know, just normal thing, something that can happen. Nothing more important than that. Q. Wondering how you think that Murray's game has improved on clay. He took a set off Rafa pretty easily in Rome, seems to be playing pretty well at this tournament. Have you noticed a change in his comfort on the surface? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, he played pretty good today. I think he was aggressive. He stepped into the court pretty well. But like I said, on many of my shots were not deep enough, so it was easier for him to step in. And once he was hitting the first shot flat and deep, the court was super fast to put the ball high again. It was not clay at all. It was ‑‑I mean, I was really disappointed when I start playing the match and I saw that the court was completely different, that the match yesterday with Gasquet in the Chatrier. I knew that it was going to be where I play like super, super good and super deep all the time and it was going to be like very tough to beat him, because he have great flat shots, his backhand crosscourt flat is unbelievable, everybody knows about that, and it was going to be hard to play against that, also for the serve. So the ball was bouncing less. But, you know, there are circumstances of the game, and you just need to try to adapt and try to play with what it is, try to win it with that. I think that he played a good match, and he can maybe beat Monfils, right? He's the next round. I think that to beat Rafa in five sets in the Chatrier is something different. THE MODERATOR: Questions in Spanish, please. Q. You were talking about the court, and you said that the Philippe Chatrier was a very quick surface. FERNANDO VERDASCO: No, it's the other way around. It's the Lenglen. Q. It's different from the previous years? FERNANDO VERDASCO: No, I just said that the Lenglen and the Chatrier were different courts. Q. How many times have you played on Chatrier? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Three times. Q. Can you briefly analyze the match in Spanish. FERNANDO VERDASCO: What can I tell you? Did you watch the match? Q. Not all of it, just part of it. FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, what can I tell you? Of course I did not play my best match. That seems to be obvious. But he never allowed me to play my best match. He's got this smart way of playing, taking to his advantage the fact that the court was different, was very quick. And when he played his crosscourt backhand on my forehand, it was very difficult for me to lift the ball to play deep and win the point. He played really well. He played very deep, first balls. And then when I had very short balls, his backhand was extremely strong, flat, and deep, and he took the point. Throughout the match I tried to play my game, but he was smarter than me. And I think he deserves to win better than I did. There's nothing else I can say. Q. When you talked to Pascal Maria, did that provide motivation? Starting to play very good tennis? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, it didn't happen that much. Room to maneuver, I had to give it up, it was either now or never, otherwise I was being ousted from the tournament, and Pascal Maria agreed. As I said during the questions in English, I don't believe that the fact that the serve ball hit the line led to my defeat. On the other hand, I did not want to give that point away for free. In that case, I said, I should call the supervisor. And, you know, Pascal is very peculiar. Sometimes he will take things in a certain way, and I said, Look, in that case, I want to talk to the supervisor. Because several times I had bad experience was Pascal Maria. He's not the kind of umpire I get along with. I can tell you that. Q. So that means you're going to get a sanction? FERNANDO VERDASCO: No. Q. Because you talked badly to the umpire? FERNANDO VERDASCO: I didn't. Q. Well, they said you called him stupid. FERNANDO VERDASCO: I didn't. Q. Because you said, I don't want to talk to you because you always steal points from me? FERNANDO VERDASCO: No, I don't think I said that, and if I said that it was a slip of the tongue. Q. Talking about Pascal, Rafa also complained about him. He said that every time that Pascal Maria was on court Rafa got one or two warnings. What's going on? FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, I just told you. There is nothing else I want to tell you about Pascal Maria. I had many different experiences with him. He is an umpire that many players remember vividly and not because of his qualities. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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