TENNIS 2014 ROLAND GARROS – 30th of May 2014. R. Federer d. D. Tursunov 7-5, 6-7, 6-2, 6-4. An interview with Dimitry Tursunov
Q. How much do you think the injury affected today?
DIMITRY TURSUNOV: Well, I mean, pretty much couldn’t run, so probably a big part of the game.
But, you know, it’s also not very easy to play against an injured person, so good for him that he was able to figure out what bothers me and kind of build his game plan around that.
He’s a tough player to play against when you’re healthy, so definitely makes thing a little bit tougher.
Q. What kind of injury is it?
DIMITRY TURSUNOV: It’s an ouchy one.
No, it’s actually kind of combination of a couple of things. But it’s a groin, so basically can’t lift my leg to push to the sides, to run side to side, so it was pretty difficult. Anything on the return, can’t really move to the side.
Then when he was trying to drive me around the court with dropshots, that’s basically what bothered me the most.
Q. Despite the injury, what do you think of your tennis today and what do you think of Roger’s performance today?
DIMITRY TURSUNOV: Well, it’s hard for me to judge Roger’s performance, because when you play against him or watch him it’s a little different.
I think obviously he can do things better and I can do things better, but I thought I played at a pretty good level. Could have done a little bit better when I did have small chances on his serve in the first set and make him play a little bit more.
As well in the second set I had a break point where I could have applied a little more pressure on him.
Overall, the first two sets the match would be really good for me to judge, and I felt that it was a fairly even battle out there.
You know, I don’t know how it would’ve gone. If would’ve continued that way it’s hard for me too predict, but definitely playing on one leg is not going to make things easier.
Tough luck for me, but hopefully I’ll get him somewhere else.
Q. You’ve given him a hard time in this match until you got injured, so you must be pleased with your performance, not just against Roger, but it seems you’re doing pretty well this season. Would you agree?
DIMITRY TURSUNOV: Yeah, I mean, I think he’s definitely a good barometer to measure yourself against. It’s good to play matches against the top guys just to see what your level is and what you need to improve on.
This year I’ve lost to a lot of good players, couple players that are not ranked as high.
Also, if you take the rankings out of the equation, there are a lot more players that are difficult to play against.
Roger is kind of the gold standard, let’s put it that way. Good benchmark to measure yourself against.
I like how I’m playing against him. Hoping to improve. Hoping to give him more difficulties for the next couple years hopefully.
So we’ll see where it goes from here.
