Fernando Verdasco: “I'm very happy. Now will try to recover for tomorrow's match” - UBITENNIS
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Fernando Verdasco: “I'm very happy. Now will try to recover for tomorrow's match”

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5 years ago

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TENNIS 2014 ROLAND GARROS – 1st of June 2014. F. Verdasco d. R. Gasquet 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. An interview with Fernando Verdasco

 

Q. Can you talk about how you handled the break overnight and were you worried that the momentum would change? How did you handle that?

FERNANDO VERDASCO: The best way as possible (smiling). But, yeah, is never easy, no, when they stop a match when you are two sets to love up and you are starting the third, no?

Because you know that you need to be 100% since the first point or everything can change very quickly. Even more when you are playing against a player from the place like Richard here in France, no?

So I knew that as soon as he got a little bit of the fans or crowd and the people would be supporting him would be helping him to get advantage in the game.

So that was my goal, no, is start 200% like last game yesterday, knowing that it was the last game when they told us, same today. And try to at least get the score for few games and then try to break him as soon as I can, of course, no? To at least release the pressure and play better.

So I think the match today went perfectly like I expected, and, like, I wanted to be. I’m very happy. Now will try to recover for tomorrow’s match.

 

Q. Yesterday the coach of Gasquet told me Fernando is playing his best tennis like in Australia, your semifinal. Is it your feeling?

FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, I really played very good this match yesterday and today. Best tennis like Australia? I don’t know. I mean, I think there, because it was also hard court, the conditions, the tactics, the way of play might change a little bit because of the surface.

But, yeah, I think I played a pretty good match. Right now I just, my goal and my focus is all 100% to try to keep playing the same way as I did this match with Richard.

 

Q. It was easier than what you expected. You had good feelings, I guess. Did you sleep well? Were you worried or did you feel comfortable on the court?

FERNANDO VERDASCO: I felt good yesterday, and I felt good today, as well. I felt good on the court yesterday. Then we debriefed a bit. We talked about the first two sets, and we talked about how I played.

Then I tried to have the same game level. I tried to have the same attitude. I tried to have the same let game. I felt good yesterday, and I wanted to maintain the same level today, which is what I managed to do.

There were a few tricky games, and there were difficult points to play, but I pulled through. I’m very happy about it. I’m very happy with the way I won this match.

Generally speaking, I clearly did not expect to win with such a comfortable score 6 3, 6 2, 6 3 against Gasquet. I would have never imagined that. But yesterday I gave 100%, and everything went fine.

 

Q. Would you say Gasquet played below his level because he was injured? And second, what do you think about the fact there are five Spanish guys playing the quarterfinals this year?

FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, as for Gasquet, I can’t answer this question. You need to ask him the question. Gasquet is a very talented player. He can play very well. And in fact, I think he was feeling uncomfortable. I can’t tell if he was 100% present physically speaking. He knows about his physical condition. I don’t.

But in any case, he played very well yesterday. His backhand was very solid. His cross shots were wonderful.

Looking at the shots he played yesterday, you would have never believed he was out of the court. But he’s very talented.

Now for the question about the five Spaniards in quarterfinals, I’m delighted, and I hope there is a larger number of Spanish players who can go far in the tournament. As a Spanish player I’m delighted there are so many Spanish players in the quarterfinals.

 

Q. You’re gonna play Murray.

FERNANDO VERDASCO: Oh, he won, did he?

 

Q. Yes, 12 10. So can you tell us, what do you think about him? He played more tournaments here than you did. He won Grand Slams already.

FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, playing Murray is never easy. He has wonderful tennis, and he won Grand Slams already, so I think he deserves all my respect. It’s not going to be an easy match.

Then after Murray there is Monfils, Garcia Lopez. When you say that the draw is quite open, this is not really true. Monfils is a very tough player. So in order to win this tournament, you need to keep all this in mind. Monfils, excellent. Garcia Lopez, excellent. Murray, excellent. So it’s not an open tournament. Not at all.

My objective right now is to rest and prepare the best I can to play this match against Murray. This is going to be a very tough match again.

I will try and give my all. I have nothing to lose. He is a favorite because of his ranking. So I will try and play my best tennis, and I hope I’ll be as regular as I was yesterday or today.

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Pierre Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut claim their first ATP Finals title in London

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1 day ago

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17/11/2019

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The French team formed by Pierre Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut claimed their first men’s doubles title with a 6-3 6-4 win over Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus in 70 minutes at the ATP Finals at the O2 Arena in London ending the 2019 ATP season on a high note with back-to-back titles in Paris Bercy and London. They remained unbeaten during the whole week at the ATP Finals in London winning all five matches in straight sets.

 

Herbert and Mahut fended off all four break points they faced scoring their ninth consecutive match win. The French doubles specialists have become the first team to win the doubles ATP Finals title without dropping a set since Jean Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in 2015.

Herbert and Mahut fended off break points in the third game of the match before earning the only break of the opening set in the next game. The Frenchmen saved a break point in the sixth game before breaking serve in the seventh game.

They have become the French team to win the ATP Finals doubles title since Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro, who triumphed in Shanghai in 2005.

Herbert and Mahut have won 15 doubles titles as a team during their career. This year they became the eighth men’s doubles team to complete the career Grand Slam at last January’s Australian Open and also won the Rolex Paris Masters in front of their home fans.

Last year they came within one point of winning the ATP Finals title against Mike Bryan and Jack Sock after holding a match point.

“Thank you Nicolas for sharing the court, for having so much enjoyable moments and giving me so much joy, when I am with you on the court. You played an unbelievable final, so thank you for that”, said Pierre Hugues Herbert.

 

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Jannik Sinner wins his third ATP Challenger in Ortisei

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17/11/2019

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Jannik Sinner won the ATP Challenger in Ortisei adding another title to his impressive collection of trophies he lifted during a memorable 2019 season.

 

The 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals champion beat world number 173 Sebastian Ofner from Austria 6-2 6-4 in 1 hour and 6 minutes in the final of the Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena Sudtirol at the Tennis Center in Ortisei.

Sinner won his third ATP Challenger title in 2019 after his previous wins in Bergamo and Lexington. He also reached the final in Ostrava. During the tournament the 18-year-old player from San Candido beat Lucas Miedler in the first round, Roberto Marcora in the second round, Federico gaio in the quarter final and Antoine Hoang in the semifinal without dropping a set.

Sinner will improve his ranking to his career-high at world number 78 in the ATP Ranking becoming the sixth best ranked Italian player after Matteo Berrettini, Fabio Fognini, Lorenzo Sonego, Marco Cecchinato and Andreas Seppi.

Sinner broke serve in the fifth game of the opening set to take a 3-2 lead. Ofner missed two game points in the seventh game. The Austrian player faced another break point after his third double fault. In the next game Sinner saved the first break point he faced. Sinner closed out the first set 6-2 after two backhand errors from Ofner in the eighth game.

Sinner went up a break to open up a 2-0 lead, but Ofner broke back in the fourth game and held on his serve to take a 3-2 lead. Ofner saved three break points in the seventh game to take a 4-3. Sinner converted his fourth break point in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead and served out the win with two consecutive aces.

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Tomas Berdych: It Is Up To Others To Decide My Legacy

The former top-10 player spoke with reporters for the first time since officially retiring from the sport

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2 days ago

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16/11/2019

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Tomer Berdych (far left) among group of recently retired player's attending special presentation at The 2019 ATP Finals

LONDON: Tomas Berdych has said his future plans is ‘to not have a plan’ after officially retiring from tennis on Saturday at the age of 34.

 

The former Wimbledon runner-up joined a series of other former players to celebrate their careers in a special on-court presentation at the ATP Finals. Also present was Radek Stepanek and David Ferrer. News of Berdych’s decision to walk away from the sport surfaced earlier this week after a Czech newspaper spoke with his father Martin.

Speculation has mounted in recent months about Berdych’s future in the sport after struggles with injury issues concerning his back and hip. He hasn’t played on the tour since the US Open. Overall, he has only managed to play 22 matches this season. Winning 13 of them.

“I was able to train, practice, prepare, and then you get to the tournament, and then I play three games, the problem came back.” Berdych explained during a press conference about his decision.
“You put all the negative stuff on the one side, and then the positive is to go on court, fight, win the match, and there was no chance to achieve that. There is really no point to continue.”

Playing in the shadows on the Big Four contingent, the Czech still managed to establish himself as a household name. Albeit on a smaller scale. As of this week, he is ranked as the 11th highest-earning player on the ATP Tour in history with more than $29 million in prize money. His achievements include winning 13 ATP titles and spending 794 consecutive weeks in the top 100. At his peak, he was fourth in the world rankings and finished seven seasons inside the top 10.

Like any other player, it hasn’t always been a smooth journey for Berdych. One example was during the 2012 Australian Open where he was booed off the court after defeating Nicolas Almagro during what was a bad-tempered encounter. However, fortunately, most of his career has been free from controversy.

“Do I have any regrets? No, I think even the bad things or the negative experience that I went through or I experienced or I have done, I think they were there for the reason. I think without them, I wouldn’t be as good as I was.” Berdych stated.
“I think even the bad ones were there for a reason.”

Now he has stepped away from the sport for good, what does the future have in store? According to the Czech, he is in no intention of rushing into anything else soon. Although he admits that it may not be tennis-related.

“The plan is actually not to have any plans. The last 15, 20 years was so hectic and so demanding that I just need to just to breathe out easily after all those years.”

As the chapter closes on the career of one of the Czech Republic’s most successful male players in the Open Era, he leaves the sport with high respect from both his fans and fellow rivals. As for his legacy, he says that it is not for him to decide.

“I think I’m not the correct one to judge that. I was trying to do the best I possibly can, and I think this is something that you created with your achievement and with your behavior.” He concludes.

Berdych’s career in numbers

2 – number of Davis Cup titles won
4 – highest ATP ranking achieved
13– number of ATP titles
53 – number of wins over top 10 players
342 – number of losses on the ATP Tour
640 – number of wins on the ATP Tour
2002 – the year he turned pro
2019 – the year he retired
29,491,328 – career prize money (in US dollars)

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