TENNIS WIMBLEDON 2014 – 21st of June: Pre-tournament interview with Novak Djokovic
Q. What are your thoughts on the World Cup and what have you been most interested in that you’ve seen so far?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, look, I think like everybody, all the athletes basically, I think half of the planet is watching the World Cup now. I’m following the matches.
Unfortunately my country is not taking part in this competition, but I have a few countries I’m supporting. Of course, I love football so I follow most of the matches that I can.
Costa Rica is obviously a surprise. All the South American teams, I guess, because it’s played in the heat, and maybe the conditions play in favor of South America.
And now I’m talking like I’m an expert in football (smiling).
But, yeah, I mean, I’m following. I’m trying to be next to the TV with my friends, with my team, and try and enjoy that game.
Q. Who are the teams you’re supporting?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, Bosnia, Croatia, and Greece are the neighboring countries that I’m fan of and I try to support. Hopefully some of them will pass the group stage and get in the knock out phase.
Q. You mentioned the heat in the World Cup. How was it for you on a physical level the Roland Garros final, and physically how do you compare yourself with 2011 and 2012?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yes, well, it was warm for myself and for my opponent, Nadal, in the final. I cannot have that as an excuse for losing that match.
Obviously certain kind of conditions play more to his or to my advantage depending how the weather plays out. It became warmer as the match was progressing, so the spin that he played from his forehand side got heavier. So I found it a little bit more difficult to handle that, from Rafa, from his forehand.
But again, you know, it was over three hours. Played a lot of long rallies. It’s not the first time we play a long match. It was finals of Grand Slam. Obviously was disappointing for me not to win Roland Garros another year, but I gave it all.
I tried to perform as best as I can. I haven’t played in the second part of the match as well as I started that match and as well as I thought I’m going to play.
I couldn’t recover from certain concentration drops that I had in the third set that he used.
In the fourth, I thought when I got the break back and we evened the match, I thought that’s maybe when I could have made the recovery and come back and enter the fifth set, but I just didn’t do it.
He deserved to win. He was better in the more important moments.
Q. How is your wrist? Is it something that you felt since Monte Carlo, or has it sort of come back?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, it’s the first time that I have problems with the wrist. I started feeling it before Monte Carlo tournament started.
I played that tournament, Monte Carlo, under strange conditions, you know, under a lot of pain. Decided to skip Madrid, which was a good decision, because I played pain‑free in Rome and Roland Garros.
Right now I don’t feel any pain. But I felt like, you know, when I’m changing surfaces, especially from clay to grass, in the opening few days of the practice here got a little bit of a strange sensation in the wrist.
Now it’s fine, so hopefully it can stay that way.
Q. Next year the grass court season will be a week longer. How do you think it will change your preparation? Personally, how long would you like the grass court season to be in the future?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I support that decision and the schedule change because it allows the players who get further in the Roland Garros tournament to have more practice days on the grass and then play a lead up event to Wimbledon.
I think it’s very important.
I haven’t played neither Queen’s nor Halle for the last three, four years I think.
It’s always better to get a few matches under your belt before you get to Wimbledon, a Grand Slam, on the grass courts, which is totally the opposite of clay courts, the surface on which you have played for two and a half months.
So from the slowest to the fastest surface, it takes quite a few days and weeks to adjust the movement. I think the movement is crucial basically because on clay you can slide, and here you can’t afford too many big steps. You have to try to have as many of the adjustment steps and be balanced. The ball bounces low, where on the clay it bounces very high.
So all these different factors affect your adjustment, your game. So I’m looking forward to actually having an extra week where I would be happy to also play in Queen’s or Halle and have more days to practice on grass.
Q. How was it to have time away from the game after the French Open, getting your mind off tennis, forget about the final or learn from it, and then switch gears?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, well, it’s not the first or the last final that I lost. I’m aware of the fact that as a tennis player playing more or less week after week, the big events you have to get used to winning and losing. It’s part of the sport.
It’s important to, as you said, learn and take the best out of these losses and understand what you did wrong and grow from that experience really in general as a tennis player and as a person.
Of course, it was a long clay court season with some good results and some injuries and so forth. It took a lot out of me. I needed, you know, four, five days of rest and trying to get my mind off the tennis.
It helps, you know, obviously. Because as much as we love this sport, as much as we are in it, dedicated and professional, it is important to work hard.
In the other hand, you need to balance and try to have some recovery time, some downtime, which can recharge your batteries mentally most of all.
That’s what I got, so now I’m very motivated to play Wimbledon.
Q. In the time that Boris Becker has been part of your team, what has he added for you? What in particular here, where he as a player had a lot of success, is he bringing to your game?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I think here where he had most success in his career, we can together have a great two weeks. It’s the first time we’re working together in Wimbledon where he has won three times and played a couple other finals.
This is his surface. This is his home. This is where he feels most comfortable.
Of course, you know, he’s very inspired to convey his messages, his advices to me, and try to point out the few objectives and few priorities on which I should focus, you know, during the time of the Grand Slam.
It’s two weeks long, of course. I’m glad to have Boris as a legend not just of Wimbledon, but tennis in general in my team. I felt like the last month and a half has been great. I started to feel more comfortable with him on the court and with him also in the box.
The chemistry has been much better now than it was in the start, obviously. Not because any of us made some certain mistakes at the start of the relationship, it’s just that it took time for us to get to know each other.
That’s one of the reasons I got also Marjan to be present in Rome and Roland Garros as well. This particular combination of two coaches being with me in these last two big events has also given me some great results.
I won in Rome, was in finals of Roland Garros, so we are happy in which direction we are heading right now. Hopefully we can have another great two weeks here.
Q. You’ve known Andy as much as anybody in the main draw. How surprised were you about his appointment of Amélie Mauresmo?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Honestly, a bit surprised. It hasn’t been the case in men’s tennis for quite many years, I think. You tell me when was the last time.
Q. Billie Jean.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Billie Jean, exactly.
It is an interesting decision. I’m sure that he knows why he has made that decision.
Talking about Amélie, she has also been a No. 1, a Grand Slam champion, somebody that knows how it feels to play on a big stage and how to kind of cope with the pressure.
I think most of all she’s very professional. I don’t know her that well, but she always seemed very dedicated to this sport and, you know, to progress and development and improvement.
You know, we’ll see. I mean, I don’t know how that’s going to turn out, this relationship. But it’s definitely an interesting decision, and we’ll see how it goes in this tournament.
