US Open 2014 – Novak Djokovic: “Andy started to go for his forehand more in last couple of years since he started working with Ivan” - UBITENNIS

US Open 2014 – Novak Djokovic: “Andy started to go for his forehand more in last couple of years since he started working with Ivan”

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TENNIS US OPEN – 3rd of September 2014. N. Djokovic d. A. Murray 7-6, 6-7, 6-2, 6-4. An interview with Novak Djokovic

Q. What do you make of where the match turned? Midway through the third I guess you pulled away and stayed there.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I thought I could win both of the first two sets before getting to tiebreak. I served at 4-2 first set, served at 3-2 up, 4-3-up I think in the second with break. But Andy is always putting in additional pressure on your serve. I dropped by 5, 10% of the first serves in percentage. He started going for his shots. First second shot he put a lot of pressure. I backed up, started makes unforced errors, and match turned around. You know, it was very physical. I’m happy that I managed to pull it through physically in the end and to kind of stay strong, even though it was frustrating in moments, because I don’t think I played at a level that I wanted to play on in important moments. But, again, it’s great to end it, because we always push each other to the limits and we push each others’ service games. We step in on the second, and so that’s what makes you go for your first serve. When you start missing, you get a little bit tight, a little bit passive, and that’s what happened.

Q. There were moments in the second and third set where it looked like you were kind of shaking your head in disbelief with some of the shots that he was hitting and some of the pace that he was generating particularly, off the forehand. Have you been in a match where he’s kind of sustained that level of kind of flat power hitting?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I think he started to go for his forehand more in last couple of years since he started working with Ivan, and that shot brought him two Grand Slams and gold medal. I mean, that was the shot he was working on the most. He made it his weapon. Yeah, quarterfinals of Grand Slam, playing each other and in such a close match, you’re not gonna win it by staying back and getting balls back in the court. You are going to win it by pressuring your opponent, by hitting, you know, angles, by coming to the net. That’s what he tried to do. Obviously he struggled a little bit with his lower back in the fourth. He didn’t serve as accurately as he did in the first part of the match, so that gave me more possibilities kind of to step in.

Q. When he was struggling so badly in that fourth set, is it difficult for you to concentrate when someone cannot move as well as he was?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yes. Well, it was difficult, because, you know, he hits a serve 125 miles and suddenly hits a 90, 95 mile first serve. So it was pretty unpredictable. It was not enough for me to just get the return back in play, because first shot he would just hit with a lot of pace. He didn’t give me a lot of rhythm in the fourth. I thought I won my service games quite comfortably, but I wasn’t managing to make the difference in his service games because he was just going for his shots and they were going in. And, you know, in the most important moment in 5-4 in the fourth he made a couple of errors. I stayed in the point, and that’s what brought me a win.

Q. As someone who has been through marathons almost double the length of this one, what are your thoughts on Caroline Wozniacki actually running in the New York Marathon?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, I heard that from her a month, month and a half ago. We had dinner. We live in Monaco, same place, so we have dinner sometimes. She told me about it. I’m glad. I mean, she’s doing it for a very noble cause. And also it’s exciting. It’s something very fun. Now, you know, obviously some critics were saying, you know, she’s in the middle of her professional career. I don’t know if that can influence her physically. But it’s end of the season. I mean, she knows the best. She runs a lot. I see her always. I will take the car or a bike to the practice courts in Monaco and she would run. I would see her every morning running there and running back from the practice. So she does it a lot and she feels great doing it, so why not? I support her. It’s a great cause. I’m sure she’s going to enjoy it. I wish one day I’m going to do the same. Maybe not during my career, but, I don’t know which city. Belgrade for sure I want to do with my brothers. Who knows? Maybe with my wife one day. But not for now.

Q. If you think back to the last time you played Andy in a Grand Slam it was Wimbledon final. If you compared yourself and Andy to then, what are the differences in terms of your level and what made the difference today in that regard?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, when I get to play Andy, at the Grand Slams especially, where we both try to peak with our performances obviously, I know that the matches are going to go the distance. We’re going to have a lot of long rallies and a lot of exchanges. It’s going to be physical but also mental. I get the feeling that if I get to stay with him and kind of, you know, work, work, and, you know, not get too loose and too frustrated with points and not allow him to get into a big lead, I feel like there is a point where I feel I have that edge, you know, maybe physically. That’s where I try to always focus on and, you know, it paid off tonight.

Q. You have known him for a long time. When you see him kind of getting upset with himself and talking to himself, yelling at himself, do you notice that? Do you take that as a good sign or negative sign when you play him?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, I get frustrated myself on the courts, everything. I mean, it’s like you’re getting to this zone of focus and fight. I mean, it’s a battle on the court. We both go through a lot of emotions: times when you play well, when you encourage yourself, when you’re positive. Sometimes you’re a little bit negative about how you’re doing, about how you’re feeling. But it’s all a process of the battle on the court and what you go through. It’s important to handle this emotion, and everybody is different obviously in the way they handle it.

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