Novak Djokovic Interview
Sunday, June 1, 2008
French Open
THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.
Q. You're still to find your very best level, but do you feel like you're playing better with each match?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, that's what I was saying the last press conference, that I'm trying to get involved more and step it up.
So today I was ‑‑ I was happy with the way I played. I think it was much better than the last three matches.
Q. You had two service games where you got done Love‑40. Are you angry at yourself for getting down Love‑40 or pleased with yourself for coming back and winning those games or maybe a little bit of both?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I'm pleased that I managed to come back from Love‑40, that's for sure.
It's not easy in the certain moments, especially in the moments when you are serving for the set. And, you know, he was really close. He played some good shots.
But one of the best elements in my game today and throughout all the tournament was serve. So if I can rely on serve, then I'm relieved, you know, through the game. So then I can focus myself more on the baseline strokes.
I think I was focused a lot today. I didn't want it to just use the ‑‑ I used the momentum and just tried to be smart, you know, change the pace a lot. I knew that he's the player which likes to play the same pace, more or less.
But I managed to get to the stage when he made a lot of unforced errors. But, you know, it's good to get through in straight sets.
Q. With all the respect you have to do with the opponents, but a lot of people is thinking about already the semifinals between Djokovic and Nadal. For all the experience you have now on clay and playing against Nadal, how do you think is possible to beat Nadal, Nadal in five sets at Roland Garros?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: With all due respect, I know you ask me a long question, but I don't want to answer because I still need to win a match to get to Nadal.
Q. So compared to last year, obviously you are more favorite. Had your approach changed from last year, especially coming to second week?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah, for sure coming to the stage in my career when I feel really confident about a lot of matches I played, the big ones.
It's important to feel good physically and mentally before coming to the two‑week long Grand Slam.
There's a lot of tough matches, best‑of‑five, but this year is quite different. I'm coming as a Grand Slam champion. Get a lot of respect and appreciation from the players. It's a different approach, you know. I have more confidence and I believe much more in my myself.
But in the other side as well, you have more pressure, more responsibility, but I'm dealing with it pretty good so far.
Q. I believe your next opponent Gulbis also trained at Niki Pilic's academy. I'm wondering if you knew him from back then or how much you know of him, how much contact you've had with him?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: On and off the court. We know each other on and off the court. (laughter.) Crazy experiences off the court as well. For three years we've been practicing in the Pilic Academy. He's a great guy. I know him.
He was very talented back then. I was speaking with Pilic, and he told me all the best things about him. Already then he was very powerful.
So he was about to grow up, and as you can see, he's very tall. He's using his height for the serve, which is one of his biggest weapons. He makes a life really difficult for his opponents when he's serving well. He has a big forehand, very talented guy, but still getting through, you know. He made some good results here and there, but he's not consistent.
So maybe there's my chance, you know, with the experience and the patience that I have.
Q. Would you like to tell us about some of those crazy experiences?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: No (laughter.)
Q. You were talking about your serve today, but return of serve also very important. You got off the block well, hit some winners, moved him around. Can you just talk about your mentality as to when you decide to go for it and then when you decide to play a little bit safer?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I was saying after the match two days ago that in the first three matches I wasn't able to find my game and just get the rhythm, and I didn't step up in the returns or the baseline. My game was a bit defensive, and more than usually.
So that's what I was trying today, to step in more in the returns and just be more aggressive, because that's me, you know. That's how I return well. That's how I play well. That's my game, you know. If I start to change, many times I get out of my comfort zone, and that's not good. Then things go downhill.
So today, on the start of the match, I was ‑‑ I wasn't really stepping in my return. I was more blocking and just trying to get longer rallies and take it from there. But then in the continuation of the match, second and third set, I was really happy with the way I returned.
Q. Getting back to the crazy experiences, one would think you seem like more the crazy guy than him. He seems very calm and cool. Is that a proper assumption? He was very calm when he was in here.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Ernests?
Q. Yes. You seem sometimes crazier than he is.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Don't be so sure about that. (laughter.) I think I know him better than you.
Q. Does it seem like it's gone very quickly? All of a sudden you're in the quarterfinals?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I think it did, really. The time has passed really quickly. But, you know, since you start to play long matches and you get involved, you know. You're very focused during the Grand Slam, any Grand Slam. You try to just, you know, think about tennis, and even on your off days to practice.
There is a lot at stake, you know, involved. There is a lot of responsibility and expectations, of course. It's important for every player, especially for me in this moment, you know. I just want to keep on going and try to be consistent with my results.
As the third player of the world, of course everybody see me already in the last couple of days of the tournament. But again, you know, it has passed really, really quickly.
Q. When you were together with Gulbis, did you play a lot of matches together, or were you just sort of hitting?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: He was destroying me in practices. I couldn't win a match. On practice? No chance.
Q. How recently is that?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Sorry?
Q. How recently was that?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Two or three years ago. So all the pressure on him, okay? (laughter.)
He's a favorite. Whatever. I play ‑‑ no responsibility, nothing to lose.
Q. Simple question for broadcasters. How are you pronouncing your name? It was Djokovic last year and something else this year.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Oh, my God. What do I have to so you can learn my surname, how to pronounce?
Q. Just pronounce it once.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Djokovic.
Q. Somebody said you wanted it Djokovic.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Maybe in American, Djokovic.
Q. You've spoken often this season about your increased self‑confidence and belief, especially since the Australian Open. You have two very well‑loved champions in Roger and Rafa that you're competing with, obviously, on the court. Do you ever feel like you're competing with them also off the court in terms of the public's affection?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: No, no, no. Not too much. This is individual sport, and everybody has their own lives and their own style. We're all different, you know.
I'm not trying at all to compare myself with them or try to do some same things or familiar things that they do. I have my own career, my own style, my own personality, and then my own way of management on and off the court, so this is different.
Q. The players that reach the semifinals in your half of the draw will have two days off before the final, whereas the players in the top half of the draw will get one day off. Is this significant?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, this is, I think, question for organizers. But, okay, if I am in that position, then I probably have more luck, you know, so I can have an extra day of recovery.
But I don't think it's, you know, representing a lot of advantage, you know, giving a lot of advantage in the last stages of the tournament, even though the matches are getting tougher and longer and the opponents are ‑‑ have more quality. But I don't see much advantage than my opponents.
Q. We Italians, we have 11 players in the draw, and we all lost. This increase our regret for what you said in the Italian TV, that many years ago you had asked to be helped by the Italian federation and get an Italian passport. Can you finally tell us the details of this? Because we never really found out.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Mamma mia. (laughter.)
Q. So since we are destroyed, can you give us some help?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Okay, just to make this story short, because it was many years ago. I think I was about 13, 14 years old. Of course, I looked for the best possible conditions in my career, and Italy was one of the choices.
But we ‑‑ back then we were in a really good relations with ex‑coach of Fabio Fognini. His name is Leo. I don't know his surname.
Q. Caperchi.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yeah. He was a very nice guy. He was helpful. He wanted to try and go for it, but it didn't end up good, so actually didn't end up good for me.
Q. And not for us. (laughter.) If Gulbis was beating you so badly in practice, how do you explain that you've won a major and he's still trying to get to the semifinals?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: I think that's ‑‑ that's a great example that practice and the official match are two different things.
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