An interview with Janko TipsarevicJ. Tipsarevic Interview - 28 June
Saturday, 28 June 2008
Janko Tipsarevic def. Dmitry Tursunov 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-3), 6-3
Q. Good win today. How did it feel to be out on Court 2?JANKO TIPSAREVIC: It was great. I am proud of myself because I managed to do something which I usually don't, which is to beat a big name and then continue playing with the same intensity and have a more or less comfortable win in the next round.
The match was really tight, especially in the first two sets, where each one of us had a couple of breakpoints which we didn't use. The difference was that I played much better tennis than him in both tiebreakers.
I was active at the beginning of the third set, which helped me to break him and hold my serve more or less comfortably until the end.
Q. You seemed to really get on top of him in the second tiebreaker.JANKO TIPSAREVIC: Yeah, I was feeling that I could break him in the second set, but the chances that I had, he had a couple of good serves. And it's not that I didn't make a break because I didn't play good. The thing is that he served really good, and with him, he's the kind of player which you don't really know what to expect. He can hit winners from three meters from the baseline, and he can make easy mistakes.
I have to say that the wind was a little bit considering the type of games that we played, wind was a little bit in my favor, because if the ball is moving a little bit, it's tougher for him because he's used to making winners. And with the conditions that we had today, it wasn't so easy.
Q. What did you do to try to keep that intensity?JANKO TIPSAREVIC: I was trying to be active with my feet all the time and trying to say as many positive things to myself as possible, because when this happens I can become lazy on court, especially with a guy like Tursunov, where in the first set until 4 All I was more or less just walking left and right and waiting for him to miss forehand or backhand.
The good thing was that I prepared myself mentally, and I knew that this match will be a little bit similar like against Roddick; it's just that the difference is Andy has a great serve. This guy has powerful groundstrokes, and the thing was that I had to hang in there and wait for my chances when they were given to me.
Q. It's pretty unusual that there are tennis players who do serious reading. You told us a little bit about your reading last year. Have you been reading?JANKO TIPSAREVIC: For the last few months I'm not reading as often as I used to. Some of the books that I was reading were kind of depressing (laughter), and I didn't really like the thinking of the world that surrounds me after reading these books, especially the life that I have on tour. It didn't really help my tennis too much. I'm not saying that I'm a better tennis player because I stopped reading; it's just that I'm taking a break for a couple of months.
Q. The points were just too depressing or negative would you say?JANKO TIPSAREVIC: Yeah, negative. And even though
Q. Any particular book?JANKO TIPSAREVIC: No, no particular book. It's not a particular book. But just comparing I have a problem to divide this reading things which I have from the reality and the real world that we are living now, in the 21st century.
Q. So you read deep, philosophical pieces and then see a world of country clubs andJANKO TIPSAREVIC: Mainly these books are leaving an impression. If you try to understand them, which doesn't happen necessarily every time when I read a book for the first time, these books leave an impression for you.
And just comparing, for example, this world of psychology and philosophy and the thinking that Rafael Nadal has when he's down 6 1, 6 2, 5 2, 15 Love and he makes a forehand winner and he says "vamos" to himself because he still believes that he wins, that he can win, it's a little bit different.
Q. So to have a certain directness or simplicity in your thought is helpful?JANKO TIPSAREVIC: No, I think I'm going in too deep. I think that this explains a little bit what I was thinking.
Q. What positive things did you say to yourself?JANKO TIPSAREVIC: I was saying all the time that I need to stay active on the return, because he has a really, really powerful serve, similar like Andy. And I know that especially with the wind, if I'm not active on the return, which means if my body and my legs are not down, I cannot make him play and make the mistakes.
I'm not saying that I won because he made mistakes. The good thing also today that at one point I was starting to push him from the baseline, hitting strong groundstrokes and then making him make more mistakes because he was afraid of my backhand down the line or forehand inside out or something like that.
So this kind of player like Tursunov, he likes when you just return the ball in the court because sooner or later he's going to find a rhythm, hit four winners in a game and he's going to break you. So the good thing is that, as I said, I was active on the return and I was aggressive when I could be.
Q. So what about Schuettler?JANKO TIPSAREVIC: Schuettler is a very, very close friend of mine. We have the same manager. We've practiced hundreds of times. He, I can say, is a really, really tough opponent because he's kind of a different player than Roddick and Tursunov, where I cannot expect to get presents.
I'm not saying he's better, but I need to play a different kind of game. I need to be more aggressive. I need to be the guy who makes the points, and I need to be the guy who needs to push him more, which I basically didn't do as often in the last two matches because I couldn't.
Andy was serving 140 miles and Tursunov was hitting everything full power, and I didn't have a chance.
In the next match I will have a chance, and I need to take I need to think and use the chance smart.
Q. Is one or the other approaches more of a challenge, going against the big hitter, or the steady guy?JANKO TIPSAREVIC: Well, to be honest with you, I normally like more when I'm playing against a big hitter, but still, the way that I am playing, especially in the last match against Tursunov, when I realized that even when he hits, I'm not just pushing the ball back and making him play, I'm hitting again and then we're having a powerful groundstroke rally. And at the end I come out as a winner.
So I didn't win today because I pushed three balls in the court and Tursunov missed a backhand down the line; I won because in tiebreaks I was the guy who was pushing, making aces, going to the net and playing smart.
The only difference is I have to do that more often in the next match. Against Roddick, I saw the statistics; from 27 times that I was on the net, I won 22 points, so I'm feeling comfortable attacking the opponent. It's just the difference that I have to do it more often.
Q. The diving volley, that was a great shot.JANKO TIPSAREVIC: It was. Actually I was thinking that I don't have the guts to dive. Every time in practice, I'm thinking, it's practice, don't dive. But then when it's 6 5 you're serving for the set, you will dive and land on your head and you won't care.
Q. In mid flight what were you thinking?JANKO TIPSAREVIC: I dived, I saw the point was there, and I couldn't believe that I actually dived.
Q. Any new tattoos?JANKO TIPSAREVIC: Coming soon to a store near you.
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