"Great to come through"

30 June, 2009 | 10:06

Q. What are your emotions right now?

Obviously, great to come through. Haven't thought about the match a whole lot. We made sure, you know, I warmed down properly, saw the physio and got as much food in me as possible. And then, you know, organizing what I'm going to do tomorrow to, you know, make sure I recover as best as I can before the next round.

Q. Must give you a lot of confidence to have won such a match. Can you actually win Wimbledon? Does that actually come into your mind after winning a match like that?

No, I mean, I believe I can win Wimbledon. That's not changed since the first match. But, like I said, I'm gonna have to play great tennis to do it. Had to play some great tennis tonight, you know, to come back, because Stan was playing some unbelievable tennis at the start. The conditions with the roof are very different to, you know, playing with it open.

Q. In what way are they different?

It's very, very heavy and very humid. Sweating so much. I know it was hot outside today, but sweating a lot. And like from the start I noticed it very early. Both of us were trying to get, well, white towels from the locker room because, you know, your hands were drenched. When I finished, it was like, you know, I'd been in a bath. It was very, very, very humid. So it kind of slowed it down a lot, and I struggled to serve because it wasn't coming off the strings that quickly.

Q. Did the court play differently?

Yeah, because of that, you know, it's heavier. There was a lot more rallies in that match. I got very few free points from my serve when it did go in. Uhm, you know, can you really swing very hard at the ball and it can, you know, go in the net or it doesn't really go anywhere. It's very different.

Q. Were you surprised that you started the match under the roof, or did they consult with you?

I was surprised because we'd asked, When are you gonna let us know if we're gonna play under the roof or not? They said they would let us know as soon as the match was finished. And then, you know, it's quite tough as well to judge.

It takes, I think, like 30 minutes to close the roof sorry, to open the roof, 20, 30 minutes to open it. To get the warmups and stuff right beforehand, you know, it was dry. We were warming up outside. It was dry. Was expecting to play without the roof, and then obviously it came. I had never played, obviously, a grass court match indoors before, and it made a difference.

Q. Did you have a problem with the lights when the sunlight was still there as well?

No, I was asking the umpire, because I thought that they turned the lights up like from when we were warming up. The first couple of points, it seemed very bright in my first service game. I just asked them if they had. He said they hadn't changed the lighting.

Yeah, it did seem pretty bright at the start. You know, obviously I was very happy to have finished.

Q. Is it fair to say then you would much rather play without the roof than with it closed?

I like playing indoors. But it's just when you haven't practiced or ever played a match under a roof on grass, you don't know what to expect. So now going in the next match, you know, I'll know what to expect if the roof comes on.

But I still thought that for, you know, two and a half sets of the match I played great tennis. It's just it took me a little while to get used to it.

Q. Did you think overall the conditions helped your game or hindered it?

Like I say, I don't know. It's just it took a while to get used to. Like I say, I played some great stuff tonight, and Stan played some great tennis as well. The only thing that I felt that was harder was to serve. I didn't think that it was coming off the strings that quickly on the serve because of the humidity and it slowed the ball down.

Q. How long was it actually before the start of the match that you were actually told definitely you would be playing under the roof?

Well, we were told, and then we left to go on the court straightaway. It was like, you know, the match before us finished, and then they said, you know, You're on now.

So it's just tough as a player when you're kind of warming up, getting ready for the match outside and it's dry, and then obviously you get told you're playing under the roof.

I think the decision, in my opinion, should be made sort of before that match is finished so they can let the players know in a decent amount of time what conditions they're going to be playing under.

Because I think in very few sports would coaches and teams be particularly happy if they were told you know, they don't know exactly what time they're going to kick off, what time they're going to start, or what the conditions are going to be like when they go out there.

Q. Would you put your performance in that first set down to the conditions?

I didn't start off particularly well, and he hit the ball great. You know, he hit some huge winners, made very few mistakes, and he served a lot better than me.

Yeah, I knew I had to change something in the second set, and I started to play more aggressive. I came to the net more as the match went on. Played closer up to the baseline. Whereas at the start, I was letting him dictate all of the points.

Q. What's the game plan for tomorrow?

I'll sleep late. I'll practice around 2:00. Go have an ice bath, massage, see the physio, you know, for an hour and a half, make sure I eat three or four very big meals, get as much food in me as possible, and that should be enough.

Q. Can it be an advantage for you in the next rounds that you will have played under the roof and your opponents with not have?

Yeah, I think so. Because, like I said, for me, when you haven't experienced something before, it's tough to kind of just walk out there and, you know, know how the court's gonna play and stuff.
Now I know how I'll have to change my game if I do play under the roof, and I'll, you know, know the way that the court plays. In my opinion, there's quite a big difference.

Q. How concerned were you to receive the letter talking about ball boys being sent home because of flu like symptoms?

Ball boys?

Q. Ball boys and ball girls.

I didn't get a letter. They normally post the letter into your lockers. I haven't checked.

Q. Did you feel something of the character of the tournament changed a little bit tonight in terms of the atmosphere? It's a departure, the fact we're playing 20 till 11:00 at night. But the atmosphere was more boisterous maybe than it has been before because of the roof and the lights.

Yeah, playing indoors always makes a difference to the atmosphere, obviously to the way the court plays. And when there is noise, it doesn't get lost anywhere.

At the end, that was probably the noisiest crowd I played in front of. You know, maybe in my match last year against Gasquet, if the roof were on it would have been similar. But it definitely sounds and feels much louder with the roof.

Q. It seemed deafening for us watching it. Was it a help or hindrance, all that extra noise?

Support is great. If it's loud, then it's better. It means the people are more behind you. It definitely didn't hinder my performance in any way at all.

Q. You seemed to be encouraging the crowd.

Yeah. I think that's something that I've always done when I played on big courts. You know, especially, well, at Wimbledon and Davis Cup, when the whole crowd's four for you, you can get them going.

When the big points come, especially in long matches when you need a lift sometimes, you need to get the crowd into it. I managed to do that well.

Q. Would you like to see night sessions here one day in the future?

No. When I spoke to Ian Ritchie, we discussed and thought that Wimbledon, you know, is a daytime tournament. You know, it's very good to have the roof so that I could finish the match this evening and I'm not having to come back tomorrow and play, but you can't really do it, I don't think, for the outside courts and stuff. They can't play because of the dew, and they don't have floodlights.

No, I quite like it being a day event. The advantage of having a roof is if there is one match that is behind schedule, you can finish them.

Q. How would you assess the quarterfinal challenge you have? Will the Queen's result have any bearing on it?

Well, I played very well at Queen's. The courts here are a little bit different. Ferrero is a very tough player. He plays well on any surface. Former world No. 1.

Every match, regardless of who you're playing against, especially in an individual sport, anything can happen on the day. Like I say, I played great at Queen's. If I play poorly, there's a good chance I'll lose against him. But I'll try my best to play well. If I do that, I've got a chance of winning.

Q. Can it be an advantage to have a five setter at this stage, or is it a hindrance in terms of sapping your energy?

It just depends on how you recover. If you recover fine, it's a good thing to play a long match and know that you've got four hours of tennis in you.

On grass, you very rarely play matches that are that long. So if I recover fine, then it's a positive.