Nick Kyrgios: “The Big Four are still there. Still playing at an unbelievable level so it’s hard to say there’s a changing of the guard yet. But all the young guys are capable of breakthroughs. To see (Alexander) Zverev go deep an Indian Wells woke me up and motivated me. You almost feed off of that. The guys are watching my run here and they’ll come back stronger.”
David Goffin: “The Big Four made us practice harder and raise our level, when you lose ten times in a row to top ten players it’s tough. But when you finally beat one it’s so good for your mentality and le leads to more surprises.”
Tomas Berdych: “For me the last ten years there’s been no one else – so when it’s not the Big Four in the draw people say: Wow what’s happening? Well we are not machines. Especially when you see how many young guys are moving up and trying to hunt the top guys. It’s a nice fresh change for tennis.”.
Milos Raonic: “It’s really about central internal focus. I prepare for the guys I have to play the next day – focusing on what I need to do then making small adjustments if need be.”
Novak Djokovic: “(Thiem) has very powerful strokes in the back of the court so he either makes some really amazing shots down he line mostly and some great inside out forehands or he makes some mistakes. It’s kind of a gamble playing him. It is exciting because tennis definitely needs the next generation of young players who are playing the way Dominic does and challenging the best players in the world. It’s a normal evolution in life that sooner or later the time will come for all of us and then we need some new faces and players that are able to lead the tennis world in the future.”
Dominic Thiem: “Today I didn’t play bad at all – just not my best. There were many good points and many bad points. (I was) one out of fifteen break points. I mean like half of them he saved were incredible. But for sure there were like five or six break points that I have to make.”
Victoria Azarenka: “I think it’s important to give the winner (Svetlana Kuznetsova) in this match credit because from what I’ve seen Serena doesn’t just lose matches. She always fights.”
Grigor Dimitrov on who he would pay to watch: “I’m not going to hide it – I like to watch Roger Rafa and Novak. It’s cool to watch. I mean I like tennis and I like watching good strong matches. Knowing the players and maybe you played against them.”
Gael Monfils on what it will take to beat Novak Djokovic: “What type? I don’t know. Someone that has a good inspiration and can make him play different. We saw a couple of players try to chase him a little bit for sets and for games. But right now he’s on the top of the game. He’s the best on every shot – every shot he has an answer and every question that we give him. I guess someone with great inspiration. I feel last year you know who beat him was the only guy able to have great inspiration that day.”
Novak Djokovic: “Well, you know, in the end of the day of course you would like to have the majority of the crowd supporting you, being behind you in the important moments, because that kind of support kind of de-stresses and you gives you that necessary strength and motivation to really showcase your full potential, if I may say.”
“Obviously it’s better playing with crowd behind you than crowd behind your opponent’s back. Now, I don’t feel that every match I play against opponent, against the crowd. I don’t feel that I play against the crowd at all. Crowd loves to see entertaining matches, but I get a lot of support. I don’t take that for granted. I am really grateful for that. In the end of the day, whatever is the situation and whatever crowd decides, you know, who to support and which side to go, I got to do my job. I need to try to focus on this moment and executing the game plan.But we have to be honest that it’s better when you have crowd on your side.”
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Andrew Miller · March 31, 2016 at 3:35 pm
Wow. What a quote from Djokovic. He knows that his time will be up one day, and he sees the future players and says they are coming for him. Never let it be said that Djokovic isn’t a great number one. This must also be why he has such urgency to win slams, big titles. Gotta like this guy.
Monfils – the guy puts into words the French ethos. Either it’s inspiration or nothing. It would be nice for Monfils to catch some lightning in a bottle, grab one of these events with an inspiring finals win over a big four-er.
Raonic never says interesting stuff. He comes off as a single dimension dude: win win win win win win win win. I think it might be right that without any way of endearing himself to a crowd it’s hard to see Raonic pull off the biggest wins in the world. Sadly it also makes him less like able. That’s a bit like Pistol Pete Sampras. I think people liked Sampras better (oddly) on the downside of his career, when he would read his wife’s letters for inspiration during his worst career losses. At the end of an abysmal year he came to New York with people ready to cheer for him.
Back to the mother ship. Steve Tignor came out today with a great piece on Tennis.com on Madison Keys and a larger point about U.S. tennis. Basically – as the came is hard-court grown here with big serve, big forehand, huge risks all part of that package, U.S. players will lose to others that are patient and value consistency above all. The U.S. game’s weaknesses completely matches up with the European game’s strengths, a brute force style that’s eaten up by overwhelming consistency.
Scoop Malinowski · March 31, 2016 at 10:11 pm
Raonic is becoming boring – he’s like an android automaton on the court and people don’t embrace that – everything is done by the book no improvisation no free flow – I’ll sum up his match vs Kyrgios tonight in four words Street smart vs text book – and ‘Street smarts’ prevailed – I seriously think Raonic should change his practice routines mix it up be different – get rid of the cookie cutter mr perfect demeanor – train like Rambo get a mohawk and add baseline grinding and serve and volley to his arsenal – because what he’s doing now is on the verge of optimization flat lining – CHANGE IS NEEDED —
Scoop Malinowski · March 31, 2016 at 10:13 pm
Really liked the quotes by Nick and Thiem and Djokovic and Azarenka too – I asked Kuzetsova tonight for her ideas on how to solve the Djokovic puzzle – stay tuned as it’s a must read –
Hartt · April 1, 2016 at 10:39 am
I agree that Milos does not give entertaining interviews, although I think his “was never so broken hearted on a tennis court” after the adductor injury probably cost him the AO match against Murray was pretty telling. But surely the guy does not have to change who he is to be a top tennis player. He feels he plays better when he keeps his emotions in check – like a lot of players he was a hothead as a kid. Those who want fireworks can root for Kyrgios, and a lot of other fans will root against him.
Scoop Malinowski · April 1, 2016 at 9:08 pm
Raonic is a bright guy I think he’s holding his cards close to the vest now as Andy did in his early years – Raonic is focusing on the on court stuff – I think he will show his character and wit and intelligence in the future –
Hartt · April 2, 2016 at 11:59 am
He can be quite charming when he is relaxed in an interview. Especially if they get him talking about basketball, he can get downright excited. In one TV show he had to answer questions posed by the 3 women hosts and then play ping pong with one of them. I thought he coped very well.
You are right, he is a bright guy, and it’s too bad there aren’t more opportunities for other sides of his personality to come through. The TV documentary about Andy Murray a couple years ago gave fans a much better idea of what he is like; maybe one day there will be a similar program about Milos.
Bryan · April 3, 2016 at 6:27 pm
“To see (Alexander) Zverev go deep an Indian Wells woke me up and motivated me. You almost feed off of that. The guys are watching my run here and they’ll come back stronger.”
Kyrgios is exactly correct. Young players see their peers making moves and realize the veteran stars are beatable. Until one of them does it the others think they’re stuck following. Now, with Zverev, Kyrgios and Fritz making waves it’s open season on the big 4.
Scoop Malinowski · April 3, 2016 at 7:57 pm
It’s official – the Big Four narrative has ended – it’s now the Djokovic monopoly – or shall we call it the “Novaknopoly”