TENNIS ATP FINALS 2014 – Stan Wawrinka d. Tomas Berdych 6-1, 6-1. Group A
Q. Did you expect to produce that sort of performance today?
STAN WAWRINKA: I didn’t expect to win that easy in the score, for sure. But I was ready to play well. I did a great week of preparation. I did work really, really hard since few weeks with Magnus. Even if the result wasn’t there in Basel and Paris, I was feeling the ball really well at the practice court.
No, today at the start of the match was really important. That change completely the match after.
Q. It’s one against one. Obviously he didn’t have his best day, you had a good day. Is it possible for you to say which was more? Were you playing a particularly good match or did you get the sense he was there for the taking?
STAN WAWRINKA: It’s tough to say, but I think I did play a really good match. And since the beginning, I start really well on my serve. If you look, the second game, I had two time just a return and then I had one backhand and I put him directly under pressure.
At that moment he saw that I was taking the ball really early, seeing the ball really well, I was always putting him under pressure. He couldn’t really do anything except taking risk, and I was returning everything.
I’m just looking the match in general. If he play good or bad, doesn’t matter for me. I’m happy with my performance. I’m happy the way I was playing. Serving really well. Returning almost everything. It seems it’s not usual. And, yeah, feeling good on the court.
Q. You have the best record on tour against the top 10 this year, you’re 7 1. Against everyone else, you win two thirds of the time. You’re winning more against the top 10. Why is that?
STAN WAWRINKA: I had, what, six win against top 10 in the first three months of the year, then I never played them again because I lose early in the tournament, so it was a tough six months after (smiling).
Yeah, I think I show from the beginning of the year, already from last year, that my level is there. When I feel good on the court, I’m ready to beat everybody. It’s never easy, but you have to fight for it.
Normally when you play the top 10 guys, you are in the quarters or semifinals of a tournament. So the confidence is there. I’m feeling great mentally. That’s maybe one of the reason.
Q. When you and Roger won the Olympic gold medal, do you feel that changed the perception of you in Switzerland? Do you feel if you’re able to win, it will have the same effect, changing how you’re viewed?
STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, it was a long time ago. But for sure it was big in Switzerland. It was really big for me, because I was young. Even if I was top 10 at that time, it was my first big year on the tour.
To win the Olympic, it’s something really important because it’s not only about tennis, it’s about representing your country, about sportsfans in general watching you. So it was really big at that time.
For this year, for sure, if we can win Davis Cup, it’s going to be huge. But we’ll see if we do it.
Q. You obviously know Roger as well as anybody probably on the tour. If he does do well here, are you entirely confident that at 33, he’s going to have the legs still to perform right to the end of what’s already been a pretty long, hard season for him?
STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, on that person, sure, unless he’s injured. I think that week it’s not that bad. You play one match every two days. It start yesterday. Doesn’t matter what he’s doing, he’s going to have a day off before the semifinal.
So if you look the week, it’s not a hard week. Then you have five days to come on clay. He’s the best player ever to adapt his game on the different surface. It took him maybe like one hour or one day maximum to change the surface.
I’m sure he can take few days off and find a way how to play well on clay. But then doesn’t mean he’s going to win the two singles in Davis Cup because you play against Monfils, again Tsonga, against Gasquet. Those guys are really good on tennis.
But I’m sure physically he’s going to be ready for trying to win here and trying to win the Davis Cup.
Q. What is your relationship with Tomas Berdych? How well do you get along? How do you see him as a player or a person?
STAN WAWRINKA: We are not close friend. We don’t spend so much time. But we good friend, like we practice a lot together, especially I think the last two years we are doing a lot of practice together.
Always have fun on the practice court. I think he’s an amazing player. Fifth time he qualified for the Masters end of year. It’s quite impressive. He had the win Paris Bercy. He make some final, semifinal Grand Slam. He’s there since many years. It’s quite impressive.
