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Q. This is supposed to be your least favorite surface and here you are in the quarterfinals. Have you done anything different on clay or is it just a result of your overall confidence? IVAN LJUBICIC: Well, until the age of 15 I didn't play on anything else than clay. So it's ‑‑ I always have to say that I always felt comfortable on clay. I play quarters on all Masters Series, semis in Hamburg, and now quarters here. So I cannot say that I'm surprised. Of course, a lot of things happened positively for me. I played well when I had to play. The draw helped little bit. But, you know, you cannot just go with the draw. I think this result, it's somewhere where I belong, being No. 4 seed. When you in quarterfinals, that's nothing amazing. If I did it like five or six years ago, I would tell you, yes, it's incredible. But now I feel much more complete player and I think I deserve this place. Q. Any word about Benneteau in the quarterfinals. Is the Davis Cup experience going to help, playing away from home against a Frenchman? IVAN LJUBICIC: I think it's going to help. Definitely the crowd is gonna be against me. But as you just mentioned Davis Cup, I have a lot of experience with that. So I think it's gonna be great match because he played some good matches here, and he's gonna be ready because he almost didn't play today. So he's gonna be fit and ready. It's gonna be big fight, you know. That's all what I can say now. Of course, you know, looking at the draw, Benneteau in quarters, it's fantastic draw. But the weakest name of the player is, the pressure, it's higher. It's always somewhere there. It's never easy. Q. It's your second quarterfinal of a Grand Slam. First time, no? Before it was very difficult for you to make a good Grand Slam. IVAN LJUBICIC: Yeah, well, in beginning of the year, when I went ‑‑ I had a lot of similar questions in Australia, and I said that this year everything is different. I really feel like it is different. As I said before, nothing surprised me. Paris, it's physically probably the most demanding Grand Slam, but I think of myself as one of the fittest player on tour. So I know that I'm not gonna be ‑‑ I'm not gonna have physical problems. And I think I prepared this Roland Garros very well, playing quarterfinals in Monte‑Carlo, and early exits in Rome and Hamburg helped me to actually work on my game and my body because playing a lot of matches in last period, I didn't have a lot of time to practice. So, you know, incredibly, but this early exit in Rome and Hamburg actually helped me to find the time to work and practice. And now I am here, really ready, and of course I want more. Q. I thought you said you couldn't play on this stuff. IVAN LJUBICIC: I never said that. I actually said to Thomas Muster after the Davis Cup that we beat them on clay, I told him it's not a good choice. If you put Croatia on clay, it's not gonna happen well. You know, I think Mario and me, we showed once again that we can play on this stuff. Q. Absolutely. But you came in here doubtful, did you? IVAN LJUBICIC: No, not really. Actually, I had fantastic week in Dusseldorf. I won three very good matches. I played great tennis, maybe even better than here. With the tension of Grand Slam, you cannot play your best tennis, that's absolutely natural. But, as I said before, early exit in Rome and Hamburg actually helped me to find the time to work finally because playing a lot of matches in last eight, ten months, I really had difficult time finding the time to practice. These two or three weeks actually I practiced really hard and I felt really ready before French. Q. When you went to Italy, you were playing on clay there? IVAN LJUBICIC: Yeah. Until the age of 15, I didn't play on anything else than clay. Q. But you liked the hard stuff when you saw that? IVAN LJUBICIC: Well, I mean, I'm big. I have good serve. Actually, took me more time to find my game on hard than on clay because, as I told you, when you grow up on something, you always feel comfortable on that. Doesn't matter physically how ‑‑ if you are big or not. But I never felt really bad on clay because every year I had at least one quarterfinal in Masters Series, semis in Hamburg two years ago, now quarters here. I do feel comfortable. I have no problems with clay. Q. Champion's dinner tomorrow, they'll be honoring the Croatian Davis Cup team. You have to play Wednesday. Will you be at the dinner? IVAN LJUBICIC: It's hard. I don't
know what time exactly I'm gonna play and what time is dinner. We have to see
the schedule. I hope I can get there because we missed one already, the
Laureus Award in Barcelona. It would be shame if I miss
two in a row. I really want to be there, of course. Visit the Ivan Ljubicic page here
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