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INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. I suggested to you yesterday you might want to let Nalbandian win the
first set?
IVAN LJUBICIC: Thanks for the advice.
Q. You're welcome.
IVAN LJUBICIC: No, I didn't let him win. I just had some problems with my knee
in the beginning, couldn't really run, couldn't put any anything on that right
leg. So for me it's a little bit strange, because I never had a problem with my
legs at all. If there's something wrong, it's always my shoulder or my back and
never my legs.
So for me, it was a little bit difficult to get used to that. And I called the
trainer, Bill, brought me some kind of cream against the pain. He said, If you
can stay there long enough, it's going to be a little better later, and that's
what happened.
I kind of just tried not think about it. But I think if -- I was thinking in the
beginning of the second set, if I lose the serve, I'm just going to retire,
because I didn't know how bad can it be if I keep playing. But, you know,
fortunately I managed to hold serve long enough to put the pressure on David's
serve winning the second, I think the third set was pretty much under control.
Q. So you were one service break away from retirement?
IVAN LJUBICIC: Yes. Yes, that's what I was thinking.
Q. Do they know what it is?
IVAN LJUBICIC: Well, they said inflammation of the tendon, the patella tendon. I
mean, they said it shouldn't be too bad. Sometimes it goes away straight away;
sometimes it stays there for years. I mean, I hope it's not gonna be that bad.
But now it's already better now.
I was having treatment all the way till now, ice, massage, and antiinflammatory,
and it does feel a little better now already. So tomorrow, day off, it's gonna
-- I'm gonna enjoy it more than what I was thinking.
Q. Which knee is it, right or left?
IVAN LJUBICIC: Right. Right knee.
Q. You're going to play doubles?
IVAN LJUBICIC: No, we pulled out from doubles because it could make it worse. It
doesn't make sense. I mean, I spoke with Thomas. He understand the situation, so
I'm sorry. I wanted to play, really, and I hope that next week in Miami we're
gonna have another chance.
Q. You lost to Federer the last two years. Now you might face Roddick. Do you
like your chances are better this time around?
IVAN LJUBICIC: Well, I mean, Roger being out doesn't help me much, unless I get
to the final. But the draw, it's very difficult, Nalbandian, probably Andy, and
then Rafa in semis is possible. So it's not -- it's not any easier. But of
course, I would prefer Andy to Roger, I mean, anyone than Roger.
But Andy is playing great tennis. He's playing as good or maybe better than 2003
when he was the best player in the world, so it's going to be real interesting
to see if he's going to manage to win tonight's match. And if yes, then how he's
gonna play against me. I'm curious to see, because at Master Cup, he was playing
real, real well. He was serving unbelievable, and I want to see if he can -- if
he's still playing that well or it's just, you know, maybe just using his
confidence.
Q. If I had to assess the match, it looked like you served bigger and you
were 10 to 15 miles an hour faster than he is, put the pressure on him. Is that
a correct assessment?
IVAN LJUBICIC: Well, I mean, I think every player in the world use his weapon
and -- weapons. My serve is my weapon. I have to make as many points as I can
with that. And, of course, for him it's completely different story. He wants to
rally as much as he wants.
So I think in the first set, I was trying to maybe stay a little bit back and
make him play a little bit more, just to see if he's -- if he's ready to hit all
the winners, but he was. So in the second set, I decided to step in and try to
swing a little bit more, the returns, and take more risk. And I think that
worked pretty well.
Especially in the third set, you know, when I started to step in and hit the
second serves, he was also missing more first serves than in the beginning. So
that worked pretty well. And, of course, I was serving much better in second set
than the first.
Q. Your history seems to be that except in the Davis Cup, you've played much
better in Europe than you have in this country. Is there any reason, do you
suppose, for that? Have you figured that out?
IVAN LJUBICIC: I mean, I like conditions here. I mean, that's no secret. I mean,
the ball bounce pretty high and fast conditions. I think there is a little bit
altitude here, if I'm not wrong, and in dry conditions, it's fairly quick. I
mean, the ball goes through the air fairly quick, but of course, it's also for
me it's the perfect combination.
As we mentioned before, last two years, I lost to Roger and he's not around
anymore, so maybe, you know, I can go all the way. But, of course, I'm
confident, but it's not going to be easy. But I do like the conditions here.
They are just perfect for my game.
Q. Were you part of the group of 19 top players that signed the letter that
was sent to the ITF about moving the Davis Cup?
IVAN LJUBICIC: Of course.
Q. The schedule?
IVAN LJUBICIC: Yeah.
Q. Seemed resistant to do that in light of sort of what's been going on with
the round-robin. I'm just wondering what your feelings are?
IVAN LJUBICIC: About Davis Cup week?
Q. Just leadership in the sport, the ATP. I mean, are you --
IVAN LJUBICIC: It's two completely different things. ATP is always trying to do
something new, trying to improve the sport. ITF is sitting there waiting, you
know, ATP to do things and just kind of resisting on anything, any change. They
never want to accept any changes, even the positive ones, like, I think super
tiebreaker in doubles and stuff like that. So two completely different things.
But I don't mind testing things and trying things. The round-robin, we tested
it. We figured out it's not working, so we probably gonna get rid of it. I have,
you know, I think at the end, it's a good leader and I think in the future we
gonna improve our sport, trying to improve it, not just, you know, sitting there
and waiting to see what's gonna happen.
The idea, of course, is in the position to sit with the grand slams and Davis
Cup, two great competitions, they can't do that. You know, I just sometimes feel
angry and disappointed that when the players are asking something, especially 19
of top 20, you know, that they just don't want to listen to it. But it looks
like they finally realized that's a very important issue for the players and for
the health of the players. And I hope for the next year, we gonna have Davis Cup
right after the slams.
Q. Was there an exhibition you played with Goran in Sarajevo?
IVAN LJUBICIC: Yes.
Q. Well, I assume it was emotional for you to go to the old country. How is
Goran, how is he?
IVAN LJUBICIC: It was beautiful. Maybe the best time I had in the last, I don't
know how long. I mean, it was fantastic. It was very emotional, and the people
really were very happy to see us playing, and we had great fun. And Goran, it's
very good. He's -- he told me, like, I'm serving better than ever. I said, Okay.
Let's see.
And he is really smacking that ball better than ever. It's just he can't do it
more than an hour because his shoulder is falling apart, but for that first
hour, it's impressive, I have to say. He would still be competitive, I think, on
a professional tour.
Q. If you don't mind to follow-up on this, Croatia is doing great in tennis.
Serbia is coming up, too. What's Bosnia doing? You were born there. Just tell --
IVAN LJUBICIC: I have no idea. For me, it's difficult to talk about something
that I really don't know. I mean, I don't know if -- I don't think it's about
facility or it's about anything because I don't think there's any difference
between Bosnia, Croatia, or Serbia. It's just that, I don't know, it takes time.
I think they had some priorities in the last ten years, and that was not tennis.
So I think it's gonna take time for the country to get up and together with
sports, tennis, of course.
I think it's because we are all similar. I mean, at the end of the day, it's not
like there's a big difference between Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, physically or
mentally. We all one country just 20 years ago. So many of us were born already,
and I think it's just mentally, what I said, the priorities were different and
that's -- you have to feel it.
Q. What was the score between you and Goran?
IVAN LJUBICIC: 6-4, for him, 6-3, for me, so we played super tiebreaker. We
stopped at 8-all (Laugher). We decided to split, because -- and I said, like, I
never play draw in my life in tennis, and probably I will never. So it felt like
that's fair. We didn't want to -- because it was charity exhibition. All our
money we gave to the kids in Sarajevo, kids with cancer. So we felt like, you
know, if one or the other win, then people will talk about the result. We didn't
want to do that.
So we just said we didn't have -- we didn't pay for the court any longer than a
half hour. We just walked away (laughter).
Q. Did you play hard?
IVAN LJUBICIC: We played hard, yeah, well, most of it. Of course we played some
fun points, but, I mean, the court was unplayable. It was so fast. It was
ridiculous. He likes it, of course. But, I mean, again, I think he, on those
courts, if the courts are this fast, he could play with anyone. It's just that
those courts doesn't exist anymore.
Q. Just getting back to that point about Davis Cup, the argument the ITF puts
forward is that by having it straight up against a Grand Slam, there's less
chance of getting the big name players to play those earlier rounds.
IVAN LJUBICIC: Yeah.
Q. Whereas if there is that week's gap, it gives them a bit of a break, and
then there's a bit more of a chance. What's your view on that?
IVAN LJUBICIC: Well, my feeling is that if the players are saying this is better
for us, I don't see why the ITF thinks differently. I mean, if Roger, Rafa, or
Andy, James, anyone, everybody is saying, Listen, we would prefer to have it
right after slams, we would. We would play maybe more. And I don't see why the
ITF is saying, No, we don't.
It's the truth. I think we had a problem this year, for example, if it stays
like this, we gonna have more and more problem. Roger didn't play; Rafa didn't
play. Davydenko didn't play; Nalbandian didn't play.
So I think it's getting worse and worse, because I think the sport is getting
more and more physical, and having that gap right after a slam, because in the
case that it is right after the slam, so there are only two players who don't
have a week between the matches and the Davis Cup. So the two finalists. So
let's say --
Q. So it would be four, really, because you'd have to go to the semifinals,
the semifinal is like the second Friday or the second Saturday?
IVAN LJUBICIC: Okay. So from Friday to Friday, that's a week. I think it's -- it
makes more sense than going, I don't know, playing for me, playing Zagreb, then
going to Chile to play away, and then go back to Europe to play indoors. I would
prefer just to go straight from Australia, then to Chile and focus on my two
events. I just see it that way.
I mean, but for me, it's not always difficult to talk because I already said I'm
not going to play Davis Cup anymore. I can just say that that's what is my
feeling, and I would prefer to see it that way for other guys. Because we are
talking in locker room a lot about it, and everybody feels the same way.
So we'll see. I mean, I think we should try again. I mean, I have -- again, I
have no problems about testing. I have no problems about trying. So let's try
one or two years and see if the players are playing more or less. If the players
are playing less, let's go back and see, but I really -- I really feel like if
19 out of 20 say that we would like to see this and that one that didn't sign
actually misunderstand the question, then, you know - that's what happened
actually - then I don't see why we shouldn't at least try and see if, you know,
that's going to make any positive changes.
Because Davis Cup, it's too important as competition not to try to make best out
of it.
Q. Who misunderstood?
IVAN LJUBICIC: Well, the guy who didn't sign. Obviously not natural
English-speaking person.
Q. I got in here a bit late. You were talking about your knee. Did you step
wrong or did you --
IVAN LJUBICIC: No, no, no. It came slowly, slowly. This morning I felt a little
bit, but during the first set, it was -- it was really sore. But this cream that
Bill rubbed in really helped a lot, and he told me, like, don't worry. Because
the first thing I asked was, Can it get really worse or can I hurt badly.
He said, No, it's just inflammation. If you can handle the pain, it's gonna be
all right.
He said, like, Probably the longer you are on court, it's gonna be better, and
that's exactly what happened.
Thank you.
