Q. 6 3, 6 2, 2 0, and then what happened?
JURGEN MELZER: Well, I changed the match. Well, the only thing I told myself, It's my first quarterfinals in my life in a Grand Slam. Just don't go away. Just don't make it easy for him. Fight as much as you can, and I was I wasn't playing so bad. I just missed a lot of easy shots when I had the chance and the opportunity to finish the point.
And after that, I mean, I got back in, and at 2 All in the third it was an open match. I think I got a little under the skin after the third set.
I should win the fourth set probably earlier than I actually did, and then the fifth was just a battle.
Q. Did you feel better and better as long as the match was your sensation on the court was...
JURGEN MELZER: No, I felt slow in the beginning. Like every time he got me out of my backhand I was struggling to get any depth in my shot. I missed a lot of shots into the net, but my body just kind of got loose after two sets to love down.
Nothing to lose anyways, and then I played the match of my life. Q. Great comeback. It was a feast for the public. The point is, the first question you almost answered, is it that you put your whole career in that, after being Love 2 down? Is it like you didn't just play just a quarterfinal Roland Garros, but it was like maybe you saw it as like the match of your life? And the second thing is when you missed that first match point on the forehand easy volley, the slice volley, how did you feel? How did you make up for yourself in your mind?
JURGEN MELZER: Well, I just thought, Okay, get another one and make that one. Of course it was an easy volley. I have missed a lot of these volleys in my life. I don't like them too much.
Well, at the end, it's just like getting to another chance and just believing you're gonna win. I think all those break points I played good points. I came in and won.
And then at the end, it's just a battle. You just I mean, of course we were both tired and everything hurt. I just got through. Q. Did you feel you put your whole kind of career in this match?
JURGEN MELZER: That's a big sentence, put my career into a match. Q. I think a lot of players may get to, say, 27, 28, 29, and think, My chance is never going to come. What do you think is the difference that's kept you going and believing across all these years?
JURGEN MELZER: That I'm a good tennis player. It was just a few links here and there were missing. As long as you believe in yourself I had enough as I said earlier, I have enough game or I had enough game all the time. I played good matches.
I mean, remembering the Murray match when he made the finals at the US Open, I had him there. It had to click, and then I started to believe in myself. I started to actually believe I can win those big matches.
As I said before, Vienna in the last year gave me big confidence boost winning at home. Well, then it's just the more matches you win on a high level, the more confidence you get.
For me, it was never a question of talent. It was more in the head. Q. Did you feel stronger physically in the fifth than him?
JURGEN MELZER: I felt pretty good. It was just I didn't really lose too much energy in the first two sets, so I could throw everything into the third, fourth, and fifth.
I mean, I don't know. I can tell you tomorrow how tired I'm gonna be. Q. Great comeback. You want to enjoy the moment more, make it longer, or you just change your mind and think about a semifinal because it's your first semifinal in Grand Slam?
JURGEN MELZER: Right now I enjoy the moment. Q. You don't want to think about Nadal?
JURGEN MELZER: Well, I want to think about Nadal. I have still tomorrow to think about Nadal. I played the biggest match of my life just maybe an hour ago.
Of course you want to have a straight mindset when you think about Nadal. At the moment, that wouldn't be possible. Q. At the end of the match, you turned around and you just put your hands on your hips and you stared into the end zone there. I don't want to read your mind, but it just looked like your thought was how proud you were of yourself.
JURGEN MELZER: I did it. That's what I thought. I actually did it.
I mean, those emotions that are coming through after you miss an opportunity like that on match point and then being break points down, you never know what happens if it's 5 All.
And then when this match is over, it's a relief you cannot imagine. Everybody acts different. I was just staring. Q. Forgive me if you've been asked this before, but the charm around your neck, what is that?
JURGEN MELZER: It's a Mickey Mouse with a soccer ball. My girlfriend has the other, Minnie Mouse. (laughter.) Q. Can you elaborate on why? Is it just a fun charm, or does it mean something more?
JURGEN MELZER: Well, it's the World Cup coming up, no? That's why I need the soccer ball. I'm a big soccer fan.
No, we just have those charms. We have been exchanging every time over the last year. It's something we always do. Q. I don't think the mouse really expresses your personality today.
JURGEN MELZER: Probably not. But the mouse also is like they're fast, and I was fast out there. Q. I think you wasted something like 20 break points against Djokovic. In those situations, how do you manage to keep a positive mind?
JURGEN MELZER: You always think you cannot miss so many break points. There has to be one you make, and at the end I did.
At 4 All in the fifth, I finally broke him. Of course I had a lot of opportunities that I missed, especially in the fourth set. But at the end it doesn't matter. I played a great tiebreaker, and then finally broke at 4 All. Q. There was a famous Austrian left hander who was going to playing in the Legends today. Have you drawn any inspiration from Thomas Muster and what he achieved, especially on this surface?
JURGEN MELZER: When I was young or now? Q. Well, either, or both, perhaps.
JURGEN MELZER: Right now, not too much. When I was young, of course. As I said, the way he was working, the way he was the professionalism that he had throughout his whole career, it's unique, and that you have to have as an idol.
But playing wise, we are so different that he was not really an idol. |
