Media Conference
Transcript - Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Tommy Robredo (Spain)
9/01/2010
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Tommy Robredo
Press Conference
Ladies and gentlemen the Hopman Cup champions.
Where are the diamonds?
(Robredo)Who knows?
How does it feel to be the champions?
(Robredo) Me or her?
(Sanchez) Well I think that it’s amazing. I’ve never felt the sensation after winning here. Tommy has but me, it’s the first time and it’s unbelievable, really.
(Robredo) Well I think it’s great to win here. Also the way we had to win today – Maria had her best match on singles after her week, she played amazing. Then being 1-0 down and playing against Andy Murray, it’s so tough. I had to play a great match and I did it and I’m so proud. After that we had to win the mixed because Laura and Andy, they played great, and we had to be aggressive all of the time. Well it’s amazing when you can win a tie and come back from 1-0 down, so we are very happy and it’s great.
You were one set down, 4 all in the second, you were pretty close to losing. How did you manage to turn it around?
(Robredo) Well obviously I was pretty close to losing playing against Murray because normally he’s a great player and at the beginning he was playing great and I couldn’t do much. Then I was just holding myself and holding myself, waiting to see if I had my chance and on the 5-4 for me I got this chance. So then the match changed completely and he was not feeling that good and me – I was just going up, going up, going up and I could win the world no.4 in the world. It’s great because then we had the confidence and everything and the point to try and win the tie and we did it. We were happy because to be here, to have our name here, it’s great. To have these balls at home it’s amazing.
Tommy this is your second win, its your second ball, how did this compare tot he first time you won it?
(Robredo) Well every time you win you are very happy, no? You can enjoy it so much. Last time I was with Arantxa, this time with Maria Jose and I think that this one is more special because beating Andy Murray on singles and then the mixed, that it was so close – I think that normally when you win a match 6-0, 6-0 you can be happy if it’s the woman in final. But if you win that final 7-6 on the 5th set it’s a lot more exciting. So today everything was going on a bad position, in a bad way and then we could come back we are both very happy.
Maria Jose, you’ve seen a lot of young players I’m sure in your career come through. What do you think of Laura Robson and what perhaps she can achieve in the game?
(Sanchez) Well I think that she’s a great player, she played so good. Especially when she plays against one top player she’s plays really good. She doesn’t have nothing to lose and when you play against a top player, if you have nothing to lose and you just play, it’s the best.
Tommy to win all four of your matches and obviously the win over Murray, it must give you a lot of confidence going into the Australian open?
(Robredo) Yeah it’s great. I mean leaving here without losing any matches is great, it’s better than I was expecting. Tonight I’m flying to Auckland because next week I’m playing another tournament and I want to keep playing my best. We’ll see if at the end of the year I’ll be of the top of ranking. That’s my goal and I want to try. I’m not going to stop now after winning this title so this is great but it’s already the past. Now we have to look forward for the next week for the Aussie Open which is the most important tournament of the first one of the year. Hopefully I can keep playing like this and if I do I’m going to rise to the top rank I’m sure.
So what are you expectations? Have you set a goal – semi-finals, quarter-finals, finals for the Australian Open?
(Robredo) Obviously, as I said all of the time in interviews, I did a great thing on my career – all of the time to be on the top 20, top 30 all of my career. So this is a great achievement but I never reached the semi-finals in a Grand Slam so that’s the thing I would like to try and that’s why I’m working hard every day. For me now to finish 20 in the world is great but it’s ok. But to finish a Grand Slam knowing I’m in the semi-finals or in the finals or winning – I never could achieve those things so I’m looking forward to try this and in a week I’m going to have the chance to play for that. I hope I can play my best and let’s see if in the Aussie Open I can beat because I’m not going to retire this year. I’m going to be looking forward to do a great thing in a great tournament so that’s my goal for now until I’ll be retired for sure.
Tommy you’ve been inside the top 10 before, beating someone like Andy Murray who’s world number 4, does that give you hope about forcing you way back inside the top 10 again?
(Robredo) Well obviously it’s not giving me points to be there but it gives me the confidence that sometimes you don’t believe that you can win these guys but today I believed that I could and I was fighting till the end and I got the prize. Maybe one day I’m not going to get the prize but if at the end of the year every time I play these guys, I try last moment. Maybe I’m going to win one, two, three times to them and then I’m not going to be number 16 in the world, I’m going to be in the top 10 for sure. You play these guys when you’re up to the quarter finals or when you arrive to the semi finals so the tournament is on important grounds and varies a lot of points. So if I can win these guys one, two, three times, then it’s going to change a lot, the points that I have in my career.
A lot of people are saying that looking a picture of you in 2002 and looking at you today, it doesn’t seem as though you’ve changed at all. Is it perhaps the fact that you were able to maintain your level, your fitness, your youth almost that gives you a great chance of surviving and getting better?
(Robredo) Well there is a matter of treating myself well like running, stretching, massage and being focused on what I want and working hard, as I was doing. In my life as a tennis player I didn’t change much because I am the same worker person as I was before. If I didn’t change that much I’m happy because it means that the facial cream that I’m using works. So hopefully I can keep using that and in 10, 15 years I’m going to look like the same so I’m going to be happy.
Tommy what did you think of Laura Robson? You had quite a lot of good rallies with her today. Were you impressed or surprised?
(Robredo) Well I’m impressed that she’s 15 and she can handle to play against Murray on her side. This is great from her. Also she’s a player that being that young every time she hits the ball, she backs the ball very well and the ball flies quickly to the other side of the court. If you don’t play what you have to do, then you’re going to lose. All of the time she’s pushing hard and hitting very hard. Obviously I had to get impressed from her because winning Maria today, even though Maria today she didn’t play her best match, she had to be there. Maria was fighting till the last moment and she wanted to win and Laura, she was there and playing great shots and she deserved to win at the end. So I think that to do these things she can handle the pressure very good. The first day I was watching her making some double faults but today she did not one, even with Maria in the mixed. She knew that I was returning. I was moving to her, trying to make her lose her concentration or making some double faults, but she was not doing it. She was hitting the ball good. I got a really good experience from her and for sure if she could keep going like that she’s going to be a great player.
What time do you have to fly out tonight?
(Robredo) Are you going to come with me? I’m leaving at 11 – the planes leaving.
Not much time to celebrate then?
(Robredo) I’m happy enough to know that I did a great thing, that we did a great thing. At the end of the year if I can have a lot of titles then I’m going to celebrate it in a good way. Today I could go and celebrate it and go party and do crazy stuff like if I had won a great title. But then tomorrow I am flying to Auckland and playing so if my goal is trying to be in the top rankings I cannot get this prize right now. Maybe if I do a great tour in Australia – Hopman, Auckland and Melbourne, for sure after Melbourne I’m going to do a great celebration with my friends at home. Here as well its hard – her, me, the boyfriend and the coach. So there is not much to celebrate. But in Europe when we have our people there then we will have fun, for sure.
Tommy did you have a chance to speak to Maria Jose after she lost her singles and if so what did you say to her?
(Robredo) Today no it was the only day that I did not have much time. There is nothing you can do now. We were trying to talk to her during the match and the umpire was looking all the time saying “you cannot do that”. After she lost there is nothing to say. She’s a really smart girl and she knows very much what she did wrong, what she did well. On the first three matches that she played she was analysing it very good but in the match today she couldn’t. But after the match she knew exactly why she lost and she was hoping me to win because she wanted to come back to court and play her best and take out this knife that she had in her heart. That’s what she said to me and after she came back to court she played great. It is a great thing, a great achievement from her. After losing to Laura it is a really hard shot for her but she was there fighting again and winning the title which is great. After a fall down you have to recover and she did so it’s going to be great for her for the next c couple of weeks.
Maria Jose did you truly believe in your heart that Tommy could beat Andy?
(Sanchez) Well of course. I knew that it was difficult but Tommy is always fighting until the end. When he started to play more aggressive in the second set, I trusted him.
Can we just get a quick line form you both on what it means to win for your country? Being that your both proud and patriotic people, what does it mean to win this game?
(Robredo) Well it’s great to win for Spain for sure. This is not like the Davis Cup that you play at home or in the honour of your country. In Spain nobody was watching this on TV and some of our friends still don’t know that we won. But obviously when you defend because of your Country you want to do your best. Today we didn’t play for our country, we played for ourselves because we wanted to win and for sure this is a win that Spain has on their career but I think that today Maria Jose and Tommy did a great job. All the people from Spain, all the people are happy; they will congratulate us for sure.
Thank you.
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