16/01/2012 10:42 CEST - TENNIS

F. Verdasco - 16.01.2012

Q. Can you talk a little bit about how the match got away after the first two sets.
FERNANDO VERDASCO: Well, it was very hot out there. The two first sets was hard. I won the first two sets and I saw that he was, like, down in the beginning of the third, with the head down, like don't even going in the first game for a few balls.
But I think he serve well in the third set. The serve keep him in the match. And then I start feeling a little bit bad on the court. I think that after he won the third set he got confidence, and I didn't really feel good till the fifth set.
I start feeling much better and playing better in the beginning of the fifth set, but I think that he was already with much more confidence and believing that he can win.
I think the key was that I was not able to close the match in three sets and gave him hope. You know, I just thought that if I didn't have also a little bit that problem and pain in my stomach in the third set, you know, I think that I would have more chances to win.
But it was like that. I cannot really change everything now, so... I think that he played also well and he deserve and he was fighting all the time. He was also playing well, so... I can't really say much more.

Q. Was it the heat or you had a stomachache or both?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: No, I start feeling I don't know like nauseous on the court. I just think it was a lot of heat. I been in Perth and Auckland, and not even one day was this hot.
So it was tough just to come here two days ago and just, you know, go on court and play with this high temperature.
But I just start feeling at the end of the second set, I was lucky that I won the tiebreak. I played solid and I won the tiebreak, but I start feeling bad. That's why I went to the bathroom at the end of the second set. I just felt bad for the third and the fourth set.
I think that also he play well, like I said. I'm not taking anything from him, like he doesn't deserve or he didn't play good and it was all me and all my mistake.
I think he played well, but I didn't be able to give my hundred percent in that two sets. And I gave him, like I said before, the hope and the belief.
So at the fifth set I felt good, I gave everything, I play much better, but he play much better, too, after winning the third and the fourth.

Q. He said at the start of the third set he tried to trick you by making you think his body language was down and he was beaten.
FERNANDO VERDASCO: I'm sure, yeah, he can say that. But I'm pretty sure if I will make a break at the beginning of the third set, he will go, he will let it go away.
You know, of course, after the match it's easy to see everything. It's easy to say that he was just looking down and trying to make me think, but he didn't really make me think. I was just feeling bad with myself and with my body. I was just not be able to even move. That's why he started winning a lot of points in the baseline, when in the first and second set he was not winning that many.
So, you know, when is so hot like this and things like this happens I been looking to call the doctors, too, but I don't think that calling the doctors was the solution, no? When you're feeling like this with the stomach pain, the doctor cannot really help you with a lot.
So I just thought that I was waiting to try to recover, and I did. I did at 5 2 of the fourth set. I start feeling better. The pain went away. I started playing again hundred percent, at least being able to run and fight.

Q. Were you actually physically sick when you went off court?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: When I went what?

Q. When you left the court, were you actually physically sick?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: You mean like after the match?

Q. During the match, when you left the court.
FERNANDO VERDASCO: No, no, no. When I start the match, was perfect. I just started feeling the problems in my stomach at the end of the second set till the end of the third set. Even like that, that's why I said like I won the second set but I was already not feeling well.
I won that set, and for me was like, you know, a big breath because I was feeling already bad for few games. I thought that, you know, if I start at least be able to break him at the beginning of the third set, he will not be able to come back, no? Because with this heat, being two sets to love down is hard mentally.
But, you know, I just think, like I said at the beginning, that he served well at the beginning of the third set. I was not able to put a lot of returns in, and tried to play more aggressive so I don't need to run so much when I was not feeling good.
But he served good and he didn't let me that chance. So finally he made me the break and he start playing better.