00:00Hi Danilo, I'm Flo from QualityShop. I was just wondering, your game style seems like
00:10it suits grass really well. Would you say that you feel more confident going into a
00:14tournament on grass and how would you describe your relationship with the surface?
00:19Yeah, I probably feel more confident and in a way I feel like my high level is higher
00:26on grass and on clay, but then hardcore stays the surface where I feel the most confident
00:31and where I know I can win whatever happens etc. But look, I played very good last year
00:37in Wimbledon, I played a very good match today, so I'm feeling great, I'm looking forward
00:42and I need to keep going, it's going to be a tough road and I will try to go all the
00:47way.
00:49Hi Danilo, you said you played very good last year, was it learning last year that it's
00:54going to help you this year?
00:58I think yeah, I think before last year, if I'm not mistaken, I only made 4th round in
01:04Wimbledon and I always felt kind of not bad, but sometimes you know, you get like a Huracach
01:11or someone else and it's a big serve and you can lose some tie-breaks. Last year I managed
01:16to go step-by-step till the semi-finals and with Carlos I had to do much better, I lost
01:21easy to be honest. So again, I think this for sure gives me confidence for this year
01:27knowing that I can take this step-by-step and then against the best players I need to
01:31be better and I'm ready to do it.
01:33Danilo, last year you went deep into the tournament and this tournament the courts played really
01:40different from the first rounds to the later stages. Which kind of surface do you prefer
01:49here?
01:50It's a bit tough to say because I feel like every year is different, like some years a
01:56bit faster, some years a bit slower. What is for sure that the later the tournament
02:01goes a little more bad bounces on the baseline because we step on it with the foot after
02:06the serve and stuff like this. So in a way I think it's a bit tougher to play in the
02:13later stages and at the same time you get all this like repetitions confidence in so
02:17you play better. So only one time I played in the semis here, you know, so tough for
02:24me to say the difference. The only thing I feel is that court one is always very different
02:29from center court which is a bit strange and I would say I would see center court a bit
02:34slower to be honest, like higher bounce and slower. Maybe I'm wrong. And it was like last
02:40year it was really not easy for me to get used to this change in the semis. But look,
02:50I'm joking about it. Before the tournament I played on center court and last year I played
02:54on court one. So hopefully it gets me the confidence for center court.
02:59Hi Daniil, service numbers look good today. I just wondered how you're feeling generally
03:05about your serve right now. How much you're able to practice it at the moment?
03:10Actually a lot. I think, to be honest, I felt very good in Roland Garros with my serve which
03:18I managed to practice before. On grass I would want it better. But it's OK. During the tournament
03:26many times I was, throughout my career, able to push it up. I think today was good. I guess
03:34the percentage was high. I didn't look it up yet. Could be more precise, but it's OK.
03:39I'm going into perfection. So I hope to continue improving it during the tournament. I'm feeling
03:45good with my shoulder and that's the most important.
03:47It's another serve question, just on underarm serves, which you've used, it's been used
03:53on you. Can I just ask you how good a tactic you think it is both to use yourself but also
03:57against someone like you who likes to stand quite far back?
04:01I think, first of all, I have never had anything against it. The only thing I could think about
04:08is sometimes when we trick the underarm serve, so usually someone would bounce the ball five
04:14times on the ground and then when he does the underarm to trick you, he does it straight
04:18away. It's a bit debatable whether or not it should be considered as, no, you bounce
04:24it five times like you do always and then you do the underarm. This is a little bit
04:28of a different question. Again, I used it sometimes myself. I think it's a fair tactic.
04:35I do think it's a tactic that has its limits and that's why no one is using it too much,
04:40you know, to surprise one, two times, yes. If you do it the third time, it's going to
04:45be, I feel like, tough for you to win the point. Same, I mean, on grass, when you can
04:52hit a first serve ace, I prefer to go for the ace but then, you never know, maybe one
04:57time I'm going to do it, sneak one in there. Yeah, not much more to add.
05:05What are your thoughts on the matches at majors being five sets as opposed to everywhere else
05:11we do three? Look, I always said that I completely, like, understand it and I think it's very
05:17spectacular and good. If you ask me, I would prefer three sets. That's just my personal
05:23opinion, you know, and I don't even have a valid explanation for this, just how I want
05:31it. But what is true is that it makes it much more intense mentally, physically. Again,
05:41like the Australian Open I did this year was pretty special memories because of the five
05:46sets I won. So, yeah.
05:50When you said, just one follow-up, you said you don't know if you have a valid reason.
05:54What are your reasons?
05:55I think five sets is much tougher for the body, so I can get more injuries. From what
06:04I hear from many people on TV, okay, if you have a crazy five setter that goes five hours,
06:09it's great and it stays in the history. But if it's like a little bit up and down four
06:14setter that goes for three hour 30, I think many people like stop watching it from time
06:19to time and they go in and out. In general, yeah, I think for the TV is not easy, like,
06:25not knowing when the match exactly is going to be because of the previous matches. It's
06:29the same for the players. So all like this small details, I would be like, okay, with
06:33three sets. And at the same time, who knows, maybe we would have a different record, different
06:39record holders if it was out of three. And that makes it also beautiful at the same time.
06:44So I'm like somewhere in the middle, but a little bit leaning towards three sets.
06:48Hey, Daniel, what specifically have you worked on in order to get yourself more comfortable
06:54and more effective on grass in particular shots of footwork? Everyone always talks about
06:59the movement, but that seems sort of obvious. You have to move well everywhere.
07:04For me, it's a lot about repetition. Like when I come on grass first week, I would always
07:10like my forehand, I would, especially with my big swing, I would hit it too late many
07:15times in the net and not a good rhythm. It's so different from clay. And again, I see it
07:22on practice. Some players, I see them coming, you know, from good result in Roland-Garros
07:26and like Alex De Minar and win her Toggenbosch. I cannot, I feel like I cannot do this. I
07:31need time to adapt. And that's why I feel like usually my best game on grass was coming
07:37like either Wimbledon or the week before. And I was working a lot on everything, movement,
07:43different muscles work. So a lot of physical work to like low back, glutes, so that they
07:48don't get too sore. Otherwise, low back can get injured. A lot of serve for sure. And
07:55again, a lot of repetition of just hitting the ball and trying to find the rhythm.
07:59Last English question.
08:01Hi, Gilles, just a random one for me. A couple of days ago, Carlos was in here and he was
08:07asked whether to kind of get the feelings back on grass, whether he watches YouTube
08:13videos of great grass court players. And he said, yeah, I do. And I also watch videos
08:17of myself at my peak to kind of remind myself how that goes. Is that something tennis players
08:24do? Would you ever watch a video of like your best matches to kind of remind yourself?
08:30I do sometimes. It's like I am always someone who is like, sometimes I do things, sometimes
08:38I don't. So like a couple of times when I won big tournaments, even I remember during
08:44the US Open, which I won, I would after the match, a good match, I would come in the room
08:49and not rewatch the full match, but watch the highlights of this match to remember the
08:53good shots I made. And then some of the tournaments I won and I didn't do it. So it's the same
08:58on grass, actually, for whatever reason, I'm much more focused on myself on the court rather
09:07like than watching myself on videos, etc. On clay this year, I actually tried to watch
09:14the Rome of last year to see what I did exactly to to win this tournament, where I was good,
09:20where my game was good. Did it help me? I don't know. The results were not the same.
09:26But yeah, as I say, you know, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. It's just the way I
09:29feel at the moment. And if I have free time, other people, sometimes like same or if I'm
09:35going to come home now, it's going to be football. So probably we'll watch football. But like
09:40if I come home, I may have a laptop on tennis and TV on football or if there is no football
09:47or TV on tennis, but like not on purpose. But if it's a good match, especially why not?
09:54Right. Thank you. Thank you.
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