00:00How satisfied were you of your level today and would you look forward for the next couple
00:10of weeks and the Turin ETO ATP finals?
00:14I mean, look, I have won a Masters so I'm obviously very happy about that and especially
00:19I think today in the final I played a pretty good match, I think solid from the start till
00:24the end.
00:25I mean, I'm looking forward to one last tournament in Turin this year and hopefully I can finish
00:32the season strong.
00:37Sash, congratulations.
00:38Please don't tell us you were at practice now.
00:40Yeah, I was.
00:41You were?
00:42Now?
00:43I just finished.
00:44Amazing.
00:45As you set out some ambitious goals for next year, are there any benchmarks that you foresee?
00:52Result wise?
00:53No, result wise, no.
00:56For me, I think I have goals for sure.
00:59I think the goals are quite obvious for everyone, but for me right now it's about improving
01:06my game and then the results, I will let the results come to me.
01:12I cannot force the results.
01:15I didn't come here this week thinking about, oh, I for sure want to win this tournament.
01:19No, I want to improve.
01:20I want to get better and I want to improve my game.
01:23So that's what I'm doing and that's what I'm trying to do every day.
01:29Sasha, did you get any sense at the very beginning that this was going to be, as I can see you
01:38through the tree, that this was going to be a relatively comfortable day?
01:45No match is obviously easy, but it's certainly more comfortable than the previous two matches
01:49you played against him?
01:51I mean, no, I didn't have a feeling that it was going to be two and two, but actually
01:56from the start and from the rallies in the first games, even when I lost the rallies,
02:02I felt like the ball was quite well in my racket.
02:06And when I have this feeling, I feel well on the court.
02:08I feel comfortable and confident, maybe being a bit more aggressive, going for more shots
02:14than I usually do.
02:16And against him it was important.
02:18I think he's one of the best players when he's aggressive.
02:21I think he's maybe struggling a bit still when he has to defend.
02:26So when I put him in a position where he has to defend, I think that's a position where
02:30I'm comfortable and he's not.
02:32So yeah, I felt great off the back of the court and I think against him that was the
02:39key today.
02:40Congratulations, Sacha.
02:45Sometimes it's tough to play against lefty, left-handed players.
02:49I don't know if you like it or not, but it was your 26th consecutive victory against
02:54a lefty.
02:55Did you know that?
02:56And do you know the last time that you lost against a left-handed player?
03:00It was almost two years ago, just at the beginning when you came back on the tour.
03:03I think Davis Cup, right?
03:05Against Switzerland.
03:06Yeah.
03:07And then I was still coming back, so I could have lost to anyone.
03:10But yeah, I mean, I knew that.
03:14So for sure, I mean, lefties for me are maybe more natural than for others, because I obviously
03:22grew up with my brother who was a lefty.
03:23So this is all I kind of practiced with when I was young.
03:28So for me, obviously, maybe the top spins, maybe the slice serves and everything like
03:32that, I'm maybe more used to it.
03:34But still, lefties can be tricky.
03:36But everybody else can as well.
03:38Anyone else?
03:44Sascha, just coming back to your practice session, after such a final, did you work
03:48on a specific thing a few minutes ago?
03:51And would you say what and when is your next practice session?
03:56Wednesday.
03:59But yeah, for me, the result, it's great.
04:03And I'm extremely satisfied and I'm happy about that.
04:05But as I said in the beginning of the week, for me, I want to improve some things for
04:09me to achieve my really big goals.
04:12And I'm happy with the final.
04:15I'm happy with the tournament.
04:16Of course, I'm sitting here with a trophy from a Masters 1000 event.
04:20But there's still some things that I want to improve.
04:22And this is a process of a few months.
04:24And I'm improving for next year already, hopefully.
04:28Sascha, congratulations.
04:31You won two times the finals.
04:35So it's a tournament that you like.
04:40Which will be most important in Turin?
04:43The physical condition, the mental condition?
04:45Because the season is very long, it's very demanding.
04:48And so it's important to find the balance between body and mind.
05:01I think for Turin, everybody becomes motivated.
05:04It's such a special tournament.
05:05It's such a special atmosphere and feeling when you're there and only eight players in
05:09the world are there.
05:10So you feel special already playing there.
05:11So I think everybody's motivated.
05:13Everybody wants to win this title and play good tennis.
05:16So I think that's not the case.
05:18Maybe the later tournaments in the season, which are normal tournaments, there maybe
05:24some players are a bit more tired, maybe lacking motivation a bit.
05:28I think in Turin, once you made that tournament, you're fighting all year to make the cut there.
05:34So I think once you're there, you're going to give it your best and everybody else will
05:39as well.
05:40And at the end of the day, you're only playing the best eight players in the world.
05:44So there's no easy matches and you have to play your best tennis from the first match
05:48on.
05:49Good evening, Sascha, and congratulations.
05:52You played a lot of matches this year.
05:53I think it was your 66th victory today.
05:56Are you going to be a bit more selective in the tournaments you play next year?
05:59Because you said that you really wanted to win a first Grand Slam.
06:02In order to achieve that, do you have to play less matches and to focus really on the big
06:06tournaments?
06:07Do I?
06:08I don't know.
06:12I think every player is different.
06:14Every player has his own way.
06:16For me, I mean, I played all the Masters events, which I will play next year as well, for sure.
06:22I think the biggest tournament that HP has.
06:26I will hopefully play all the Grand Slams.
06:29And then, you know, there's not that many tournaments that I played, actually.
06:32There's only very selective tournaments that I played.
06:33Of course, with the Olympics this year, two tournaments came along, which were more, I
06:38mean, with Hamburg and Olympics.
06:40But apart from that, I didn't play that extremely much.
06:43You know, after the Australian Open, I took a month off.
06:46I only played two tournaments in Mexico before the Masters events.
06:49Then, you know, on clay, I played only Munich outside the Masters events.
06:53So it's not like I'm playing every single week and I'm chasing points.
06:57On grass, I played one tournament before Wimbledon.
07:00You know, after the U.S. Open, I played only Shanghai, Vienna, and here.
07:04So it's not like I'm playing every single week.
07:08I've won a lot of matches, which is beneficial.
07:11Everybody wants to win a lot of matches, but I wouldn't say I played a lot of tournaments
07:15this year.
07:16Anyone else?
07:17Last one?
07:18Last?
07:19Sascha, what's bigger for you, winning a major or getting to number one for the first
07:27time?
07:28That's a very good question.
07:34I honestly believe that in tennis these days, it comes hand in hand.
07:39I don't think, I think it's very difficult to be world number one without winning a slam.
07:44I had the chance in 2022 if I would have not gotten injured.
07:48So that's rare because there was still special occasions.
07:50There was obviously, Novak didn't play a lot of events because he wasn't vaccinated.
07:56Rafa started the year very strong and then got a bit hurt.
07:59Medvedev got hurt as well.
08:01He had back surgery that year.
08:02So it was, you know, a weird year.
08:05It was not like everybody was playing all the tournaments and they were in full strength
08:09all the tournaments.
08:10So it was different.
08:11But I think now when everybody's playing and everybody's playing at full strength and everybody's
08:16healthy, you have to win Grand Slams to become world number one.
08:20I'm world number two now, but I'm what, 3,000 points away from Janik, right?
08:24It's more or less, maybe more even.
08:28I think without the Grand Slams or without the points of the Grand Slams, it's not possible
08:32anymore.
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