00:00How does it feel to be here in Melbourne, where you won your first Grand Slam title
00:09last year?
00:10Yeah, it's a very special place to be back. Many, many things have changed on and off
00:18the court and I'm very glad that this memory is always, or will always be, in my mind for
00:27so many years. So let's see what I can do this year. It's a question that I think nobody
00:33of us can answer, but it's good to be back here and then we'll see what the tournament
00:39is going to say.
00:42English questions first, anyone? Raise your hand and introduce yourself.
00:46First of all, happy new year. Why did you choose to start your season here in Melbourne
00:59and not play any tournament before?
01:04Because last season was very, very long. I played also the Davies Cup, then after you
01:09need some time to rest, to reset everything, and you have to make a certain amount of off-season
01:16to prepare your body in the best possible way. You're making some technical and tactical
01:24changes in your game and you need time. So we decided to not play any tournaments before.
01:31You never know what's going to happen, especially the first round. In a Grand Slam you never
01:37know, but I know how much work we put in and then we'll see how it goes. You need a certain
01:45amount of off-season.
01:47How would you say becoming world number one and winning two Grand Slams last year has
01:57affected your life? I'm thinking about the impact maybe on your personal life and the
02:01things you want to do in your spare time, as well as the impact that all those extra
02:05responsibilities and commitments have on perhaps the amount of time you can put into
02:09your tennis.
02:10Yeah, it was a massive change. Many, many things have changed. Last year there were
02:17so, so many first times. Not only the first time winning Grand Slam, but then also the
02:24year before, the first time of the Davies Cup. And then after becoming world number
02:31one and winning also the year-end finals, there are not so many first times left in
02:38our sport. Obviously there are still two different Grand Slams, what I'm still missing,
02:46but I know exactly what to expect.
02:50We could have managed a couple of things slightly better, yes, of course. This is what we want
02:56to do better this year on, but mostly also off the court. We're 23 years old, you don't
03:06know exactly what the right thing is to do sometimes.
03:10What is it like playing against Carlos Sanchez?
03:27Carlos, that rivalry is such an exciting part of men's tennis at the moment. What it's actually
03:32like playing against him, how different it is playing against him compared to the other
03:37opponents?
03:38Yeah, you have more tension, you have more eyes on us, because this is a match we, or
03:48most people, want to see. Then obviously there are so many other great, great players who
03:52are in the mix with us.
04:03When this happens, the feeling is, I think he also feels a bit the same way, it's a bit
04:10different. Young players, usually we play a high-quality match, because when two players
04:21face each other and you bring out your best, the quality of the match usually is very high.
04:29I think that's it. At the end of the day, it's a tennis match, we try to do our best
04:35and hopefully the people and the crowd enjoy it.
04:38You mentioned in the off-season technical and tactical changes you wanted to make. You
04:46might not want to share any of that, but is there anything you're prepared to say about
04:50what those changes were?
04:53On every shot, slightly small, small changes, but it's small details. At a certain point
05:01they could make the difference. Of course one part is very important for me, it's trying
05:06to mix up the game a little bit more, trying to move forward a little bit. That's exactly
05:10what we were trying to do in the off-season. Service motion, slightly different. Even if
05:18from outside you cannot see these changes, but as a player you realise it. That's it.
05:26I think tennis is an all-around game, also the physical part is very important, the mental
05:30part is very important. We made some changes, but let's see this year how it goes.
05:38Do you have clarity on when your cast hearing is going to be? I know there's been some speculation
05:46about timing for that. How much has that pending date been affecting your mood or stress
05:53levels at all?
05:54I know exactly as much as you guys know. We are in a stage where we don't know many, many
06:01things. You think about this, of course. I would lie if I told you I forget. It's not
06:11like this because it's something I have with me now already for quite a long time. It is
06:21what it is. I'm here trying to prepare for the Grand Slam. Let's see how it goes.
06:30How do you block that part of it out? There's a word, compartmentalise, where you put the
06:39bad stuff in a box and then you go through this stuff. I'm curious, how do you handle
06:44the noise? Even here, you have Nick with his tweets and referencing it.
06:51I don't think I have to answer this, to be honest. How do I block it? It's not that you
06:58just put it in a part and you just say, I don't think anymore about this, but in my
07:03mind I know exactly what happened. That's how I block it. I haven't done anything wrong.
07:14That's why I'm still here. That's why I'm still playing. I don't want to respond to
07:18what Nick said or what other players say. I think the most important part is to have
07:26my people around me who I can trust. People, they exactly know what happened and that's
07:34it.
07:42I just wanted to ask you about pretty much what Russell said. Did those tests put any
07:52doubt in your head as to whenever you take a medicine or what you eat, are you nervous
07:58about anything post the test last year?
08:02No, because I've done the same thing before. As I approach these things, they haven't changed.
08:14Before I was very, very careful on every single medicine I take or even what I eat, when the
08:21bottle is open, I throw it away, I take a new one. I was always very, very careful about
08:27this stuff and it hasn't changed.
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