00:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
00:30Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
01:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
01:29Pat, I didn't have my headset on listening when there was a sort of moment where you were having what looked to be a fairly intense conversation with Andre.
01:40I was just curious what you guys were talking about and what your impressions were as you were observing the match from your position at this point.
01:48Did you listen to the conversation?
01:50No, I said I wasn't.
01:50Oh, you were watching, right.
01:51I didn't have my headphones in at the time.
01:53I don't know what I was saying to him.
01:54We could have just been talking a big pile of shit, for all I know.
01:58But we were having, obviously, a discussion about it.
02:01I think the intensity in my face might have been saying, I don't know what else Riley can do here.
02:06Especially the surface it doesn't obviously really suit him very well.
02:09But in saying that, if it was fast, I still don't know how you get back rude serve today.
02:16He served at, I think he must have made over 20 to 25 first serves in a row.
02:20And I looked across at Tim Henman and I went, I've never ever seen a serving display like this in my life.
02:27And he just said, I totally agree.
02:30It was impressive.
02:31And Riley hung in there and he did everything he could.
02:33And he had so much pressure on him.
02:35What I was really impressed with was if he lapses for half a split second,
02:40any time in that second set, it's 6-4, 6-4.
02:44And he didn't.
02:44He held together.
02:45When a guy's serving like that, there's not much he can do.
02:48He had to fight hard in a couple of service games.
02:50He did it.
02:50He did everything he could do.
02:52Yeah, you can go, well, I should have could as I could not.
02:54Maybe I shouldn't have played that slow forehand approach, you know, in the breaker,
02:58which cost him the point.
03:00But in hindsight, you know, that's always easy.
03:03I really couldn't fault him.
03:06I was just sitting there going, mate, you're doing everything you can.
03:10And Riley, can I just ask you, you said the surface is really tough for a server?
03:15Yeah, I mean, I don't know if it's the surface of the ball or the combination,
03:19but it's quite unique.
03:21And can you expand on the uniqueness of it and just like what it feels like compared with
03:27other indoor surfaces, I guess, is the only fair thing to compare it to?
03:32Yeah, it's just bizarre.
03:33It's kind of like a sandpaper surface with a ball that really puffs up.
03:37But, you know, it's not like I was also able to use it to my advantage.
03:41I won a lot of points from the baseline today because a guy like Casper, you know,
03:45if I give him a high forehand, it's point over no matter what, no matter where in the court it is.
03:50And on a court like this today, I got to be able to defend and work my way back into some rally.
03:55So it works for, you know, both sides.
03:57Like, yeah, I may not get 25 aces on this surface, but I'm also going to get some more chances
04:04and second, third chances and points that normally I wouldn't.
04:06But he just served really well today where that wasn't the case.
04:09The one time he didn't serve great, I had a bunch of break points.
04:11It's slower than any other court you'll find in tennis.
04:19What I think the difference to me is with the surface is, yes, it's slow.
04:24But if you hit your targets really tight, it can still go through like we saw with Rudin and Riley today.
04:32You know, you can do it.
04:33But if you miss, you miss by this far, when you're used to that ball coming through really fast and really hard,
04:38it's still a very, very difficult serve to get back.
04:40Like, it's stopping, it's checking.
04:42And you can't afford to miss your serve by even that far because it's going to the hitting zones of the guys.
04:48So, yeah, you sit there and go, well, why did Rudin serve so well and why did he get three games?
04:54He hit his spots like I've never seen.
04:57Yeah, great server.
04:58I mean, he's really good.
05:00It's not, it wasn't much of an anomaly on his end.
05:03And I'm not so surprised.
05:05He served maybe better than 80%, which is, you know, I'm sure like above his average by a good bit.
05:12But he still was two in the world.
05:14I mean, give him some credit.
05:16I'm not surprised that he serves really well and has a really big point.
05:20I mean, he's had an insanely good career.
05:22This one is for Patrick.
05:27When fans think of Riley, the first thing that comes to mind, of course, is his truly incredible serve.
05:34But could you talk about other aspects of his game, other aspects of him as a player, his movement for a big man, his backing?
05:43Yeah, well, what he can do is produce incredible amount of power from anywhere in the court.
05:50And he showed that again today.
05:52Big forehands, you know, probably one or two metres behind the baseline.
05:56Big backhands down the line, cross-court, he was hitting.
05:58And it's very uncertain for the other opposition to know how to play him because you can't be safe from the baseline.
06:05But you want to be safe because you know you can't keep making those shots.
06:09I mean, he red lines it.
06:10But the thing is, he does, and he's going to break you if you do not play really aggressively as well from the baseline.
06:16So there's a lot of uncertainty for the opposition.
06:19And obviously, the movement's incredible.
06:21You know, you don't be seven foot tall and move like that.
06:25So to me, when I'm watching him play, there's some of the standouts that I see.
06:29And obviously, his serve is what it is.
06:31It's a great serve.
06:34And he's got scope to even work on his game.
06:38You know, I see little things where he can tighten, you know, maybe coming in a little bit more behind those big forehands.
06:45Sometimes you think he relies on hitting another big shot.
06:48But he can.
06:48That's his problem.
06:49He can hit it.
06:50Well, I'd like to come and see him put away a volley every now and then once he starts putting that more and more into his game.
06:56He did it a few times today and it worked well.
06:58There could be more times I think he can use that sort of aspect of his game to put more pressure on the other guys.
07:05But in saying that, I don't know what else he could have done today on that surface, which does not favor him one bit.
07:12So it was really, really impressive.
07:14And we're really proud of him in the team.
07:16Riley, if you don't mind the question, not about the match.
07:23I hear from Fonseca that he considers you to be one of the most fun guys on the team, most pleasant to be around.
07:29I was wondering what you think about him, his personality, his game.
07:34What were your first impressions after being with him for a few days?
07:38I think he's super intelligent.
07:41And I think that was my first impression of him.
07:44He's got a very high IQ, not only in tennis, just kind of in life.
07:49He really thinks before he speaks with everything.
07:52So every time he speaks, you want to hear what he has to say because he really thinks his way through things really well,
07:58which for a really young guy is really impressive.
08:01And, I mean, yeah, I think he just, he happens to be an unbelievable talent and have a great form.
08:10He just seems like you're, I mean, as a compliment, he just seems like your regular kid that just happens to be really, really good at what he does.
08:18And, yeah, I really enjoy spending time with him.
08:22We don't treat him like a rookie because he doesn't feel like a rookie at all.
08:24He's a great player and very mature for his age and just a really, really cool kid.
08:29Okay.
08:32Thank you, Riley.
08:33Thanks, Pat.
08:33Thanks.
