00:03Sassha was down after a slow start, how happy are you with your performance today?
00:08Did you ever start faster?
00:13Yeah, good match.
00:15I think after 3-0, I found my rhythm and it was, I think, a very solid match.
00:31How do you feel the first time you are the top favourite of a slam tournament?
00:43This is the first time it happens, so don't tell me that you didn't think about, that doesn't put you
00:51any pressure.
00:52Why don't you just give the answer then?
00:55Go ahead, go ahead.
00:57No, I'll give the same answer I gave two days ago.
01:00I will focus on the matches that are ahead of me.
01:03This is the only thing that I can control.
01:05I focused on De Jong, I played a good match, I won.
01:09I'm going to focus on Godard next and hopefully play a good match.
01:13That's the only thing that is in my concern.
01:18Well, I'd say loads of long matches going on elsewhere.
01:21You've been able to be quite economical, certainly today.
01:24How are you feeling physically?
01:26I feel fine.
01:29I felt like the previous match was still challenging, but I feel good.
01:36For me, as long as my tennis is coming together and I feel well on the court and confident, I'm
01:41happy.
01:42Back's okay?
01:43Yeah, my back's fine. Thanks.
01:46Hello, Sasha. If you have to control what you can control, did you change some of your habits?
01:53It would be going less to social media, giving less interviews, something that would isolate you from this climate that
02:01we have in the press conference for today?
02:03My phone is off, but it's been off for like seven years during Grand Slams, so I don't have social
02:09media.
02:13Well done today.
02:15Do you remember what it was like when you were sort of the player in Godard's position where it's sort
02:21of like this young guy who is taking everything by storm?
02:24And I mean, what is it like now when a young player like that comes on like that and what
02:30did it feel like for you?
02:32Yeah, it's a fun time. It's a fun time for any player when you're first coming up because you've got
02:36no pressure, you play freely, you experience all these big things for the first time.
02:42And it's a lot of fun to be in that position.
02:46But I think it's also fun to be in a position that I'm in, where I've been on at this
02:51level for 10 years.
02:52And, you know, I play my matches, I know how to handle certain situations.
02:59But yeah, I think he's amazing.
03:01I mean, he's was what outside top 100 at the start of a clay court season or something like that
03:05close to it.
03:06And now he's top 20 after this week.
03:09So I think he, yeah, he deserves a lot of credit.
03:13He's playing amazing tennis.
03:14And yeah, I'm looking forward to our first meeting, which is going to be hopefully an entertaining one.
03:22In terms of the heat and what we've seen this week, do you think they need to change the heat
03:28rule protocols at all?
03:30I mean, is it different for a clay slam?
03:32You know, the matches are more grueling than maybe on hard courts.
03:37Yeah, it's difficult for me to answer because I like heat.
03:40I've always did.
03:42I always felt comfortable in the heat.
03:45The only time I really didn't feel comfortable was in Tokyo at the Olympics.
03:49And at that moment, it was different kind of heat.
03:52We were all dying on the court.
03:56But, you know, overall, I don't know.
03:59I think there has been, yeah, brutal matches.
04:01There has been very tough conditions.
04:03But those kind of matches, I think, would have been brutal anywhere with how long they were, with how the
04:10rallies were.
04:12So I don't know.
04:13I'm not a politician.
04:14I don't know what the rules are.
04:18Hi.
04:18How much have you been able to see of Rafa Hodder?
04:22And what stands out to you?
04:24What kind of do you think he does particularly well?
04:26Yeah, I watched him throughout the clay court season quite a bit.
04:28I didn't watch him this tournament because we were always playing the same day.
04:31And we were, time-wise, it was difficult to watch.
04:34But he's somebody that can accelerate the ball from both sides, which is incredibly special.
04:42I think, yeah, he's a very aggressive player.
04:44He is very young.
04:46And he has tremendous talent.
04:48And, again, I'm looking forward to our first meeting together.
04:53When you were growing up, did you play...
04:56What roughly was the percentage of you playing on clay, hard, and indoor carpet in terms of, you know,
05:05was clay your standard surface?
05:09Well, in Germany, it was indoor carpet and clay. Hard courts.
05:14I've not played on a hard court until the age of 12, probably.
05:19So, mostly of it, yeah, it was carpet and clay throughout the summer season.
05:25Germany and the weather, you never know.
05:27So, we try to play on clay as much as possible.
05:29But I think the main surface for us growing up was indoor carpet,
05:33which is not an easy surface to play on.
05:37Just wanted, Sascha, obviously there's so much talk about the expectation, the pressure,
05:41but how excited are you for the week ahead and the opportunity here?
05:44Look, I'm here. I'm feeling confident with my game.
05:50I thought I handled the situations well the first week, even when I was losing a set.
05:55Like, the last match, I came back and played well.
06:00Today, I was down on break and early on came back and played well.
06:03So, I feel like I'm handling situations quite well and I will do everything possible to continue doing that.
06:13Hi, Sascha. A few days ago, you mentioned the fact that you sat down with your team at the end
06:17of last season
06:17or the beginning of this one, saying that something must change in your game.
06:20Could you give us a bit more insight about the content of these talks or the conclusions?
06:25Yeah, I think I talked about it quite a lot. One thing was the opportunity to take more chances, to
06:32take more risk.
06:34I think ball speed was another one to keep the ball speed up a little bit more on the ground
06:41strokes.
06:43Different varieties, different changes like the drop shot, like a certain volley sometimes.
06:50All those things to just give a different perspective to the opponent.
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