PACIFIC LIFE OPEN

 

March 20, 2008

 

Stanislas Wawrinka

INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You kind of had him there in the first set. You were serving for it. What happened?
STANISLAS WAWRINKA: I think I played the No. 3 in the world, and he's a good player, and maybe that's why I lose the first set.
But it was very tough. Of course I was serving for the set, but before -- I was 5-3 up, and it was the first set very tight. So I lost in the tiebreak.

Q. Did you get nervous? Did he raise the level of his game? What do you think happened?
STANISLAS WAWRINKA: I think he was playing a little better at the end of the set. Me, too, but I missed three balls at 6-5 on serve. After, I played a good tiebreak, but he was better in the tiebreak.

Q. You had some treatment for your abdomen? Was that bothering you throughout the match? .
STANISLAS WAWRINKA: Yeah, I got some treatment. I don't know exactly what he did, but I already have some problem in Melbourne this year, so that's why I was a little tight with the stomach. I will see after the press exactly what it was.

Q. But it was bothering you throughout the match?
STANISLAS WAWRINKA: It's never easy to play when you think about your stomach or something, something in your body. So that's why maybe I was a little more concentrate on me and not on the game.

Q. What do you think is separating you from a player like Novak?
STANISLAS WAWRINKA: I think he knows -- he know what to do when it's a tiebreak. When you play the important points, he know what exactly how to play and he do it well.

Q. So it's mental or strategy?
STANISLAS WAWRINKA: Yeah, I think it's mental.

Q. In this country you're probably going to be recognized as, quote, the Other Swiss all your life because of Federer. Is that frustrating to you?
STANISLAS WAWRINKA: No. Roger is a good friend of me and he's No. 1 in the world. For me, I don't care if I am the second Swiss player or just a loser in Switzerland. I don't care.

Q. What are your goals for 2008?
STANISLAS WAWRINKA: To be in the top 20.

Q. You just played a very strong match against a very strong player. Yet you seem very disillusioned as you sit there. Don't you take something positive from that match?
STANISLAS WAWRINKA: Yeah, of course. I take a lot of things positive from that match. I was close to winning the first set, and then I was playing very well. So I'm happy with my game and with this tournament, but I'm a little sad because I lost today.

End of FastScripts