TENNIS MASTERS CUP


November 11, 2008


Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

SHANGHAI, CHINA

J. DEL POTRO/J. Tsonga
7-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What was the difference out there today between the two of you?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Not a lot. Not a lot, because I lost with two tiebreak. I know he played better than me in the tiebreak. I miss some easy ball, and that's it.

Q. Are you frustrated because it was so close? I guess your chances of making the semifinals now are pretty slim.
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, of course. For me is difficult because I lost at the first match. The first match was very hard and very tight, and this one too.
So, of course for me it's a deception. But, you know, it's tennis and sports.

Q. What do you think, the towels were given to you in a timely fashion?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, it's okay. Today it was perfect. I have nothing to say on that (smiling).

Q. After your win in Paris you seemed very confident. Someone picked you to be one of the guys who could make a big surprise in this tournament. With two losses, you could be the first one to be eliminated from the group. What happened with the last two games that you couldn't win both of them?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, like I said before, it was very tight in these two matches.
But, you know, it's sport. Sometimes you win, sometimes you loss when you have an opponent better than you. That's it.
Now I'm all the time confident because I can say I will do my best every time. So that's it. That's why I'm confident: because I do the best all the time and I don't care about my opponent. If my opponent is better than me at this time, is good for him. But I'm still confident.

Q. So you will be playing with Novak Djokovic in the next game. Will that be the first win for you in the Shanghai Masters Cup?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: I hope (smiling). I hope.

Q. Is it difficult to play in the Masters Cup, this being your first trip? A round robin tournament, is it more difficult than the regular tournaments?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yes, is difficult because you play very good player, so of course it's difficult to play here.
But out of that, there is no reason to feel the pressure or something like this.

Q. In the two matches you had, when you served, you were broken in both matches. Then you broke back in two games. Then later on you didn't have this kind of case. I would like to know afterwards, only when you were broken could you break back.
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, it's real. After all break, I break back. Yeah, for these two matches, I was maybe not enough -- not enough -- I don't know how to say that.
Maybe I didn't have enough energy in my two matches. I hope I will feel better for the next match. And that's it.

End of FastScripts