Novak Djokovic: ‘I knew it was going to be an uphill ride today. Everything was slippery’

The five hours and a half on court on Friday and Saturday against Rafael Nadal and Kei Nishikori influenced today Novak Djokovic, who was beaten by Andy Murray 6/3 6/3.

“I didn”t really think about it – Djokovic said – even though it”s present. I had a long couple of weeks, especially last couple of days. I knew it was going to be very hard for me, an uphill ride against Andy today, who was playing throughout the week on a very high level. And to compete with him in long exchanges and rallies that we do have in our encounters, they required a lot more energy and better performance from my side which didn”t happen. I am not taking anything away from Andy”s win. On the contrary, I think he deserved to win today and to win the tournament, because he has been the best player. He haa been the player who showed the best form throughout the entire tournament.” Djokovic is still happy of the result he got this week: “I”m glad I managed to get to the finals, because a couple of matches I had to come back from one-set deficit. All in all, these two weeks were very good especially after, you know, dropping out in Monte-Carlo early. I needed this kind of results, winning one tournament and playing finals is great. I got what I was looking for, a lot of matches, and confidence and, you know, I spent a lot of hours playing on the clay, which now, leading up to Roland Garros is exactly what I need. Hopefully it”s going to help me perform well in Paris.” For two weeks in a row his opponent in the final both times, Andy got to play an earlier semifinal on Saturday and he was stuck …

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