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ATP CUP


January 4, 2020


Borna Coric

Luka Kutanjac


Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

B. CORIC/D. Thiem

7-6, 2-6, 6-3

Team Croatia - 2

Team Austria - 0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Borna, obviously last year wasn't the easiest for you. How happy are you to start your season with such a big win?
BORNA CORIC: Yeah, very happy. You know, like I said on the court, obviously I was not coming into this match with lots of confidence, you know, playing great. I honestly didn't know what to expect, if I'm going to play good or not.

But, yeah, I was playing really good tennis. You know, even though the loss in the second set, I felt I was playing good tennis, honestly. It's just that he was playing too good.

And then in the third set I just found that on important points I was playing really brave, and in the end it kind of paid off.

Q. How much did you enjoy the atmosphere? I mean, both of you were getting the crowd pumped up a little bit. How much fun was that?
BORNA CORIC: Yeah, it was great. Really, I was really shocked how many people are there. It's midnight now, and I just really didn't expect it's going to be that many people.

And also, like I said here in Sydney, we also have many Croatians here and obviously they were giving me support. I really felt it, and in the end I needed it also because at the end I was really struggling.

Q. How did you sort of handle the situation? Marin plays first, and I'm sure part of you wanted to be there for Marin and invested in the match, but then you also have to get ready for your match. So how did you balance those two?
BORNA CORIC: Yeah, look, I mean, we are out there playing for the team for the last six years, and it's our world. We don't come to our matches before. If I'm playing first, he's not there, and I know it and I'm okay with it. And also he knows that I'm not going to be on his match, obviously.

It was really nice for him that he came to my match afterwards, because his support means a lot to me. He's the older, and still, even though if he's the No. 2 at the moment, I feel like he's our leader. So it did mean a lot that also he came. Obviously he was playing very long match, but that just shows his character.

Q. I saw that I think Marin was looking at the iPad quite a bit, sort of examining things. Did he share anything or did you use that at all?
BORNA CORIC: Yeah, he likes to do it, I think. I'm not a huge fan of that, but he likes it. And he told me couple things, yeah, he did.

And I did use it, of course. When Marin says do something, obviously -- and it affects, you know, it's there. So I did use it, yeah.

Q. The perspective for Croatia in this tournament?
BORNA CORIC: Perspective? Well, look, it's a great start. Obviously for now it does me a lot to us that we won this tie. Hopefully now we can win 3-0. It would be really nice.

And, yeah, we are going to just play match by match. Obviously it's a very far -- we need to play two more matches in the group, and we'll see, but, you know, me and Marin played very good tennis today. The most important is just to stay healthy and, yeah, just hope you're going to play good.

Q. Luka, since you're here, what's your reaction to the tie? I mean, obviously Marin had a tough match, Borna had a tough match, but you were able to get through.
LUKA KUTANJAC: Well, this is the idea of our team, I think, that we're going to be, we'll try to give a hard battle to whoever we are playing and go one match at a time.

Today has been really tough. Marin, I think, after the first set, he a little bit stepped up a gear up with his game. And Borna with Thiem, I mean, what can you say? Crowd was loving it, and I think it was very, very, very physical match and very entertaining match.

But I think, I mean, I think we are a good team. It's going to be tough to beat us, hopefully.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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