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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 18, 2007Robert SmeetsMELBOURNE, VICTORIA THE MODERATOR: First question. Q. You went down swinging. You had a good crack at it. Where did you feel like you fell short? ROBERT SMEETS: Well, he kept great depth of the ball, which I certainly didn't. I felt like I was always defending, he was always attacking. Every time I tried to attack, I felt like I was out of position, too deep into the court. He kept great depth of the ball - obviously better than I did today. Q. What do you take away from it? ROBERT SMEETS: Have to work very hard still. He serves very well on the important points. I'm hopefully going to have to do that, as well, in the future matches. But I'm just going to have to work on everything, really, returns, serve, first serving percentage. I think his first serving percentage was incredibly high this match. I don't know the stats exactly, but I'm sure they were a lot higher than mine were. Q. In terms of power and such, it seemed like you matched him. Is it just that they play those big points really well? ROBERT SMEETS: Yeah, power didn't really matter too much, I think, in this game. Like I said, he placed them better. He hit them a lot deeper, and he certainly made a lot more than I did. Q. Are you closer to these guys than you thought you were when you started or further away now that you've had a taste of this level? ROBERT SMEETS: Probably closer. I mean, I know the guy is obviously good. But I didn't think I could get close. I didn't really get very close today, but closer than I would have hoped before. Definitely take a lot of positives out of it. Can't be an absolute bunny and make second round of the Australian Open. You must be able to play a little bit. Q. How much did he lift his intensity compared to when you played him in Sydney? ROBERT SMEETS: He certainly lifted it. He played a lot better than last week. Probably because Hopman Cup, he was in Perth the week before, indoors, no wind, no sun, perfect conditions. When we played in Sydney, it was quite hot, the sun was in our eyes, and it was quite windy, as well, that day. I think I coped that day better than he did because he was definitely off his game a little bit. And today you could see he had been training in the sun with the wind. He knew what he was doing, and he definitely lifted his game today. Q. You got enormous crowd support out there. How does that feel? ROBERT SMEETS: It's incredible. It's a great help, definitely a great help. If I didn't get the support, who knows what the score could have been. Q. Where do you go from here, back to challengers and qualifying and all those things? ROBERT SMEETS: Yeah, I'll go home for a couple of weeks, if that. Probably only one week, to Brisbane. Then I'll go to Tasmania, burning for a challenger, probably after that to Asia for some challengers, and probably head over to Europe after that or America, not sure yet. End of FastScripts |
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