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AEGON CHAMPIONSHIPS


June 17, 2012


David Nalbandian


LONDON, ENGLAND

M. CILIC/D. Nalbandian
6‑7, 4‑3 (by default)


THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  Can you just tell us in your own words what happened at the end of the match.
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  You just saw it on TV, right?

Q.  Yeah, but were you angry at...
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  Yeah, of course.

Q.  Do you feel you were unfairly defaulted?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  Well, I don't know.  I know that I do a mistake, 100%.

Q.  Are you aware of the rules that state...
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  There is a lot of rules, and if I had to pay what I did and it's like that, it's perfect, I agree.  I do a mistake and I apologize, and I feel very sorry to the guy.  I didn't want to do that.
But sometimes you get angry.  Sometimes you cannot control that moments that many time happens.  Well, to me.  Maybe you throw a racquet or maybe you scream or maybe you do something like that.  So many times happens at that kind of moment.
But if you had to pay like that, that's perfect.  But when everybody ‑‑everybody do mistakes, right?  When somebody else do a mistake, they have to pay in the same way.  Players doesn't feel much that, especially with ATP.  That's the world that we are.

Q.  Which other player has injured a line judge?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  I don't know.

Q.  Are there players who have done it?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  I don't know.  I don't know.

Q.  What did the supervisor actually say to you?  We could see it but we couldn't hear it, obviously.  What did the supervisor say to you when he came onto the court?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  Nothing.  Just no chance.  Default.

Q.  That was as simple as that?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  Simple.

Q.  Do you think you it should be different because it's a final?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  I don't know.  I mean, I don't think the rules say if it happen in first round or semis or quarters or finals would be different.  I don't know.

Q.  When you did it, did you realize immediately that you had done something wrong?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  No, no, no, no, no.  I mean, when I hit the fence, I didn't want to do it that bad as was.  But that's the way it is.  I mean, sometime, like I say, you cannot control that few seconds and made a mistake.

Q.  What were your thoughts when you saw the blood pouring out of the line judge's leg?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  Well, that it was bad.  I mean, I didn't realize until I saw him, and that's why I stay here and I was asking him if he was okay.
He tell me that, yes, but he had‑‑ he got a cut.  So we got a doctor, and that what he saw.

Q.  Have you been to see the line judge?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  No, no, no, not yet, no chance.  But I ask and someone told me that he's okay.  But I didn't have time to check it by myself.

Q.  When did you realize he was there, he was sitting there?  Did you see him at first?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  No, no, no.  You are very angry.  I mean, sometimes you don't ‑‑you don't see nothing.  I mean, I just hit the fence, and I didn't ‑‑I didn't ‑‑ you don't see it, but you didn't ‑‑I don't know how to explain that.

Q.  Because of course in this world now on Twitter where everybody has an opinion after about 10 seconds, a lot of people have said that they were surprised that you had a go at the ATP or that you were critical of the ATP in your little speech on the court afterwards.  Could you just perhaps explain why you said what you said about the ATP?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  Because in the beginning of the year you have to sign that you agree with everything that the ATP says, right?
And sometimes you don't.  And if you don't want to sign, you cannot play ATP tournaments.  So you don't have chance to ask, to tell, to change something, nothing.  So if you don't sign, you don't play and you have to agree 100% what the ATP says.
Maybe this is not a case, maybe.  Maybe you can ‑‑I mean, everybody have some opinions on that.  But sometimes ATP put a lot of pressure on the players, and sometimes you get injured because you play on dangerous surface and nothing happen.  Keep rolling.  Keep rolling all time.  Nothing pay for that.

Q.  But you wouldn't necessarily argue that being defaulted for what you did was wrong?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.  Maybe that's fair.  Maybe that's fair.  If I have to pay like that, I agree, like I say, but when somebody else do a mistakes, maybe worse, maybe not that bad, a little bit worse or not, nobody ‑‑nobody do anything.  So that's why sometimes player doesn't feel that the ATP defeat the players and are sometimes in another position.

Q.  I know you were disappointed in the moment, but to say what you said about the ATP on court in the presentation, do you think that was the right time to say it?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  I will say all the times that I have to say it, because is what I thought.  Who says the timing is perfect?  Never is perfect.

Q.  You talked about being asked to play in difficult conditions.  Had there been times in this last week here when you thought you should not have to play?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  Well, this week was particular here because the weather doesn't help us.  But I don't want to mean here this week.  It happens a lot of the time in a lot of tournaments everywhere and a lot of cases.
I mean, it's not just today or yesterday or two days ago.  But that's what the players feel.

Q.  Would it be better to have a sort of players union that just represented people like you rather than a sort of a partnership between players and tournament directors, just an organization that represents the interests of players?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  That's the ATP.  That's the ATP.

Q.  Well, that's what the ATP is meant to be but it's not.
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  Sorry?

Q.  That is what the ATP was initially meant to be.
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  Exactly.

Q.  But it's not anymore.
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  Of course.  That's why the players disagree sometimes.

Q.  Regarding the incident in Melbourne and this one, why do you think you get so angry on court?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  Well, that was different.  Was off court.  Chair umpire do a mistake on court.  Different situation.  But you get angry.  You don't get angry ever?

Q.  I don't really show it like that.
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  Congratulations.  You're too good.  (Laughter.)
Q.Do you expect to be punished further by the ATP because of what you're saying now?  Do you think you'll get in trouble?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  I don't know.  I don't really mind.  I mean, this is what I thought and what many player thought.

Q.  Will you come back next year to play here?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  Yeah.  I mean, this incident doesn't mean that I'm not gonna come back or maybe go to another tournament.   Doesn't matter.
I really feel good in this tournament.  Tournament director is great to me this year, last year, and all the time that I came.  So feel very good here.
This is a bad situation for everybody that I really apologize for that.  But doesn't mean anything to next year.

Q.  I think the rule book says that you won't get your money for this, your prize.  Do you think that's a fair thing, given it was just sort of one moment of anger?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  I don't know.  There is a lot of opinion on that, but that's what I say.  The book say that, you have to sign in the beginning of the year, that's it.  You couldn't do anything.  Maybe you disagree or maybe you agree, but you couldn't do anything.

Q.  Is that the worst moment of your career?
DAVID NALBANDIAN:  It's a tough one, yeah.  It's a very tough one.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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