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AEGON INTERNATIONAL


June 22, 2012


Colin Fleming

Ross Hutchins


EASTBOURNE, ENGLAND

FLEMING‑HUTCHINS/Delgado‑Skupski
6‑7, 6‑4, 10‑8


THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  This morning you have to come back from behind.  Was it a bit special?
ROSS HUTCHINS:  Yeah, I mean, start of the day we wouldn't have thought that ‑‑well, we hoped it would end like this, but it wasn't looking that likely.  We didn't play that great yesterday.  It was difficult conditions.
You know, we were trying to get back on last night, and I guess it worked out well for us that the rain came and sort of gave us a little break.  We thought about it, we discussed tactics last night, and came back and played well in the first match today.
I think that helped us in the final, because we already had, what was it, half a set and a match tiebreak for the final going into it.  I think that  little bit of experience or, you know, just match tightness in the wind helped us a lot in the final.

Q.  What did you change?
ROSS HUTCHINS:  From yesterday we just tried to play the opponents better.  Donald Young was serving really well.  He was getting me worried on my backhand.  I was putting no returns in court.
My coach, Louis Cayer, really helped us a lot.  He had this thing.  He obviously couldn't tell us while we were on court, but he's like, Look, you've got to change your position, you've got to start realizing these guys are doing the same thing and they'rewinning every point on their serves against you.
You know, just to play tougher, shortened backswings on the returns because of quick grass, quick wet grass.  You know, Colin returns great, but it was more about my returns.  Then kind of just play a bit smarter on our serves, as well, and we dug out a good one.

Q.  How difficult were the conditions?
COLIN FLEMING:  Today, I mean, it's a real tough day to play on.  It's nice that it's not raining, so it's great we can all get out on the grass.  But I don't think I would choose to play in that kind of wind.
That's part of the game, and it's something you have to deal with from time to time.  It's about your mental approach and just staying positive and accepting that you're going to mess up some silly shots in the wind and you're going to maybe hit some really good ones, as well.  So you've just got to keep competing hard.  That's what we did today, and that's the real reason we ended up winning the tournament.

Q.  What's this done for you for next week?  I presume you've seen the draw.
ROSS HUTCHINS:  Yeah, it's huge for our confidence, because we were out for eight weeks I think it was, only back playing sort of properly four weeks, three or four weeks.
It's huge for our confidence going into Wimbledon, which is, for us, the biggest tournament, along with the Olympics, of the year.
We're seeded 13.  We've got some good singles players in the first round, but we're feeling good.  You can't beat winning a tournament going into a Grand Slam.  For us, we'll be brimming with confidence, and I think it will serve us well in the first round, and then we'll see how it goes after that.

Q.  Excuse my ignorance, but why were you out for eight weeks?
ROSS HUTCHINS:  I had a wrist injury.
COLIN FLEMING:  I had a stress fracture in my leg.

Q.  What, were you fighting (laughter)?
COLIN FLEMING:  No, just ‑‑yeah (smiling).
No, just overuse, really.  Pretty grueling start of the year.  A lot of traveling, a lot of matches.  You know, we're doing well, which means you're playing a lot more matches.
Yeah, just a little unfortunate injury that came up and meant we missed the whole clay court season.  It's nice to be back on court now and nice to be sitting here.

Q.  Both fully fit?
COLIN FLEMING:  Both fully fit now.
ROSS HUTCHINS:  Feeling good.

Q.  Still strapped?
ROSS HUTCHINS:  Yeah, it's a precaution.  I have had that  for a while, and when I don't wear this it comes back.  So I guess it's either some good taping or a bit of superstition.

Q.  What have they told you it is?
ROSS HUTCHINS:  I've got a bit of a fragment of the bone that's loose, and I've got a tear in the tendon.  But anyone in this room could have tears of tendon they don't know about if they're through with the tendon.
So combined with that and a lot of inflammation, it's a problem that's been around for me for about two years now, but it's manageable.  At the moment I'm managing it.

Q.  You guys are pretty close to getting qualification for the Olympics, I believe.  But if it doesn't come about, will you qualify automatically?  You must hope this helps you get a good chance of a wildcard.
COLIN FLEMING:  Yeah, like you said, our main hope is to get in on merit by ranking.  You know, that would be nice to be involved in the Olympics however it comes about, but if it was on merit, that would be a real nice feeling to be there.  Because we have been aiming for it for about 12 months, you know.   It's been on the horizon.  So it would be a real sort of satisfying thing to have achieved that goal.
Yeah, this hopefully will add to our case, if necessary, you know, if we need a wildcard.  Yeah, it's just fingers crossed.  I think we find out on the 28th of this month, 28th of June.  Yeah, fingers crossed for that day.

Q.  What's the criteria for automatic qualification?
COLIN FLEMING:  It's just combined ranking.  Our combined ranking for it, which last week, the cut for the Olympics, was 61.  We're expecting that to be right around the cut line.  We've just got to hope we're just inside rather than just outside.

Q.  So this result won't help that but can help persuade...
COLIN FLEMING:  It won't help our ranking for the Olympics.  Yeah, that's already set.  But if we do miss out and we need a wildcard, then, you know, hopefully it will help strengthen our case.
What this will certainly do is give us confidence going into the big events coming up.  It will improve our ranking as well for the rest of the big tournaments in the year.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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