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WIMBLEDONJuly 8, 2012Filip PeliwoLONDON, ENGLAND F. PELIWO/L. Saville THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Big ace down the T for the end. Couldn't ask for a better conclusion. FILIP PELIWO: That's exactly how I wanted to finish it. I was just happy I managed to battle back in the first set and get the lead in the beginning. Same thing in the second. Got down a break and gave myself an opportunity and took it on the first one. So honestly right now it's still sinking in, so I can't believe exactly what happened right now. But it feels great. Feels great to finish that way. Q. Throughout this you had comebacks. You were down in the semifinal, down in this one. I don't know if that's how you want to do it all the time, but is that your kind of thing? FILIP PELIWO: Yeah, well, I've heard around the ITF Tour, even the Pro Tour a little bit, that guys know that I fight no matter how far down I am. It's really worked for me in many situations. So, honestly, even if I don't believe I'm going to win the match, I'm going to give my absolute best to win every point one point at a time. In the last few matches it went my way. Honestly, that's all I can do, is go out and do my best no matter what the score and hope for a win. Q. What was different today with your match as opposed to at the Australian Open against Luke? FILIP PELIWO: Well, definitely the fact that I started out playing well in the first set. I got broken, but not right away. I think that I got kind of into a groove before he started playing his better tennis. That just kind of got me into the match and I could loosen up and play my game. I think the biggest thing also was that I wasn't waiting for him to make a mistake as much. I was going for my shots and trying to dictate the points; whereas in the previous two finals I was playing passive, as I said, and waiting for my opponent to miss and give me the match, which isn't going to happen very often to guys that made finals. They're there for a reason, not because their opponents gave away the matches. Q. You mentioned the biggest thing was to get off to a better start. You did partially. What did you say to yourself besides, I've got to get off to a better start, which is pretty general? FILIP PELIWO: That I think was a secondary thing to what I said earlier where I have to dictate the points. That was the primary goal, was just to play loose, play my game, and try to control the point before he got an opportunity to do so. That was the biggest thing. Because I think that you get rewarded for going for it, for trying to take it into your own hands and win it for yourself, not waiting for it. That's what I tried to do. Didn't work out for the almost whole first set and bit of the second set, but that's tennis. It's going to go up and down a little bit. I just kept trying to follow my plan. That was it. I tried to take it point by point and not think about the crowd, what everyone else is going to think about if I lose for the third time. Obviously, I don't want to be called a choker. I just went for it. I just went for it. I didn't think about the outside problems or anything. I just stayed focused on the match and played my game as if it was any other match. Fought as hard as I could, and it paid off. Q. Before yesterday, a Canadian had never won a junior title at a Grand Slam. Now two in two days. Something in the drinking water? FILIP PELIWO: Well, I think it's just the program we've got in Canada paying off. It obviously won't come as soon as they start a program. It takes a few years to develop the players. I think just the base that we've got there is great at the moment. We're all working very hard to succeed, and I think that there's a lot of talent back in Canada. Honestly, it's tough to explain 'cause you never really know why it happened at a certain moment. I'm just happy that me and Genie got the chances to play the final and win. Q. Any inspiration from Genie? FILIP PELIWO: I was definitely, I won't say jealous of her, but that made me even more hungry, the fact that she got it. I just wanted to have the same feeling for myself and for Canada, to be able to win the slam. I knew it would be a great achievement if both girls' and boys' champions would be Canadians. That really inspired me. The two previous finals I've lost, those are the biggest inspirations as well. I didn't want to lose again, but I wasn't letting it get to my head. I was just thinking about the match, not the past. Q. After you came off court yesterday you were speaking to a couple people in another language. What is your family's background? FILIP PELIWO: It's Polish. My whole family is from Poland. My brother, sister, my parents, everyone was born there. Q. Not you? FILIP PELIWO: I'm the black sheep born in Canada, the loner in North Vancouver, which I'm proud of. Q. Court No.1, how was all that? FILIP PELIWO: It was great. It was a great feeling, especially that there was quite a big crowd. There was a lot of the people there. I enjoyed it. This time whereas ‑‑ people were cheering for me, whereas in Rod Laver pretty much everyone was cheering for Luke. That was a great feeling. I think the experience I had in Australia really helped where I was in a big stadium and I didn't let the size get to me. I didn't push too far back beyond the baseline. I just played it as on any other court. I just tried to take everything I could from my past results into this match to help me win. Q. Do you think maybe you got a little confident at 5‑2 in the first? FILIP PELIWO: Yeah, for sure. I mean, anyone serving at 5‑3‑‑ anyone serving 5‑2 in the first set of a final is going to be confident about winning ‑ or at least winning the set. I don't think either me or him expected a comeback like that. Yeah, I'm sure he's disappointed, but what can you do. Q. Did you talk at all after? FILIP PELIWO: Yeah. He congratulated me. Said it was a great match, a great fight, too good today. But honestly it kind of went by in a blur. I was really just ecstatic about the moment and tried to take it in, let it all sink in. Yeah, I can't remember every moment there. Q. Do you think you'll remember the five match points you saved in the semis? FILIP PELIWO: No. I remember two of them. Well, three. I remember I saved one at serve, one with a winner down the line backhand, and one I hit a backhand right on the baseline. The other two I don't remember. Yeah, both matches I could have lost being down. More so the match with Krueger. But the comeback just makes it that much sweeter. Q. Have you done anything since you won, like contact anybody? FILIP PELIWO: Yeah, my parents called me right away. I heard my phone going off like crazy, so I'm going to check that out after. I got a lot of texts, tweets, Facebook messages, all that. Yeah, I'm sure a lot of people are going to want to contact me, so... Q. What did your parents say? FILIP PELIWO: My parents were really happy. My dad was kind of actually calm. I don't know, he's usually the calm guy in the family. But, yeah, he was really happy. My mom was extremely happy. My sister was in tears apparently. She could barely speak. They all watched and were living the moment. Q. Everybody has been seeing what Milos has been able to do over the last year and a half. Have you been seeing that? Are you hoping to be the next one to go along with him? FILIP PELIWO: Yeah, definitely. Milos gives every Canadian tennis player inspiration to succeed, and he paved the road for us. He just showed that it's possible coming from where I'm training right now, at the MTC in Montréal. He gives you a little bit of tips here and there, nothing technical or anything, but just to keep you on the right track. Yeah, it's great. He's a great guy, too. Just shows you kind of an example, kind of guidelines of what you should be doing. It's great. Q. You're not a big guy like he is, but you seem to have a motor that keeps running. Is that who you are? FILIP PELIWO: Yeah, well, I mean, I guess I'm pretty known for being quick and fighting for every ball. I try to make up for not being huge with all of that. I guess my movement is my strength. I think that I can hit the ball pretty big, as well. Obviously not as hard as Milos. I've got enough power to get through these matches. Q. The rest of your summer plans? FILIP PELIWO: Starting out with a futures event in Saskatoon, a 15,000 event, a Granby challenger, Vancouver challenger, I believe, a couple more futures. I might get a wild card into Rogers Cup qualifying, I'm hoping after this. That would be an amazing feeling to play that tournament. And then I guess I'll just be getting ready for US Open, playing Repentigny, the G1 there, then the US Open, going back into pro tournaments after that. Hoping to see the No.1 ranking after this week. Q. Will you get it? FILIP PELIWO: I don't know. I didn't calculate. I didn't want to think about that. I'll think about it afterwards. Q. Are you in Saskatoon this coming week? FILIP PELIWO: I'm going to be able to start on Wednesday. Futures like that usually have a 32 draw. Quallies are late. They usually start main draw Tuesday and have main draw matches on Wednesday. Apparently I'm going to be playing on Wednesday. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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