Russian tennis player Karen Khachanov announced that he was leaving Roland-Garros with his head held high after losing against Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Khachanov lost to Djokovic on Tuesday with a score of 6:4, 6:7 (0:7), 2:6, 4:6.
“There are obviously a lot of positives. You know, there are no regrets. Yes, another good Grand Slam performance. Yes obviously, I’ve been saying for several years that my goal was to get back into the top 10. You know, that’s not the end goal, but it’s good that it’s there. Coming home, to be honest, with your head held high.
– You played against Djokovic 10 times.
– You know, to be honest, every time it’s a different story and a different game. Today I would say I was close to success again, closer than in the last games with him.
It matters that this is a Grand Slam tournament, five-set matches are played here. Even though I was lucky to take a 2-0 lead in sets, I felt like I was applying more pressure than in the second half of the game.
How does it feel to play with him? He always seems to find a way to get you into trouble. He is always there. You know, it’s still pushing, and you know it. He always tries to find a way. He changes the game. He intervenes, he comes back, he defends himself. I think he played the tie-break very well. It seems to me that he somehow became more active, began to play more aggressively, especially in the tie-break.
— Did your condition change after the tie-break? Did you feel psychologically differently about what needed to be done?
– No, I was in the same state of mind. I think, like I said, he changed the game a bit. At some point he kind of leveled himself out. You can always do something better. I think I have less strength, but morally I’m still in order. I always fight until the end. It doesn’t matter if I lose 2 sets with the score 0:6 or in a tie-break,” Khachanov said at a press conference.
Khachanov reached the semi-finals of the US Open last year, in January the Russian stopped one step away from the final of the Australian Open.
Source : MatchTV
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