Under the Patronage of H.h. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. No more drama again?
TOMAS BERDYCH: No more drama. Yeah, I think it’s better. I think it’s good to also play like that. And, you know, a straight-set win is also helpful. Just gets me to the next round.
I can get, you know, also a bit of time to rest. I think it’s needed more and more these days just to be ready for my next opponent.
Q. You’re playing either Kukushkin or Kyrgios next. Kyrgios had a tough match last night. What are your thoughts if you face Nick Kyrgios, if you were to face him?
TOMAS BERDYCH: Yeah, obviously for him it was a tough transition of winning Marseilles, coming here, and, you know, changing, all the conditions and playing here outside.
So I think he’s made a great match. I mean, Martin is a good player. Especially last couple weeks he’s been playing well. It just proves that Nick is playing really good, you know, with a lot of confidence. His game is then, you know, on much higher level than usual.
So he’s doing well. So for me it’s going to be a big challenge. And, yeah, definitely I have a lot to give him back for the last week and just really need to refocus myself, try to raise the game, and play some good tennis again.
Q. You have played him already in Australia and then in Marseilles. What impressed you the most in Nick’s game in Marseilles? What do you think he was doing differently?
TOMAS BERDYCH: Well, I think it’s quite simple. I mean, he’s part of really like fireworks on the court. I mean in a good way. He’s playing really aggressive. He’s going for a lot of shots that they are not really, you know, with, I would say, on the safe side, you know.
So he’s risking a lot. If couple of those shots are going in and he makes those extra points, then it can really make a difference.
But overall he’s been serving incredibly well, and I think he’s been much more solid on the return side, as well.
Of course, I mean, the conditions of playing indoors, the court, which is quite small, you know, feels like with all the side boards and everything, so, you know, that’s how it is.
So here it’s again all kinds of different, you know, fast court, fast balls, playing outside. The court is very big. So let’s see.
Q. Do you find that you like to keep to the same schedule each year? You have been on the tour a while. Are these tournaments familiar, or do you like to add new places, like you like to go someplace you’re not familiar with?
TOMAS BERDYCH: Well, I would rather keep myself on the places that I have been in the past, been doing well, and I don’t think there is a big reason to do any big changes to that.
And also, I think I have proved myself that I think this is the right spot. I don’t really see high chances of myself in South America on the clay courts. Let’s put it this way. And that’s it.
I mean, it’s just based on the game that I’m playing, the style I like to do on the court, and that’s why I try to choose the tournament, the conditions that suits me a little bit better.
Q. What do you like about coming here apart from the fact you win so many matches?
TOMAS BERDYCH: Well, that’s always No. 1 thing, but other than that, you know, it really goes hand by hand. When you have a place where you’re playing well and it really kind of connects together that you feel good on the place, which means, you know, the tournament try to really take care well of us, of me, and make you feel like the atmosphere is really nice, really calm, you know, we don’t have to travel anywhere, which I think is nice bonus to that, and everything is kind of much easier.
And then, you know, it starts to add up. It’s like a snowball. So when you have something, you know, little details which are good, and you have more and more and more on that, it gonna turn up of really winning quite a few matches and then makes it complete.
Q. You’re going to play the Davis Cup, you said, against Germany?
TOMAS BERDYCH: Yes.
Q. Any other tournaments scheduled between Davis Cup and Indian Wells?
TOMAS BERDYCH: No, I don’t — that’s how it’s on my schedule, and I hope there won’t be any unexpected changes to my schedule. I will be able to stick with that.
I think it’s — I mean, that’s how it is. I have to play Davis Cup, and then it’s the two biggest of the Masters Series events, and especially the first one, so I think it’s really important to me to play there. And I have been doing well also lately, so I stick with the same plan.