By Ricky Dimon
While the most important World Tour Finals drama played out on center court at the O2, the press room offered a little bit of everything this week. There were slips of the tongue, humble brags, moments of seriousness, and plenty of sarcasm. 10sball’s Ricky Dimon was there to hear it all.
It’s time for the best quotes of the tournament (in chronological order):
Novak Djokovic, after beating Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-1: “Undoubtedly it’s been an incredible performance.”
Djokovic, on if he has any idea how someone could beat him: “If I had, I wouldn’t share it with you. That’s for sure.”
Nishikori, after losing to Djokovic 6-1, 6-1: “Very ashamed with this score.”
Tomas Berdych, on having gone three years without playing Nishikori: “I think this is the tennis.”
Andy Murray, on the Paris attacks and other threats: “I do think the best thing that we can do is to live our normal lives, not change too much, because then the terrorists are the ones that are winning. We need to go out there and do what we always do and try not to change too much. That’s all we can do. I don’t want to live my life in fear each time I step on a tennis court. So that’s what I’ll do.”
Pierre-Hugues Herbert, after double-faulting twice on match point and eventually losing his match with Nicolas Mahut against Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo: “A lot of things happen in the head.”
Stan Wawrinka, after losing to Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2: “Was just a really bad day at the office. Bad behaving. Going too fast. Things that are not too great on myself.”
Nadal, on if the slow surface in London helps him: “I don’t play very well in that slow surfaces. I play better in little bit faster surfaces; not slow. People thinks because I had a lot of success on clay, people thinks I play better on the slower surfaces. When you are playing well, you are playing well in all the surfaces. When you are playing bad, you are playing bad in all the surfaces. Is not true that I play better because the surface is slow, no. I prefer to have little bit faster surface than a slower surface.”
Berdych, on the surface: “I never been a big fan of these courts.”
Nishikori, on if being nine years younger than Roger Federer would help him in their match: “He doesn’t look really his age. He doesn’t look old for me.”
Bob Bryan, to the crowd after he and Mike won their match prior to Djokovic vs. Federer: “We know you’re not here to watch us. You’re here to watch Roger and Novak.”
Djokovic, after losing to Federer 7-5, 6-2: “Just handed him the win.”
Federer, on being told of Djokovic’s comment: “He handed the win? You still have to put him away. It’s not an easy thing to do. It’s not like he played terrible. Why did he play that way? I’d like to give myself credit for that.”
Federer, on taking the bench that had Djokovic’s towel on it: “Okay, a towel doesn’t mean much to me, to be quite honest. I’m not going to be pushed by a towel. I sat on that chair when I walked out against Tomas. I said, ‘I’d like to sit here again.’ I walked out first. Usually the guy who walks out first decides which side he wants to sit on. That’s the rules to me, not a towel, to be quite honest. Maybe to you a towel matters more. To me a towel is to take a shower with.”
Murray, after getting asked a second time about using scissors to cut some of his hair off during a changeover: “I don’t know why such minor things make such a big deal to you guys. I had some hair in my eye, and I just wanted to get rid of it. That literally took two seconds. That was it.”
Nadal, after being informed that Murray cut his own hair to get it out of his eye: “Is a good solution.”
Murray, after being told that the round-robin format is bad: “I don’t think that’s a question. That’s your opinion.”
Nadal, on how far away he is from the level of Djokovic and Federer: “Today, I here. Tomorrow, I don’t know where I going to be.”
David Ferrer, on if he could have done anything differently against Wawrinka: “I tried to do my best.”
Nishikori, after losing to Federer: “I still have I think most respect on the tour with Roger, because of the way he plays. It’s just beautiful tennis. I love to watch him.”
Federer, on how he will decide when and if to shave his beard: “If it itches too much, I’ll take it off. If my girls can’t stand it, I’ll take it off. If I look in the mirror and I don’t like it, I’ll take it off. Maybe I’ll think of Santa and keep it. (Christmas is) around the corner.”
Federer, on if his wife will impact the beard decision: “I do take decisions by myself sometimes. I don’t know about your wife, but I’m allowed to.”
Federer, a whole day after Nadal clinched first place in Group Ilie Nastase: “I don’t know what it takes for him to finish second in the group. It’s going to be tough for him to finish second.”
Bob Bryan, on if he and Mike celebrated after saving five match points and beating Jamie Murray 16-14 in the match tiebreaker: “No. We were in shock.”
Tomas Berdych, after being eliminated, on who would go on to win the tournament: “I [always choose] Roger, so let’s try something different. Rafa is basically looking pretty good.”
Djokovic, on saying two days earlier that he “handed the win” to Federer: “We can look at the transcript. Go back. I’m 100 percent sure I didn’t say that and I didn’t say anything that can be taken out of the context, anything similar to that.”
Djokovic, on what was the most bizarre moment on tour during 2015: “Lots of bizarre things happen in the locker room, trust me. It’s a good thing you don’t have a camera there so you can see what’s going on.”
Nadal, on if we will go on vacation during the offseason: “There is no time for vacation. I don’t deserve vacation this year.”
Ferrer, on the Great Britain vs. Belgium Davis Cup final: “They have a really good chance [to] win, one of them, the Davis Cup.”
Murray, on if he can pinpoint why he has never played particularly well at the World Tour Finals: “No. If I could then I would have done something about it.”
Nadal, joking after losing to Djokovic in the semifinals: “When somebody’s doing like this, just the only thing I can do is congratulate him and just wish (him) not the best of luck for the next year.”
Nadal, when asked if it is possible to compare Federer’s peak to Novak’s peak: “Yeah, is possible. But I don’t want to do it.”
Nadal, at the end of his last press conference: “Thank you very much. Have a good Christmas and Happy New Year. See you next year.”
Djokovic, on what he thinks was his best performance of 2015: “I’ve had some matches where I’ve played some really flawless, incredible tennis.”
Wawrinka, after losing to Federer in the semifinals: “It’s not that I play really bad. I’m not tough enough mentally with myself. I’m not completely there.”
Bob Bryan, after losing the No. 1 ranking by falling to Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the semifinals: “That doesn’t mean that we’re going anywhere. We’re going to come back next year stronger, healthier and hungrier.”
Djokovic, on tying coach Boris Becker with five career year-end championship titles: “I feel motivated to make it six so we can have a different conversation on the team.”
Djokovic, while handing out chocolate to the media and clearly think about his only loss in 2015 prior to a final (to Ivo Karlovic in Doha): “I’m going to bribe Karlovic with these next year.”
Federer, on if he will work on his game specifically to beat Djokovic: “Not really. For me, Rafa is the unique player in the field. I used to work more precisely towards him. With Novak, it’s more straightforward.”
Federer, on the Davis Cup final between Great Britain and Belgium: “I favor England in the finals…. Or Britain if you like.”
Topics: 02 Arena, 10sballs.com, Andy Murray, ATP Finals, Barclays ATP World Tour, Bryan Brothers, David Ferrer, Kei Nishikori, London tennis, Novak Djokovic, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Rafael Nadal, Ricky Dimon, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Tennis, tennis quotes, Tomas Berdych
Quotes Of The Tournament: @rogerfederer, @RafaelNadal, @DjokerNole And Many More
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This is just brilliant @10sBalls_com ‘The best quotes from the ATP World Tour Finals!’ https://t.co/MAEdVKd7JH