Borna Coric speaks to the media after his 7-6(6), 6-2, 6-2 defeat against Daniil Medvedev
Q. Was there something wrong with your foot? What was the problem?
BORNA CORIC: No, I just twisted it in the third set after break, but it was a little bit painful. But there is absolutely -- that's not the reason why I lost. He was the much better player today.
Q. So after your big success in Halle, did you find, was there a difference here? Was it Wimbledon? Was it the grass? You obviously didn't play as well.
BORNA CORIC: Yeah, I think it's, you know, the grass is definitely a little bit different. I was really struggling to move today. It was really windy. I didn't find it very enjoyable, obviously.
I had a set point in the first set. I thought, you know, maybe if I get that first set, it could turn around a little bit. But then after that, my level just really dropped. He started to play much better.
Yeah, I mean, second and the third set he was the better player, by far.
Q. Going back to Halle, that was a surprise, to put it mildly. Did you surprise yourself with the level of grass court playing?
BORNA CORIC: Yeah, absolutely. Look, like I said, I won only two matches in my life on the grass until then, so it was big surprise.
But again, their grass is a little bit different than this one. It's easier to play there to me. It's okay. It was a very good grass court season for me. If somebody said I'm going to do 500 points on the grass, I would sign up. So I cannot complain.
Q. How difficult is it to go from playing on centre court at Halle where it was a full stadium and amazing atmosphere, and now you're assigned to court 12? It's much smaller, babies crying and people walking around, that type of stuff. What's the process for court selection? Are you able to try and negotiate with them?
BORNA CORIC: No, no, I think, you know, it's a normal thing. I think I'm not going to play on Centre Court or Court No. 1. I actually thought it was a pretty big court. It was not one of the smallest ones. There is even smaller ones, so I was really nicely surprised by Wimbledon to even put me there, especially because I hadn't won one match here.
So, you know, it was a bigger court than all the others, than the smaller courts, so of course it's a bit different than playing Halle, 10,000 people. But, I mean, that's the tennis, you know. Yeah, I mean, top guys are gonna play on the stadiums. That's normal. That's how it should be.
So, you know, you just need to get used to it.
Q. After you won Halle, did you have really, really high hopes here at Wimbledon? Did you feel like maybe you could meet Federer further on and that you could go really deep in it?
BORNA CORIC: No, I honestly did not, because I knew it's gonna be tough because I learned by now that this is tennis and, you know, one week can be great; another one can be disaster like now.
You know, I knew it's completely different and the conditions, Halle is more indoor, more similar to the clay. This is real grass, faster, especially now in the first days of tournament, you know, where there is no clay, let's say like that. So I knew it's gonna be very tough. I saw the draw and I knew it's going to be very tough.
No, I mean, people might have expectations, and that's again, normal. I absolutely understand it. If I'm in their position I would have the same from also for myself.
But I know how I feel. I know how tough it is to go from week to week and play continuously good, so I did not expect -- I saw that I might play Federer in the fourth round, actually someone told me. To be honest, I didn't even look, after my first round. Yeah, I didn't really think about that match honestly, no.
Q. At this stage of your career, what would be your favorite surface? Your best surface, your opinion?
BORNA CORIC: That's a good question. I'm not sure. It was a really good season for me. So far I played pretty good on all surfaces. Clay I did not so much points this year, so I don't know. I don't know, honestly. I need to see until the end of the year, and how I play. I think hard court could be the best one for me, but I feel good on clay. I played all right on grass, if I don't see this match. So it's okay.
Photo and press conference transcript from Wimbledon Website
