Pressure Headline Keeps Janko Awake

© AFP/Getty ImagesJanko Tipsarevic dealt with the pressure well against Marcos Baghdatis in the final on Sunday.

There was a lot riding on the Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur 2011 final for Janko Tipsarevic. The Serb was the only player in the Top 20 not to have won an ATP World Tour title having suffered defeat in his four previous finals, but claimed it was not weighing on his mind until he happened to check ATPWorldTour.com...

Riding back to the hotel after his win over Marcos Baghdatis in the final, Tipsarevic recalled, “Yesterday after my semi-final I managed to not think about going for my first ATP World Tour title all evening. I was still awake at about 4am as I haven't adjusted to the time difference all week, and I decided to have a look at the ATP website to see what the news was.

“I saw the headline ‘Fifth Time Lucky For Janko?' and then started reading the article and saw that it said I was the highest ranked player at the moment not to have won a title. Of course, then I started thinking about it lying in bed and I couldn't get to sleep for another hour!'

It turned out that still being awake at 4am was not unusual for Tipsarevic this week. The Serb explained his unorthodox approach to dealing with the time difference in Kuala Lumpur.“I didn’t turnaround the jetlag. I went to bed on Saturday at 5am; I’m still living on European time. I feel extremely happy and lucky that matches here are starting at late in the afternoon.

“So my regime every day was the same. I never took breakfast. I was going to bed at the beginning of the week at 6 or 7am and sleeping until 3pm and then practising and going back. For the last two matches I went to bed at 5am, slept until 1pm, warmed up, had lunch and played the match. So it will be a problem in Tokyo if they don’t grant me an afternoon match!”