In early January 2010, Matsuzaka was interviewed by Japanese magazine "Friday." During the interview, Matsuzaka revealed that he had in fact injured his right hip while training for the '09 WBC. When asked why he concealed the injury from Team Japan trainers and coaches, Matsuzaka replied, "I didn't want to be the center of concern for people", and also added, "Classic was hard. I relied on my wits and my shoulder strength. I had to be creative. I varied the paces between the pitches; I used the different kind of slider that I usually don't throw."