I think Mrs. P. is right. The newspaper lady told on herself when she said, "And, only because he was queried about it, Chan pondered the rival who isn’t here — Plushenko."
In other words, the absent Plushenko was the farthest thing from Patrick's mind as he prepared to take on Hanyu, Takahash, Kozuka and Fernadez this weekend. When Ms. Dimano pestered him about it out of the blue (Come on, say it -- you think you can kick Plushenko's butt, right? Say it! Say it! ), the best Patrick could come up with is a mild I hope so.
Exactly. Sorry, but if I was Patrick, I would definitely be thinking more about competing against the guy who has the highest SP score EVER or the guy who beat me in my home country than somebody who wasn't here.