PACIFIC LIFE OPEN

March 12, 2003

Brian Vahaly

MODERATOR: Questions.

BRIAN VAHALY: This has been a good tournament for me. Gonzales was my first one. He's ranked around 20 or something. Yeah, I can't believe it (laughter). You know, I almost didn't get into qualifying. I got a call Thursday night at 10:00. They said I'm the worst guy in the qualifying, I finally got in. To go from that, I didn't even expect to play, this is my week off. My girlfriend lives in Los Angeles. We figured we'd come down here and give it a shot. It's all happened so fast. Yeah, I mean, I'm just -- I couldn't be happier.

BRIAN VAHALY: Yeah. I figured I'd come down, train a little bit. I've gotten to be friends with like Jan-Michael Gambill, Andy Roddick. I wanted to come support them. All of a sudden you get the call. I figured I'd give it a shot in qualifying. Like you said, I hadn't really beaten a lot of these guys in the Top 50. Didn't have much expectations. But here I am.

BRIAN VAHALY: I played one match on Saturday, qualifying, I beat Olivier Rochus, which is a great win for me. In the final round of quallies, nobody gave me any chance of that. Gonzales Monday night, went late, 11:15.

BRIAN VAHALY: Fourth match, yeah.

BRIAN VAHALY: First is Ferrero, second is Gonzales, third is Rochus. I've worked my way up. Only been out here for a year and a half. Had some great wins over Sanguinetti and other guys last summer. As of late, you know, had a good run through in Memphis, got to the semifinals. That was really my first real breakthrough at an ATP event.

BRIAN VAHALY: Yeah, it's really exciting for me. I'm the only guy in this tournament with a college degree. And it means a lot to show people that, you know, what you can do out of college. I wasn't ready. I had a great world ranking in the Juniors. A lot of people thought I would. I even went to a school nobody expected me to, University of Virginia. I've had so many doubters. I've been getting consistent feedback from people saying, "You're a great junior player, great college player, you're an average professional." It means a lot for me to be here right now. I think that's why it was just so emotional for me towards the end of the match. You just have so few people believe in you. It's hard to consistently go through your whole life, play 20 years of tennis, people still tell you, "This is the best it's going to be. This is the best it's going to be." To have a match like today, win in front of that crowd, on ESPN, yeah, it just means a lot.

BRIAN VAHALY: I believed in myself. I believed in my abilities. I had a great coach in Scott McCain who I started working with last March. He really just had so much faith in me, it almost surprised me. I just consistently had been shot down. I looked for opportunities to -- as my ranking moved up, I wanted to try to be a practice partner for Davis Cup or, you know, be involved somehow. People just consistently didn't think I was good enough. That's frustrating. You know, I knew I didn't have the big shots. I knew I was small. I knew I was old in comparison. I didn't have much experience. I'd just been out here for a year and a half. Sure, I'm 23. In the whole grand scheme of things, I was young, but people told me I was too old, I started too late. A guy who goes to college signed away his career. I'd like to think with a college degree, it brings a little extra to the table. It brings a brain and it brings a mind. And that's my strength.

BRIAN VAHALY: I felt comfortable throughout the match. It was 4-1, he was serving 15-40, I think that was the first time I realized that I could win. I was so excited to prove so many people wrong. I was so excited to be in the spotlight. I was so excited that this was actually happening. And I wasn't prepared for it. You know, the nerves crept in. I had a tough time breathing. There are times when you supposedly choke, but it's such a different magnitude when you're out at that kind of level, these kind of points, for that kind of money. I'm going to be honest, it's crazy (laughter). So much goes through your mind except for what you should be thinking about. Yeah, so it was tough to deal with. It was a first experience for me.

BRIAN VAHALY: You know, there's a lot. I played Blake at the US Open on TV. I played Agassi in the first round of the Australian. You know, you think back. I think that was the point where I just knew the critics were coming back, keep creeping back in my mind, "He's almost there, but he's not good enough." I didn't want to go out that way. I kind of sat down on the bench, thought about where I'd been, where I am, said some prayers, just tried to think back and believe in myself, take myself out of the situation the best I could, focus on what I needed to do to win.

BRIAN VAHALY: Well, first UVA is an amazing school. Some courses, you know, I had two majors. I did finance and business management. The business school there is unbelievable. It involves a lot of analytical thinking. You have to assess the situation, break down the problems, really go after, you know, some sense of a solution. For me when I'm out there, a lot of people told me my mind is my best asset. Realize what's going on, slow yourself down, consistently reassess . I do a lot of that when I'm out there. Just because something is working in the first set, he's going to mix things up, I have to continue to see what he's doing and change it up. I see a lot of guys out there that continue to play the same way over and over and over until they lose. I give everything I've got. You know, with regards to what I gained from college, I wasn't mentally or physically prepared to go on tour. You know, a lot of kids I don't feel like are either. I don't know. I mean, you gain so much from college. I mean, that's what most people go through. You know, out here on tour, nobody does. A lot of people maybe don't even finish high school. I think a lot of people who are more talented than I am, I beat in a lot of ways. I attribute that to my education.

BRIAN VAHALY: I've been through it all. I've had to play so many futures events, qualifying for futures. I couldn't even get a wildcard into a future, better spent on another kid. I think back now to Brownsville, Texas. I love those people. They still write me e-mails. 60-mile-an-hour winds, I had to have an underhand serve. I couldn't get my serve in. Underhand serving against a guy that's not ranked, I'm losing. It's like: Do I honestly think I'm going to be in this position one day? I did it. You go to the US Open qualifying. Finally get a wildcard into that. I lost 6-0, 6-0.

BRIAN VAHALY: I lost to Noam Behr in 38, 39 minutes. I've been -- trust me, I've had plenty of setbacks. Plenty of people say, "See what I'm talking about. You have to give up. Go get a job, do what you're best at."

BRIAN VAHALY: The stadium, the wind. Not much similar. God, it makes it all the better. Like I said, I still am in touch with those people. They give me some great perspective. I enjoy this. I appreciate this atmosphere and this attention so much because, you know, like I said, you finish a match in these smaller-type towns, nobody really cares.

BRIAN VAHALY: I looked into doing investment banking in New York. And I do miss learning. I miss the pressure that comes along with that. But all my friends are getting fired (laughter). I'm glad I didn't. That's my own -- I guess that makes it feel a little better. There's a ton of things I wanted to do. I love -- I felt like bringing a competitive aspect. I was an academic All-American, you know, worked my butt off. I wanted to, you know, have a stable life. Forget that. I want to see the world. I want to keep playing tennis.

BRIAN VAHALY: You know, I think my main feeling when those names come up, I get angry because I've never been included in that list. I go tournament to tournament, it's Fish, Roddick, Ginepri, Blake. It's frustrating not to be considered again a good player. "He's doing a great job, it will probably fade." Again, it's one of those. With those guys, no, they're great people. I mean, I stayed here late last night to watch Andy play. Robby Ginepri and I have grown up with a similar personal coach. I've known him since I was eight years old. I love all those guys and I love being around them. It's great that we're all moving up together. James was one of my best friends growing up. We e-mailed all the time when he was at Harvard and I was at UVA. As soon as we went to college, a lot of people wrote both of us off. I have to learn from these guys. They do have more years' experience. I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know how to react, nervous out there playing a guy Top 5 in the world. You know, it's helpful to have Andy and those guys around, Jan-Michael who comes and watches all my matches. It does, it means a lot. This week has meant a lot to me in many ways.

BRIAN VAHALY: You know, I think it probably hit for me in Memphis a little bit because it just -- at that point I still hadn't succeeded at the ATP level. It was looking like I had to go back to the challengers, continue grinding away. You know, the frustrations of not having a stable life. I think when I finally made to it that semifinals that week, you know, my girlfriend kind of called me said, "Wow, this is it, this is what you're going to be doing for the next four or five years. You're on ESPN now." All right. (Laughter). Now, this is only another further exclamation mark that I can keep playing these tournaments. Shoot, I still got qualifying next week in Miami. I'm still not used to playing these. This is only my 10th or 11th ATP tournament in general.

BRIAN VAHALY: Atmosphere was different. You know, then all of a sudden people are coming up to me, "Your match is going to be on TV." 30 minutes before my match, I called my 25 closest friends and told them to tune on the television. If I lose, turn it off (laughter).

BRIAN VAHALY: Yeah, some of them were at home. Some of them were at work. I told them, "Tough, get a TV, bring it to work, take an extended lunch, go to a sports bar." But yeah, probably not the best way to get ready for a match. Again, I'm still kind of learning. But, yeah, totally different atmosphere. But I feel like I was somewhat ready for it, having been to the Australian Open, playing, you know, Agassi on the main court, playing Arthur Ashe, which is huge, playing against a guy like James Blake. I wasn't too intimidated by it.

BRIAN VAHALY: Yeah, it was after I lost 0-0 at The Open. I lost the next two matches only winning one or two games. Again, it's hard when you have so many doubters, at some point you do start to doubt yourself. I was getting ready to play a match against Chris Woodruff, had kind of packed my bags. I talked to my best friend in Charlottesville, Virginia, we were going to move to Australia, New Zealand, get away. It's hard. Tennis is something that engulfs you. I played for so many years. I just wanted a break. I wanted to completely get away from it, kind of start over. I won that match against Woodruff. That kind of opened my eyes a little bit like, "Wow, I can't believe I beat a guy that's accomplished as much as he's accomplished." Went down, played some futures in Jamaica, won those two. Came back to the States, won a future. Ended up winning five of them. Here all of a sudden I'm on my way.

BRIAN VAHALY: Yes. Colin Smeaden (phonetic), FSX. Awesome guy.

BRIAN VAHALY: I think there are times when even in general the USTA looks for people that are younger, this next group, crop of generation with Roddick and Fish and Ginepri. I think also when I went to college, a lot of people, especially a school like Virginia, a lot of college coaches were very -- some people just felt, you know, since I was doing well, they almost wanted to make a point to tell me that I wasn't going to make it. You know, support came when I started doing well. Then when I started doing poorly, it kind of went away. You know, when I say doubters, I think people didn't have a lot of confidence in my game and game style. Like I said, I wanted to be a part of, you know, Davis Cup or something internationally. It just consistently, even though my results were there, the confidence I didn't feel like was there. You know, I hope with wins over a guy who is No. 1 in Chile, now Ferrero, hopefully they know I can beat these guys and can compete. I feel like the more chances I get, the more this isn't going to be a rare experience for me.

BRIAN VAHALY: The college player thing inspired me because it was like, "Oh, you went to college, you got nothing." I've had so many e-mails from other players saying, "Go out and do it, get it done. You're representing us now." With the exception of maybe a guy named Alex Kim, ranked around 150, there's no college graduates in the Top 100. Everybody is pulling for me on that end. That's what I love. Old, I mean, shoot, I'm 23 years old. Gimme a break. I don't know what the heck is going on. What was the other one?

BRIAN VAHALY: I am short (smiling). Let's be honest. Short with a big head. It happens. That's the way God created me.

BRIAN VAHALY: This coming US Open?

BRIAN VAHALY: You know, my goal was to be Top 50, which kind of makes me laugh because, again, I didn't necessarily think I would be in that position. I don't know. I just want to continue to play like I played today all the time. You know, sometimes I think there's still a little bit of self-doubt. I want to be able to not let circumstances -- continue to focus the way I do at a challenger level how I do up here. When I got up here today, I was playing strong, confidently. 2-1 in the second set, I start thinking about the most random, stupid things. "I wonder who's watching? When I ate breakfast... " Conversations I had with my girlfriend. I mean, stupid. What are you doing? Get your act together. This is a big deal. I had to kind of keep pulling at my hat. Do you realize where you are? Do you realize what's happening now? Bring yourself back into the moment. For a guy like me who prides himself on mental toughness and concentration, it's frustrating when that gets the best of you. I don't know what to expect. I don't know where my game can go. My coaches seem to have this grand vision, and it makes me laugh. Obviously, they seem to think that today could happen, and it did.

BRIAN VAHALY: 3.5.

BRIAN VAHALY: God, that's a bit invasive (smiling). SATs, 1250. That could be a lie.

BRIAN VAHALY: Took it my junior year. I called all the best schools. They said it was good enough. I didn't take it again.

BRIAN VAHALY: Wow (laughter). You're trying to get me in trouble with the guys in the locker room. There are plenty of great guys out there. That's all I have to say about that (smiling).

BRIAN VAHALY: I'm not answering that.

BRIAN VAHALY: You know, I think I probably would have either taught tennis or looked into the business side of it. I had a great relationship with a lot of professors at school. They came to all my matches at Virginia, really wanted to help me out with a job. They felt like I was smart, driven. I figured maybe they could set me up with a job down there. When you're known for tennis your whole life, at school that's how I was known, in high school that's how I was known, you just have such a feeling of you want to get away. Having traveled around, you just hear these great things about Australia. Everyone I met from there and New Zealand, they seemed to be laid back, just a lifestyle you wanted so bad. There's so much pressure on you at this kind of level, sport. It's hard to sleep. You have to think about it all morning long, all night long. God, just the thought of being -- I don't know. It sounded great. I had a friend that wanted to do it with me. I almost went for it.

BRIAN VAHALY: My girlfriend's name is Christine Laken (phonetic). She's an actress in LA. She was on a show Step by Step that was on for eight years with Suzanne Sommers and Patrick Duffy also. She's got movies and stuff coming out. So, yeah. Very supportive.

BRIAN VAHALY: A lot of my friends ask me about marriage, I tell you that. She'll probably read this interview and want to know what I said. Yeah, I mean, we've known each other since seventh grade. We've been very close friends and started dating after college. Yeah, I mean, I'm excited. I don't know. I'm 23. Ask me that in a year.