US OPEN

August 28, 2003

Martin Verkerk

MODERATOR: Questions, please.

MARTIN VERKERK: First two sets probably one of the two worst sets of my life. I didn't feel the ball at all. I moved really slow; I don't know why. I wasn't tense. Wasn't nervous or anything. Sometimes once in a while you have the kind of days. Then you can say, "Okay, I don't hit the ball." You can say, "Well done in three sets." I played bad, but I tried everything to get into the match. Third one, the third set was better - actually pretty good. Fourth one was a really good set. You losing for four sets. Actually, I played at the end just a pretty good match. Only in the first two sets were terrible.

MARTIN VERKERK: Yeah, I explain that I think already 1,000 times. But, I mean, it's changed everything. I mean, people want to beat you now because you are a seeded player. There's more pressure to win. But it was not the pressure why I play the two sets like that. Yeah, outside the court, I'm famous in Holland. That's it.

MARTIN VERKERK: No, it's not that bad. You get fan mail and all that stuff. It's normal. What changed, actually, they know Krajicek, Schalken, they know Raemon Sluiter from Davis Cup. I was also Top 100. People, they know you, but they're not really like -- they don't recognize you everywhere. Now they recognize you almost everywhere, in restaurants, wherever you walk on the roads. When I go to a fuel station. Everywhere. I mean, I thought it was gonna be less, but maybe when I'm back now after the States, it will be a little less, but I don't think so.

MARTIN VERKERK: I had the best year of my life tennis-wise already, so I'm pretty happy. The only thing is after Roland Garros, you wanted to continue what you did. But that's difficult because, first of all, the grass came up. I never hit a ball on grass, so the result was normal. Then, yeah, then we had some tournaments in Holland, in Amersfoort. I had a shoulder injury, pretty bad. Then I win a challenger actually. So that was unbelievably good level I play there. It was good actually. Then you come to the States and you play two times second round and one time first round. So, yeah, it's not so disappointed. I mean, I wish I could win every tournament, but it will come again. You have to play four, five tournaments a year real good, what I did this year. Then you say -- then you can be Top 20. It will always be like that with my tennis game. I will have my ups and downs. I cannot do anything about it. I try it. But only thing I can do is fight for every match, whatever happens. Then I will get my good matches, too. Because if you see my game, if I feel the ball or if I'm in form, you can say "What is form?" But if you feel that, in Roland Garros, you saw I felt every ball good, I hit every ball good. When I miss a ball, it was once in a while. That kind of tournaments you have sometimes. They will come again. Maybe they will come -- now it's Davis Cup coming, but maybe they will have -- maybe I win Shanghai, maybe I will lose first round. You never know with me.

MARTIN VERKERK: I think he played really well. The first set not; he played bad. But I played even worse, so, it was pretty good actually. And, yeah, he's a great player. I have a lot of respect for him, what he did in his career. I think he's still a good player, especially on the hard courts and especially in the States of course. He was focused. He played well. He double-fault sometimes. He made his mistakes. But on the important points he played good. Yeah, what I say, I knew it, I said it also to the Dutch press, I knew already two days ago that it would be really tough to play against Todd Martin because I am the favorite. But if you just look at the record from him and the record of mine, of course I'm younger, but Todd Martin is a great player. Yeah, it's not a bad thing to lose against Todd Martin.

MARTIN VERKERK: Yep. I mean, you never know, but I think so. Because I was feeling the balls better. I had love-30 one time. I was 5-2 up in the tiebreak. Little unlucky point maybe. But had my set points, and, yeah, I mean, I was coming back in the match totally.

MARTIN VERKERK: It's not the first time.

MARTIN VERKERK: Roddick last year. So I'm love-2. So it's going the right way (laughter). I'm happy with the center court here. No, but I'm used to playing for crowd. That's no problem. I played Roland Garros, for big stadiums. This stadium is huge, I have to say. It's also really noisy and the television, the music. I like it. It's not a problem for me. If you see the first two sets, you maybe think that it was because of that, but I haven't found out why it was. I probably -- I feel when I'm tense or when I'm nervous or when there's something on my mind... But I was focused, I was happy, I was feeling good. Yeah, maybe it's just one of these off days for two sets then and I fought back. But that's the only thing I could do today, and I start playing better. So at the end I was playing a high level.