XXVI OLYMPIC GAMES

July 30, 1996

MaliVai Washington

MALIVAI WASHINGTON: Well, I think throughout the whole match I would have liked to play a little bit better. I think I competed pretty good. I think I fought through some of the tough times. I think if I could have played a little solider, a little more solid on some of the big points, some of the big moments in the match, I could have come out with a "W". I think there were two different occasions in the first set when I was up 40-15 on his serve, the second occasion it was double set point, and I didn't come through there. There were a few points in the tie break, that could have -- won the tie break for me, I felt. And obviously serving for the match, when you serve for the match and you've been holding pretty good throughout the match, you've got to do it. That's what I needed to do and I just wasn't able to -- wasn't able to hold. At 5-4 in the third. But you've got to give some of the credit for Sergi, when I was serving for the match he didn't -- I was getting a fair amount -- the two breaks he broke me, he didn't miss a return. And he played real solid.

MALIVAI WASHINGTON: In which game?

MALIVAI WASHINGTON: I didn't -- you go up there with a gameplan, and sometimes however the point is set up, or however the ball is coming to you, you -- your game spontaneously changes from there. The first point at 5-4, you get a short forehand, you've got to go for it. You get a short backhand approach you've got to go for it. It just so happened that I missed both of them. You can't really explain why I missed them. You just do. I think the double fault on break point, I think I was just a little tight there. I'd come back from love-40, got back to 30-40, and just dumped in about a 50 mile an hour serve. But, I don't know, I think I was just kind of following suit with some of my other service games. It seemed throughout the match there were definitely times I'd throw in a double fault. So I was just kind of following suit when I was serving for the match, which was a little unfortunate.

MALIVAI WASHINGTON: You know, when a guy is struggling returning serve the whole match and he breaks when he's down match game, gee, at that point he definitely had the momentum. Then he had the -- the ball was in his hand. He had to go on and serve to go up 6-5. But he had the momentum at that point. And I had to do something. I had to try to stop it or try to turn it around. When you're up -- I think I was up 5-3 in the third and he holds pretty easily and then he breaks me. So he had the momentum. He had the -- whatever was going for him. But the Spanish people were pulling for him, obviously. And he was just able to capitalize on that and then hold on through it and then break me again for the match.

MALIVAI WASHINGTON: The support from the U.S. audience is great. You can't -- you can't even explain how good that feels and how good it makes you feel. They -- like I was saying earlier, I thought I struggled a little bit at certain times with my game and with the crowd behind me it urges you on. Gee, like I've been saying all week, you're out there giving a hundred percent and the crowd makes you give 101 percent. Sometimes it just gives you that little extra you need to get over the top. And they gave me everything I needed today. I just needed to do a little something extra. And Sergi wasn't willing to let me do that.

MALIVAI WASHINGTON: Added to what?

MALIVAI WASHINGTON: I'm going to walk away from Atlanta and the whole Olympic experience with positive thoughts, without a doubt. It would have been nice to -- I'm sure it would have been awesome to go to the semis and have a chance to play for the finals and play for a silver or a gold. It's matches like today -- it's the big matches, that's what you live for. I couldn't have asked for more. It was a big situation, it was a big crowd, playing against a heck of a player. I went into the match saying, hey, I think this is a match I could win. I got Sergi on a surface that probably isn't his best surface. It didn't work out, but, gee, I don't have anything to really hang my head about. It's been a great experience and I'm going to make the experience last a little longer, hang around in Atlanta for a little bit and try to catch a few more events and definitely be pulling for -- definitely be pulling for my other teammates.

MALIVAI WASHINGTON: That's a big question because I'm supposed to be playing in Cincinnati. Participating in the closing ceremonies would not be the best preparation for Cincinnati.

MALIVAI WASHINGTON: Cincinnati starts on Monday. But I don't know. If you're going to go into a tournament a little unprepared, going to a closing ceremony is the way to do it, I guess. So it's going to be tough to miss closing ceremonies. But I'm just going to play it by ear.

MALIVAI WASHINGTON: How do I compare them?

MALIVAI WASHINGTON: Well, you look at -- I don't know, I haven't cried about either one of them. But the Olympics -- this is maybe even almost worse, actually. Wimbledon is a big event. And being in the finals and winning Wimbledon would have been huge. But the Olympics is another huge event. They're both huge events in their own right. They're totally different. And to go out of the Olympics, I mean you just -- after a match like today you just sit there in the locker room and shake your head a little bit and say, gee, this was a great experience, and I great opportunity that got away. But like I said, I'm still going to walk away with positive thoughts about it. Life goes on, my career will go on. But it just would have been nice to go a little further in the Olympics.

MALIVAI WASHINGTON: Yeah, I think that was part of it. I didn't feel like I was -- I gave him too many free points on his serve, I felt. You can chalk it up and say, hey, the guy came up and some aces and good heat on his first serve. But I would have liked to put a little more pressure on his serve. There just wasn't -- I don't know if I wasn't seeing the ball right or what, but like I was saying before, there were two games, double break point. Gee, you've got to convert on one of them. So that right there, you can't explain it. Sometimes you wake up, you don't warm up for the match, and you stroke them really good. Other times you feel good for the match and you get out there and you stroke them so-so. It happens, I guess.

MALIVAI WASHINGTON: Yeah, I had my mom and my sister watching my last 7 matches -- maybe even every match I've played here.

MALIVAI WASHINGTON: Are my expectations higher? I don't know. I've always put some pretty big expectations on myself to perform well maybe the expectations are a little higher, because you make the finals of Wimbledon, and you feel like you played really good tennis. It's like you walk out on to the court and you expect yourself to play really good tennis every time out, and it's not going to happen all the time. To be realistic, there are going to be times I struggle out on the court and guys are going to beat me and lose matches where I'm serving for it. And guys maybe I've never even heard of might beat me sometimes. But you walk out there and feeling confident and I am feeling pretty confident, I guess, and you put it on the line and you give it everything you've got and I think if I do that I can walk away with a smile and say, hey, that was good.

MALIVAI WASHINGTON: I think for whatever reason Sergi's had a down year, and he's dropped in the ranking some. But, gee, the guy can obviously play some tennis and he's shown that on his past results. So I'm a guy who just doesn't look at rankings, because you walk out on the court and it's man against man, and if you don't come up with the shot you're going to lose. If you do come up with the shot you're going to win. It's that simple. No matter who you're playing. To me rankings and seedings don't mean a whole lot. The only thing a ranking does is just going to -- I don't know, how you're ranking may be the more money you make may be the only difference to me.