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DAVIS CUP FIRST ROUND

February 12, 2006

Razvan Sabau

ROMANIA vs. USA, LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. When were you notified that you were going to be the guy?
RAZVAN SABAU: I believe yesterday when I saw Victor being injured, I knew that there is a chance I have to play today. And last night when he came back from the hospital and they told him that he's going to be out at least for three weeks, I was almost sure.
Q. You weren't positive?
RAZVAN SABAU: Yes, last night they told me in the last moment.
Q. How long is Victor going to be out?
RAZVAN SABAU: Maybe more than two weeks.
Q. How do you feel about today's performance?
RAZVAN SABAU: I wish I could have done more than I did because I saw that Roddick was not hundred percent. I saw him playing a different tactic than he usually is playing. He was defensive and he stayed very long distance behind the baseline. I was expecting him to attack me. I was not -- in a way, surprised by his game and I was not really able to make my own points, to win my own points on my serve. When he was serving, even though I broke him two times, I think it was not enough.
Q. You had to play Andre Agassi at night at the US Open. Now you had to play Roddick today. Which would you say was more difficult?
RAZVAN SABAU: I think Agassi played much better in the US Open than Roddick did today. He, I felt, outplayed me by the speed of his game in the Open. Today, maybe because Roddick was a bit injured or very tired from the last game, was just playing slow. I was able to play with him.
But I couldn't make all the winners that I wanted to. And because he went so much behind the baseline, he was able to get all my balls.
Q. You told us here the other day that when you played Agassi you had a sore elbow, right?
RAZVAN SABAU: Yeah.
Q. Has that condition improved?
RAZVAN SABAU: Yes, I am okay now, but I was injured with my elbow for a long time. It started last year in July, I think. I played with pain for six months. Even though I was able to play, I couldn't practice my serve, and I think as everybody could see today my serve is not good at all. I am trying to put sometimes just the first serve in to be able to play the point, but it's not enough against a player as good as Roddick.
Q. You had to retire at the Australian Open in your opening match against Gaston Gaudio. Why did you have to retire?
RAZVAN SABAU: Because of some pain in the elbow. I just couldn't play that kind of game over there, because my elbow was bothering me too much.
Q. Your elbow was still bothering you?
RAZVAN SABAU: Yeah.
Q. You say it felt all right today?
RAZVAN SABAU: Yes. I am okay for more than, I would say, one month now, since the Australian Open.
Q. Roddick said in an interview that he wants to play on grass in the next Davis Cup match against Chile. How much do you think that will favor the American team?
RAZVAN SABAU: I don't know. I think it's okay for Roddick because he's almost unbeatable on grass maybe, unless they play Switzerland. But you have to ask them.
Q. What do you think has been your best win?
RAZVAN SABAU: I don't have big wins against top 10 players, so something like that. My best win that I remember would be also in a Davis Cup match against Ecuador two years ago. We played the last match at 2-All, and that was a match I remember as my best win.
Q. Ecuador?
RAZVAN SABAU: Ecuador, yeah.
Q. You won the deciding match?
RAZVAN SABAU: Yeah.
Q. You were a world junior champion in 1993, right?
RAZVAN SABAU: Yeah. Well, I was just No. 1 for a few months. I didn't finish No. 1.
Q. What has happened to your game since then?
RAZVAN SABAU: Well, in Juniors I realized later it's very easy to win matches. I expected to do as well in the ATP Tour, but it took me much longer to be able to come up with a game that I can match the other players that are much stronger, much better physically and mentally.
I think now I am playing my best tennis even though it's not as good as I would have hoped when I was 16.

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