PACIFIC LIFE OPEN

March 15, 2004

Marat Safin

MARAT SAFIN: I little bit was disappointed with myself when I lost this break that I had. And then in the tiebreak, that he hits -- he was so lucky. He came to the net, this volley, half volley that he made on the line, then the next volley that he played. I thought just everything changed in my mind. I was a little bit disappointed with the way it went, the match, because normally I would have to win the tiebreaker, and the match would go in my way.

MARAT SAFIN: I was really disappointed with these two volleys that he made out of nowhere. And there is no chance that he could make it in all his life, these kind of volleys. They were just right on the line, just changed the match completely.

MARAT SAFIN: That's the problem. I'm not playing bad. I'm playing quite good tennis. My level is really high. These couple of matches that I played before, I lost 7-5, 7-6 against Bjorkman, which is very difficult opponent for me. Then against Federer, 7-6, 7-6. Today also was a little bit disappointing the first set. I couldn't just recover because I was thinking about these two points and I was getting upset with myself, with this way the match went. Just missing a little bit of luck and a few points. If they would go my way, it would be different story. I would beat him in two sets.

MARAT SAFIN: He saw that I was a little bit down, he started to feel confident. He had to do something because otherwise on the baseline, he didn't have too many chances because his backhand is a little bit weak. If we go backhand to backhand, he have no chance. So he had to do something, just change a little bit his game, do something extra to get me in trouble.

MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, it's my best shot.

MARAT SAFIN: Yeah. I mean, I'm not playing that badly. I'm really playing good, and I'm feeling confident in myself. The stat is not -- they are looking at the matches that I've been playing lately, not going my way. That's the only problem I have. My serve is okay. My volley is perfect. Baseline is quite good. My fitness is really good. So basically I'm just missing a little bit of luck.

MARAT SAFIN: Well, I'm get used to it. It's like my sixth year on the tour and I'm used to the conditions, used to play.

MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, but the balls for me is not a problem. They are not flying all the match like they used to fly. Sometimes it's difficult to make the point, make the winner with that balls. You have to play -- you have to run a little bit more than you used to. But doesn't make any difference for me.

MARAT SAFIN: Kind of. Didn't give me any easy points. But I knew from the beginning I wasn't serving well, so I have to run a little bit more and I have to make the points and I have to do something, you know, just stay on the baseline with him. It wasn't so difficult. Just if I could stay on the baseline with him, backhand to backhand, the match would go my way because he doesn't have really good backhand compared to mine.

MARAT SAFIN: I was really disappointed. This weather killed me a little bit today. At 3-1, then he had a few lucky shots. As I said before, just two volleys out of nowhere. That changed a lot.

MARAT SAFIN: Tired, yeah, but you have to deal with the situation. My ranking is a little bit not really high, 30 in the world, and I have to deal with this kind of situation: in the third, second round I'm going to play against the top seeded. It's how it is. Whenever I will break through, then like the draw is opening. For example, he has a quite comfortable draw, like no seeds left. Moya lost. He will go far away. You have to win these kind of matches, like really tough points, and then you gain confidence and you have an easier draw.

MARAT SAFIN: That's how it is. That's life. You have to deal with it.

MARAT SAFIN: Yeah.

MARAT SAFIN: I'm doing. I'm doing my job. I'm doing whatever we can do. Whenever we can, we can go running. We're doing some exercise on the court. Is not a problem of fitness anymore.