US OPEN

September 5, 1998

Jan Siemerink

Q. Did you sense the match turn in that fourth set when he was called for a second serve foot fault? Seemed to be complaining about that, things (indicating).

JAN SIEMERINK: He was getting a bit upset with that call. I couldn't hear what he was saying during the changeovers, though. It's so loud here in the evening. You can hardly hear the ball bounce on your racquet. I don't know if that changed. I had the feeling that once the sun was going down and it got dark and the lights were on, the conditions changed a little bit, and it was more in my favor than in his favor, I think.

JAN SIEMERINK: Well, the only thing you have in your mind is that he played already two best-of-five matches. That's the only thing you know. That might help you in the match. I thought that looking at his body language, that he was getting a little bit tired. I mean, he was still getting the serve in. It's still not easy to break. As you can see, he was tired, but he still has to do it. Finally at the end I got the break. He hit a couple of good returns when I served for it. You have to accept that. But on the other hand, he missed also some easy second serves. So I wasn't really worried about losing that game actually.

JAN SIEMERINK: I thought in the beginning of the set, I wasn't playing so well, didn't serve well, missed a lot of balls. Like I said, the conditions were very tough to play. The sun was very bright. There was a little wind. The sun was going down, you get the shade on the court. All those things, they don't make it easy to play. Like I said, once that got away and the lights were on, it was getting dark, the atmosphere was even better than before. That gave me a little boost, I think.

JAN SIEMERINK: I don't know.

JAN SIEMERINK: Probably Wimbledon.

JAN SIEMERINK: We always play close matches. It's not a matter of winning it easy. I mean, he also had his chances. Also in the matches before, they were all close. It's just a matter of winning the important points. You get two or three in a match like that. If you make two out of three, then you're the lucky one to win. But I think today physically I was a bit stronger than he was. That made me stronger mentally.

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