PILOT PEN INTERNATIONAL

August 17, 1996

Jan Siemerink

JAN SIEMERINK: Actually, I can't. I mean, that's just how it goes on the Tour, I think. You know, the only thing is that you just try to put a lot of work in all the time. It's not if you lose early, it's not that you're not doing anything. You keep practicing, you keep working on your game, and you keep believing that it will return. That's the whole thing. As long as you keep doing that, the results will finally come, I guess.

JAN SIEMERINK: No, not really. I mean, that's the way I play. I play serve and volley first and second. You don't see so many guys doing that anymore. That's my game. I have to work on that part of my game. I'm not the kind of guy who plays well from the baseline, so serve and volley is my best game. If you want to win, you have to play your best game, I think.

JAN SIEMERINK: What can you think? I mean, just try to win the match point and see what happens. I mean, Wayne is the kind of guy who can hit winners from any position. That can happen at Love-40, 15-40, 30-40. I just try to play the points the way I should play them. I luckily won those games. Those were very important for the match.

JAN SIEMERINK: You mean him?

JAN SIEMERINK: Yeah. Especially when Wayne was getting his first serve in, I was in trouble of course. When he was putting a lot of second serves in, I had a chance to come in. I think I won a lot of pints on his second serve, just by coming into his backhand and making some points. Of course, when his first serve was in, he won the points most of the time.

JAN SIEMERINK: No, because tomorrow whoever I'm playing, he deserves to be in the final also, so he will probably think the same. I mean, it's going to be a tough match again because both finalists for tomorrow also playing very well this week, so I can't expect to win the tournament then, but I'm going to try to.

JAN SIEMERINK: Well, actually during the match, during my single's match, I was feeling a little bit tired already, but it doesn't mean that it's over. I mean, you just have to push yourself a little bit further and just keep concentrating on the games. But, yeah, tonight I will have a good sleep I think before the final, yeah.

JAN SIEMERINK: No. Well, I'm not tired, but doubles is more mental. You play singles, you put all your energies in your singles, then you have to play doubles again. It's more you have to set your mind to it. Doubles you play with two guys and you play half court. It's easy like that.

JAN SIEMERINK: My priority is in singles, of course. I prefer to play both because I enjoy both, yeah.

JAN SIEMERINK: Or maybe Haarhuis, you never know. I don't know what you want me to say.

JAN SIEMERINK: Yeah, exactly. I've been playing up and down. I mean, I didn't play so well in the beginning. The last couple matches, my game is there, and that's a nice feeling. Gives you some confidence for the final also for tomorrow. Just keep playing like this, I have a good shot. The same for the other guy.

JAN SIEMERINK: No. I saw Mark this afternoon. I said we should practice more on the Sunday of a tournament, because we did, and we're both in the semifinals. That's nice. I don't know. They're both different players, they have a different game. It's going to be interesting any way who I'm playing.

JAN SIEMERINK: No. I played Alex once, I think, yeah. I never play Philippoussis.

JAN SIEMERINK: Yes. We practiced on Sunday.

JAN SIEMERINK: Yes.

JAN SIEMERINK: Yeah, yeah.

JAN SIEMERINK: I don't know. Probably the games, you know. On the Sunday before the tournament you try to tune your game. You try to find somebody who has that game. He needed a left-handed player. I needed him. You start practicing a little bit.

JAN SIEMERINK: That he hits the ball very, very, very hard, and that I have to be very, very, very careful at the net.

JAN SIEMERINK: Just a few games. Like I said, just practicing and get your game tuned before the tournament. Nothing to do with the real match, of course.

JAN SIEMERINK: Just try to get it back. I mean, you cannot be too optimistic about it. Just try to get it back and see what happens.

JAN SIEMERINK: Yeah, I think I won that match.

JAN SIEMERINK: No, last year. I think somewhere in Australia, in the beginning of the year.

JAN SIEMERINK: For me, it was a good win. I wasn't interested in all the things that were going on. I just had to win behind my name, and that was more important for me. You remember this, of course, because you were there also. A lot of people, they don't know, they just see the results. That's what I care.

JAN SIEMERINK: He was lucky also because he hit the tape first. You cannot say if that's lucky or not. It goes like this so quick, you have to react and do that. There's nothing to do with placement or something, it's just a reflex. The game was very important, the whole game. Actually maybe it was the game of the match.

JAN SIEMERINK: I know what you're talking about. In Europe it's more that left-handed people, left-footed people, they're more creative somehow, but I don't know.

JAN SIEMERINK: No. Court 17 or something.

JAN SIEMERINK: Yes, from the beginning I started playing like that. I started in '89. It's '96 now. The game has changed already in those years. I used to have a big serve, I remember that. Nowadays if you hit 100 miles an hour serve, it's nothing. The guys are hitting the ball much harder and much faster. That's why it's so hard to play serve and volley on first and second because you really need a good second serve. If my second serve is not working, they'll hit winners all the time. That's tough. That's why you don't see so many guys doing it at the moment. You know, Edberg is maybe one of the last guys that does it, but even he is changing a little it about. It doesn't mean that you're not going to win if you have a game like that; you just have to work harder on it to make it better. That's why I play a lot of doubles also because in doubles you have to play serve and volley also. You can work on your returns. That's actually two important things in a doubles match, also important for my singles, so that's why I play a lot of it.

JAN SIEMERINK: It all depends on the guys you're playing also. I've played Wayne before. I beat him twice in three sets also. He always got a little bit frustrated. When you go to another match with him, you always think about your last matches against the guy. You keep in mind that he was the first to get frustrated. You just try to keep it for yourself if you are, but it doesn't mean that I'm always that quiet, but I have my days also.

JAN SIEMERINK: I had the feeling nobody cares what I said anyway, so I have nothing to say anyway.

JAN SIEMERINK: Up and down?

JAN SIEMERINK: Well, it's not, because if you see my ranking, I've had a steady ranking now. That's more important, I think. Like I said, it's just the game I play, it's not so easy to play. If my serve is not going, then I have a very vulnerable game. It happens that you lose early. If you get to win those matches, then I get more confident, the whole game is getting better then, then I can beat anybody, I know that.

JAN SIEMERINK: You think about it. You don't want to lose to somebody you never lost to, of course.

JAN SIEMERINK: We had already so many funny things about that. My partner is always the one who is in the newspaper that they think is Wayne Ferreira. Last week in Cincinnati, we beat Woodbridge, Woodforde. It could not be Ellis Ferreira, it must be Wayne then.

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