MONTE CARLO OPEN

April 21, 1997

Fabrice Santoro

Q. It's only the second time against Roig, I believe?

FABRICE SANTORO: Yes, at least twice. I never lost against him. I saw him once, I believe. I remember a match in Germany. Probably there were others.

FABRICE SANTORO: Not really, because he doesn't play very fast, but he doesn't have much rhythm and he's a bit difficult. The weather conditions today were really difficult for the players. The most important thing was to fight, to play your best tennis. In those conditions, with a strong wind, it was a change for me compared with my last days of training where I was hitting the ball with a lot of pleasure.

FABRICE SANTORO: Everybody's complaining, but I found them very good. They are fine.

FABRICE SANTORO: No. They suit me well.

FABRICE SANTORO: They make a noise like stones. The sound is very hard. Apart from that, they're okay, apart from this particular noise.

FABRICE SANTORO: My game is good. The beginning of my season is positive because I rarely scored so many points during the first three months of the year. I never won so many points in indoor tournaments before. I was not going to those tournaments. When I rarely went to these tournaments, I was sometimes passing by, but I was never going beyond that. I had good results this year on carpet, Teraflex, green. This gave me confidence and made me win. I won those matches being aggressive, going forward in the court, and this is what I liked most about it.

FABRICE SANTORO: Yes, a big problem. Before, I was always playing the same game, either on hardcourt or on clay. But this winter I completely changed my game. I regularly played good return and volley, a game that I cannot play on clay. The first days when I started playing on clay were a bit difficult, my placement was not good at all. I was very tense when I was playing, whereas on clay you need a lot of security, a bit in the Spanish way, with a ball going above the nature at a meter and a half. You go up to the net only when you are sure of your attack. You can't really fake it on clay.

FABRICE SANTORO: Yes. In Estoril, I played good tennis, especially in the second round. I played two good matches. I was a bit short physically, but then I recuperated and I worked physically a lot. I arrived here on Thursday and I had very good training sessions. Even if today the match was an average match, because of the game conditions, after two weeks or three weeks on clay, I have the impression that I'm not far from my best level.

FABRICE SANTORO: Yes. The victories in Estoril did a lot of good for me. If I had failed in the first round over there, it would have been different. Before that, I was able to play three matches, and three other matches before that, so it was my seventh match on clay. I had time to revise my shots.

FABRICE SANTORO: Estoril on clay and a tournament in Carcasonne before that. The simple fact of playing matches on clay, even if the players were not very good players, helped me to find my placement and become patient.

FABRICE SANTORO: Yes.

FABRICE SANTORO: On clay, he beat me in Florence and Estoril.

FABRICE SANTORO: Yes. But since then he improved, apparently. He's stronger physically.

FABRICE SANTORO: It's not so obvious. I am 90, he was 50 when I beat him the last time. My progression is not so sharp. I will have nothing to lose. I hope there will be no wind and I will play as good tomorrow as I've been playing during training, during the past week.

FABRICE SANTORO: No. It's a handicap for both players, but it's not so pleasant to play then. I think the wind will bother him less.

FABRICE SANTORO: I'm not really a bad player with the wind, but it annoys me. It's rather a mental thing than my game itself. .

FABRICE SANTORO: I didn't see Ivanisevic. As for Cedric, I only saw part of the match, and it was mainly due to the quality of Cedric's game more than to Muster himself. He just made him question, because Muster is not used to having a strong opposition on clay. I am not worried for the next weeks. It's going to come back very fast. He won on Teraflex a year and a half ago, and in '96 also. It might take a week longer or it might become good as soon as tomorrow or next Monday. But my tennis on clay is there. He will play strong on both sides, long shots, topspin. Now he's saving his fitness a bit more than before. The rallies are shorter, but he is still, in my opinion, the best player on clay that we have today.

FABRICE SANTORO: Last time when I beat him, I played serve and volley during part of the match. Tomorrow I do not intend to play serve and volley. I don't really know how I'm going to do. I have to think about it.

FABRICE SANTORO: I'm going to speak with him. Cedric beat him. He made him question himself. He's arriving here with two losses on clay. He's less confident than during the past two or three years when he arrived here with many tournaments behind him, winning them. He's not so confident. I imagine that his defeat in Barcelona made him more motivated. I've seen him for five days here. He's working hard, and he doesn't want to lose every week.

FABRICE SANTORO: You can't beat Muster on clay without hurting. You must believe that the match is going to be difficult physically and mentally. It's up to me to play my best tennis. It's difficult to know beforehand what will happen. Since the past days, I played well. I recuperated physically. I know that physically and mentally I will not give up. This will all depend on the quality of my game, but you cannot beat him on clay without hurting yourself. Cedric probably came out of the match completely drained in Barcelona.