WESTERN AND SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS

August 2, 2004

Sjeng Schalken

THE MODERATOR: Please go ahead for Sjeng Schalken.

SJENG SCHALKEN: Well, afterwards you can say, "I'm happy about the quick match," but during the match you never know how it's gonna go. And he's a tall guy with a big serve. And, well, I was very happy that I could break him two times. He was having, I think, a little bit of timing troubles with his return, so I never got in danger on my own serve. So it was a smooth ride today.

SJENG SCHALKEN: Well, it's a real major. You have a beautiful stadium, even the Grandstand, where we played. It's all very convenient. The city itself is a little bit far away, that's unfortunate. But I think everybody likes playing in Cincinnati a lot, just as much as the other big tournaments, the Masters Series.

SJENG SCHALKEN: Well, we look at it as it is our job. So even if you're in Rome or Paris, those cities are beautiful, but we always stick to the tennis court and we judge ourselves on how we play on the court. Well, then you see the facilities here are great - I think even better than other tournaments.

SJENG SCHALKEN: It is nice. Because normally I am in three or four hours of battles. So it's nice to be playing only one hour and 15 minutes about. I never expect that for myself because I cannot hit somebody off the court with the big serve or big ground strokes. I have to work always really hard. And, well, next match I'm -- like I played many matches here, it will be maybe a two and a half, three-hour match again.

SJENG SCHALKEN: Well, what is happening at the moment, you have two key players. One is from Europe, and one is from North America. And then you have also a couple from South America. So everybody is involved in the world at the moment. Well, the ratings in Europe are always good because it's almost all the countries it's sport number two, except in America. But I think Andy Roddick and Roger Federer can help it because people start to know them and they get interest. Like they played in Toronto the finals again, it's very good for tennis.

SJENG SCHALKEN: No, no, I don't think so. It's just the name. And if you see Roger Federer play, he can do everything. So he has a good serve, but not a big, big serve. But he wins all his matches by playing with his shots. And then you have Andy Roddick who has the biggest serve in the game, but he can play also very good from the baseline. Yeah, I think it's attractive.

SJENG SCHALKEN: Yeah, together with Andy, yeah. And then in South America, it's also a big sport. You see Nalbandian and Coria and Guga Kuerten. Still have big names from there. And in Europe it's always big.