WIMBLEDON

June 29, 2002

Sjeng Schalken

THE MODERATOR: Who would like to start.

SJENG SCHALKEN: Yeah, at that moment I was thinking, "Well, it's gonna be one-all in sets." The first set I won. I think he should have won it because he had more break points and was playing better and I was looking for my shots. Second set, I felt like I should have won it. But at 3-6, at that point, I felt like, "Okay, the match is going to be best of three match from now on. This tiebreak's gonna be for him." Because, yeah, 3-6. So I just played two loose games. I said, "Okay, I'm gonna attack on my service game." I played two good shots. Then all of a sudden was 5-6. I think, "Oh, well, I still have a chance." Well, at that moment he was attacking me again, first serve and volley. And I made a very good return. I saw the hole on his forehand side and I thought, "Okay, let's go for it." It went good. Actually, at 6-all, I played the same, exactly the same shot. So those were two very good shots. But then all of a sudden I was up 7-6 and there I missed an easy forehand. And I was really angry with myself because he was in the back of the court and I think if we are both in the back of the court, I should win the point. So that was my feeling today on the court. So I was very unhappy with that point, but I came over it.

SJENG SCHALKEN: I had a great return. He made a great pickup. And then he was closing in. I thought, "Well, just try to play it close backhand corner." Actually he missed it. I think he shouldn't have missed it because he played such a good pickup. But I was very happy with the shots I made.

SJENG SCHALKEN: I didn't feel that, that way. I was just thinking, "Wow, he's a good player." It was going so quick in the beginning. I didn't see his serves went. But, yeah, my game is that I steadily play more and more returns back, and then he will start to feel the pressure of my game, that more and more balls are coming back. And all of a sudden, if he starts hitting too many second serves, then I'm going to attack him. I think, yeah, that was the difference today - that he couldn't hold or couldn't keep up the first serves.

SJENG SCHALKEN: Yeah. The first set, I didn't deserve it. He deserved it. He was playing better. I was having troubles with my forehand. The court was a little bit faster than the other courts. I play from the back, and I had to work really hard for my service games. I think I had four or five break points against me. And then all of a sudden I hit -- was 30-15, I hit three beautiful returns which I didn't even touch his serves before. So I think it was a little unlucky for him that I won that match -- that set.

SJENG SCHALKEN: I have a good history. I won two times this year, one time in Queen's, and one time in Stockholm. So he's a very tough player. I think he's the same like Arnaud Clement, play exactly the same, except he's two times the height of Arnaud Clement. And he's a hard worker, and I am a hard worker, so we will see a lot of baseline rallies.