TMS MONTE CARLO

April 19, 2001

Hicham Arazi

HICHAM ARAZI: It wasn't obvious. There were many mistakes on both parts. It was quite bothering.

HICHAM ARAZI: I don't remember. I think that during the moment when it happened I didn't really think about it. I think I made an ace?

HICHAM ARAZI: No, I was not thinking about it. I was present, I made an ace, I was playing point after point, and I was not concerned by that set point.

HICHAM ARAZI: Yes, I think he let go a little bit in the beginning of the second set and, as you said, the conditions were really not in his favor.

HICHAM ARAZI: Yes. I played him twice on clay. I beat him the first time, and he beat me the year after in Hamburg. It's going to be an interesting match, a tight match I believe.

HICHAM ARAZI: During those past two years, he did. He made the third round or Round of 16 in the French Open, I believe. He improved a lot on clay.

HICHAM ARAZI: That's for sure. It's an interesting match to play against a non specialist of clay, but you must always remain cautious. He beat me last time, he even beat me the last three or four times we've played one against the other. So it's going to be a quite difficult match.

HICHAM ARAZI: Very good. I came early, last Wednesday, to have time to prepare myself properly. It's true I didn't have very good results before. I only won four matches since the beginning of the year, which is not a lot as far as confidence is concerned. When I came here, I had a relatively easy first round, and little by little I became more confident. And it's getting better and better. I believe I can do something interesting here.

HICHAM ARAZI: Playing a quarterfinal is already interesting. Let's see if we can go further.

HICHAM ARAZI: Yes.