DAVIS CUP FINALS, USA vs. SPAIN

December 4, 2004

Jordi Arrese

CAPTAIN ARRESE: Well, what a picturesque question, to say the least, but I did enjoy the way you formulated it. I have to tell you that we are 2-1, that we are extremely motivated, and that we are going to win. Please do see the situation in green and not in black.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: (Translated from Spanish) If I say yes to the question, of course that would not be good for the team. Let me just say that I am here. I am part of the team. The first day it was not considered appropriate that I play, and it was considered appropriate that I played today in the doubles match because Rafael is tired and because he had a very long match yesterday. I went to the match very motivated, very excited about it because I also played with Tommy before many times in a doubles match. We played well, but not well enough. They did a very good job and played much better than us. That's the answer to the question.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: (Translated from Spanish) Yes, my hand is perfectly well. It has been perfectly well for three or four days now. I do never hide. The Bryans were there and they played a very good match. I did my best. But I don't hide and I do like to show up when I'm asked to.

TOMMY ROBREDO: (Translated from Spanish) Well, I think you are diverting from the topic a little bit. The team is made up of four people, it's four of us. Yesterday we played much better than everybody expected. Even you, you were also surprised that we played really well. And today, it was also a very hard match. Even if you had to bet money on today's match, I'm sure you would have bet one thousand Euros in favor of the Bryans. I'm sure that if you were part of the captains, you would have also preferred to win the matches tomorrow. Of course, we didn't go to the court to lose the match. We wanted to win it. But it's the way things were. It was a very difficult match. The Bryans are extremely good players. We did our best. I insist it was a very difficult match. I want to congratulate the Bryans. We just want to look ahead. I also want to say that it's quite nice to go to bed on a Saturday night of a Davis Cup tie with the score being 2-1.

CAPTAIN ARRESE: (Translated from Spanish) Firstly, I want to say that we are 2-1 today. Secondly, I do want to thank both Juan Carlos and Tommy. Tommy firstly because he has not played with his partner. That is something that he needs to be congratulated for. Secondly to Juan Carlos, because he has not acted in an individualistic way. He did a very good piece of teamwork. I want to say we have played. Tomorrow is fully open. All our choices for tomorrow are fully open. I must say that the Bryans played extremely well. I actually would like call them the Dalton brothers instead of the Bryans because they played so well. I would say of course Tommy and Rafa are very coordinated, they have practiced together. But I also want to say that Juan Carlos played very, very well. We thought that we had more chances of winning it than we actually have. Juan Carlos and Tommy have played a good game, a good doubles match today. I want to congratulate the Bryans because they played very well. They played a very good low game, and they also played very well the volleys. I also want to congratulate both Juan Carlos and Tommy, most importantly because they made a very good example of teamwork. We are 2-1 today, and we just hope that we start very well tomorrow morning.

TOMMY ROBREDO: Well, I think it's very difficult, no, because both of them, they serve really hard. And also when one is serving, the other one is moving a lot on the net, no? You never know where you have to put the return because maybe the other one is going to cross, then make a break, it's extremely hard, no? We return really well, and we just had two breaks today, we just made two breaks. And then we expected to won a lot more of serve from our team. But they was returning great and they was moving really well on the net and they was putting a lot of pressure to us, no? I think they play a really good game with a lot of pressure. Well, we couldn't do our best.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: The same, no? I just want to say, the Bryans is like if we play against four, they are always on every side and it's very difficult to play against them.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Well, yesterday, of course, was disappointing to me to not play in this fantastic stadium, you know, with all the crowd supporting us, yesterday was. But, you know, today I wanted to play, you know, because it's one more point to Spain. But, of course, I knew that this is very difficult to play against the Bryan and to win against them. But, anyways, we will to try it, you know. I will do anything for Spain. And we'll see tomorrow what's going on. I don't know if I will play. Captains, we'll see what they do. We'll see who is going to play.