AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 20, 2004

Wayne Arthurs

WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, my preparation was going well before I got the food poisoning at Adelaide, had to pull out of the doubles there. It sort of set me back four or five days. Really wasn't prepared well for Sydney. But I've rested up now and probably didn't need five sets again today. But that's the way it goes. I fought through that one. Didn't take my opportunities in the third set where I was 4-All, 15-40. Could have closed out the match in three sets. But, no, I feel pretty good now. I mean, I'm not too tired. So I'm back on track, I think.

WAYNE ARTHURS: I don't think so. No. I just didn't take the opportunities when they presented themselves. I played a bad tiebreaker. He probably played a good tiebreaker. But, yeah, again, if I win one of those points at 4-All, then I think I'm back in the locker room probably two hours earlier than I was.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, it wouldn't have been a good feeling. I wouldn't be too happy sitting here right now. I did that in my first Australian Open I think four or five or six years ago, whenever it was, against Knippschild. It doesn't feel too good to lose from two sets to love up. I sort of drew on a bit of experience today. I'd only lost that match against Knippschild in five sets. So I knew my five-set record was pretty good.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, not bad. Wish I could pull that out of the bag at any stage. Yeah, I probably needed it. Changed the momentum a lot, I think. I played a pretty good final set, I think.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, that probably is, yeah, if you look at my stats over the last four or five years. I do play a lot of tiebreaks. It was a bit disappointing to lose two in a row today. But that's the way -- my game's not going to change. I'm 33 nearly. I don't think my game's going to change to start running around the baseline like Lleyton and returning like he does. So, you know, just got to knuckle down at the right times and try and win those tiebreakers when they come up.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah. I certainly give myself a more than 50% chance of winning a tiebreaker when I go into it. I know that if I serve well, then I make one or two points in the tiebreaker, I usually win that tiebreaker. Just didn't happen that way. I tried to fight back in that fourth-set tiebreaker. He came out with a good topspin lob. Yeah, hopefully next time I play, I'll win two out of three instead of losing one.

WAYNE ARTHURS: They're pretty good. I was playing some ugly tennis probably midway through the third and fourth sets. They still kept cheering. It's good to have them out there. It's also the crowd in general were pretty supportive, as well. Yeah, they've been coming three or four years now. I enjoy their support.

WAYNE ARTHURS: They have got a few different ones. Kind of revved up the crowd with the one at the beginning. They seem to enjoy it.

WAYNE ARTHURS: You try not to listen to some of the things they say. But, obviously, the encouragement is well worth taking note of.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Never seen him before. Didn't see him before I played. Haven't seen him after. He's a mystery man in the locker room. I have not seen him.

WAYNE ARTHURS: We asked a couple of guys. Obviously, he's played a lot of futures and challengers. There's a few guys, qualifiers, that knew his game. And that's all you can really go on. Try and execute your own game more than worrying about what he's going to do.

WAYNE ARTHURS: I'll have to reassess that one, because they didn't throw that one in. They told me that he was Croatian. That's about it, what they told me (smiling). No, they just told me a few things, where he's likely to pass. I think I picked up that pretty early. His backhand pass down the line was a lot more than his cross-court pass. I picked off a few of those. You've just got to focus on your own game when you're playing sort of an unknown guy.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, I do, especially if it's warm. I think the ball bounces nice and high when it's warm. I can use my variation on the serve. Obviously, he played a similar type guy today in Greg Rusedski, and beat him pretty easily. If I execute my game, hopefully I can get my tiebreakers, at least be in with a chance from there. I certainly won't be running around the baseline with him.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Well, it all depends on my ranking. Obviously, if my ranking is 115 or whatever it is now, it's pretty hard to get into main-draw events. So hopefully a good tournament here will shoot my ranking up into where I can play a few more main-draw events on the tour and also the Grand Slams. Yeah, it's sort of a big event for me to sort of kick start my 2004.

WAYNE ARTHURS: At this stage I have no plans to go back and play challengers. I'll play qualifying of the big events, and hopefully I can qualify through that way. The points are good enough to elevate my ranking if I do well enough to get through qualifying.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, there's not much difference at all. It's more probably a mental thing. You go out to the back courts, watch No. 500 in the world hitting up with No. 100 in the world. You probably couldn't tell the difference, who was the 500 and who was the 100. It's a pretty fine line between making a lot of money and making no money. Obviously, there's just not enough room for everybody to be Top 100. The standard of tennis over the last, I don't know, 10 years is just growing and growing. I hate to see what it's going to be in the next 15 years.

WAYNE ARTHURS: I think mentally more than anything, just believing in yourself, believing that you can win these matches, just believing in your own game, I think. I think the mental side of tennis is huge, I think.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Well, fitness also has played a big part in rising the standard of play. But everyone's pretty on the same level fitness-wise these days. Just as you see, I mean, I wouldn't call Lleyton the best striker of the ball out there, but mentally he's No. 1 by a long way. That's going to take him back to inside the Top 5 I reckon in the world. You can't underestimate the power of the mind in this game.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah. Focus on these two weeks before. But, yeah, it's coming around pretty quickly. You don't get to hold the trophy very long, do you? Hopefully we'll get through that match and have a little bit more time, a bit more glory with the Cup. But at this stage, everybody is focused on here. When that tie comes around, everybody will be focused on that. It's a big tie for us, as well.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah. There hasn't been any discussion about any different. But I'm sure Todd Reid will be in there for experience, again. He'll probably be the next one to step up to play.