TENNIS MASTERS CUP

November 17, 2005

Guillermo Coria

GUILLERMO CORIA: Yes, actually I played very well against Nalbandian, apart from the serve. I'm finishing the year being very happy the way I've been playing. What I said about the ice, the court being ice, it's just a way of expressing myself. I was never criticizing the surface. But I think that Ivan should respect also the opinions of the other players and what people think. I have nothing against him, nothing against Ivan. It was not an excuse. It was just that this surface, for my game, is very fast, too fast.

GUILLERMO CORIA: Yeah, I really felt at some point I wanted to leave the court. I wanted to stop playing. For respect that I have for Roger Federer, that he's an unbelievable player, No. 1 in the world, and for the fans, I felt that I had to give all my best. It is the last match of the season. As I say, for the respect that I have for the fans and for Roger, who is an unbelievable player, I had to stay and continue playing.

GUILLERMO CORIA: No, it's very difficult for a player to see and to play when someone is standing, not moving too well. That's what I was doing. I was not moving. Maybe he started making a lot of mistakes because of that. It's very difficult when a player doesn't move correctly to keep the rhythm. As I said, when I was feeling the pain, I tended to forget it in the second set and just play because, as I said before, respect for the player and for the crowd. I just had to play. It was the last match of the season, and I just had to finish it, forget this thing. That's the reason why I started moving a little better. In the third set, he started playing very well, moving well, hitting the ball well. He was asking me to play better, and that was the difference. He really played well. He won.

GUILLERMO CORIA: It's going to be very difficult for everybody because all the four players are very good. Probably the most difficult might be Nalbandian, but Roger won't meet Nalbandian until the final. Roger, every match he's been playing, he's been getting better. Regarding the calendar, I start playing in Kuyong, the exhibition before the Australian Open. That's about it, for the beginning of the season.

GUILLERMO CORIA: In Houston, I was coming back from an operation. I was only there to enjoy a little bit the feeling of playing in Houston at the Masters Cup, play a few games, that was it. I only started playing the week before. I didn't expect much from that. Regarding this year, after such a complicated operation I had last year, to come back and play like I played this year, finish the season in the top eight, this is great. I don't give any importance to the statistics of losing every match in this tournament. It's not relevant for me.

GUILLERMO CORIA: (In English.) I'm very happy. I hope come back next year. It's very difficult for me speak in English. I prefer speak in Spanish.

GUILLERMO CORIA: (In English.) Next year.

GUILLERMO CORIA: I'm very shy, and I'm also a perfectionist. I don't like to make mistakes. That's the reason why I don't speak English. I don't feel very good speaking in Spanish; I would like to speak English with you. I tend to be very nervous and all sweaty, so I prefer to speak in what I feel comfortable.

GUILLERMO CORIA: It's actually fantastic the way the people behave here. They're very fanatics, very much into it. They give you great support. They're very nice people. In both tournaments, you feel very well playing here. You always find 20, 30 people very late at the hotel waiting for you to come. That's not very normal. You don't see that around the world very much.