TMS MONTE CARLO

April 25, 2004

Guillermo Coria

GUILLERMO CORIA: I was prepared to play a very long match and very long points, but, in fact, the result doesn't really reflect what it was on the court because every game was very tight. During the first and third sets, Schuettler was always present on the court. He even had several breakpoints he was not able to convert. I had one chance and I converted it. But the result doesn't really show the truth.

GUILLERMO CORIA: I hope to follow in the footsteps of Ferrero, who won first Monte-Carlo and then the French Open. Guga won here also. But what I will do, entering into this tournament, is to think match by match. I will only think about my next match. I will not try to think about the fact that one player won or lost. I will only take care of my own matches.

GUILLERMO CORIA: I hope I can keep it up for a long time. On a surface like clay, I feel very strong, but I know I can also play on hard courts.

GUILLERMO CORIA: Well, after this time it was very important to keep my head together and to stick to my tactics. I had to stay in there a long time, and I had to play deep, and I had to put as much pressure on him as I could whenever I had the opportunity. The first set was very important mentally.

GUILLERMO CORIA: Well, the points were becoming longer. He was playing quite firmly and quite strong. I kept being strong because I was able to finish the match, but he started serving hard. Physically, I was particularly fine.

GUILLERMO CORIA: This title is very important for me. Now I am going to Barcelona. I am going to have some medical examinations to make sure I have no injuries or anything because in this case, I won't play the tournament because I don't want to retire from the tournament right in the middle; it's a lack of respect for the organizers.

GUILLERMO CORIA: Well, I hope I will be able to maintain this level. This victory is great motivation for me to practice very hard, and I have great hopes for the French Open. The physical part is very important in the French Open because it's the best-of-five, so I hope that I will feel good physically before the French Open.

GUILLERMO CORIA: The reason why, in fact, the decision had been made by both of us. We decided to stop before it was too late and we would be cross with each other. We didn't want to fight, one against the other. So we felt it was not going so well and we stopped before that. But, anyway, he was very important to me. He taught me many things. We knew that at the stage where we were, if we continued, the situation would become worse, so we decided to stop. But this leaves the door open for us to maybe work with each other again in the future.

GUILLERMO CORIA: Moya, Nalbandian and, generally speaking, all the Spanish players and the Argentine players can be very dangerous. Maybe some didn't have a lot of good results, but I have a lot of respect for those players.

GUILLERMO CORIA: Yes, it was in the French Open. It was a very difficult defeat for me because I had great hopes in this French Open. But he was very motivated, he wanted to reach the finals, and that day he played better than I did. In tennis, either you win or you lose. I hope this year I will get my chance to have a revenge and do better.

GUILLERMO CORIA: In fact, I'm confident in everything. I'm very happy at the moment. I have no special concerns. I feel perfect as far as courage is concerned, physically, and my eagerness to play tennis is there.

GUILLERMO CORIA: Well, what is important is mentally and physically, both of them. But mentally I feel very strong. I had a matchpoint against me in Miami, so I feel very strong.

GUILLERMO CORIA: In fact, both victories were important for me. In Hamburg I had very good victories. I did have good victories here also. But I believe this week I played better than in Hamburg, because in Hamburg I didn't maintain the same level the whole week, it was not always as high. It was only my mental state that was keeping me going. Here, I felt very solid, very fast, and my physical condition is very good.

GUILLERMO CORIA: Yes, I remember he was winning everything. He was unbeatable. But winning 40 matches in a row is something very difficult to achieve. I will try my best to continue winning, but I will not get desperate if I lose a match. I admit that what Muster did at that time was impressive.

GUILLERMO CORIA: Yes, indeed, I worked very hard on my physical condition lately because my tennis was there but sometimes I was getting tired; therefore, I decided to work on that. The results can be seen on the court. In fact, I want to continue to improve my physical conditions in order to be able to withstand a very long match, like three or four hours on the court.