WIMBLEDON

June 28, 2004

Mark Philippoussis

THE MODERATOR: Good evening. Questions for Mark Philippoussis, please.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Yeah. I had trouble picking up the ball at the start. And Tim, you know, came out firing, played a great first game to break me, and went from there. You know, down two sets to love, I thought, you know, towards the end I started picking up the ball and getting on his serve a little more. As the match went on, I felt like pretty much every service game I was making him play, whereas at the start I wasn't. Coming down to the fourth tiebreaker at the end -- fourth set, sorry, you know, anything can happen. So, up a mini break, double-fault. So I can't say, you know, it could have been close to maybe going to five and coming back tomorrow. But, you know, I guess he deserved it at the end.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Oh, well, I knew that was going to happen. It definitely wasn't a surprise. You know, of course, definitely have to be wrong if they weren't doing what we were today. So I accepted that, I just went out there and played my game, you know, just blocked that out, just tried to do what I had to do.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I just, you know, got upset at a couple of calls. One at the start, and then, obviously, in some crucial situations, so...

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I'm definitely going to shake his hand. You know, I'm upset at the time. But I'm going to hold my head up high. Tim played a great match at the end. That's a tough situation. You know, at the end, my friend came and said, you know, he got text messages from Australia. Showed it in slow motion, showed it was out. But what can you do?

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: It's tough. We're hitting the ball pretty hard. I understand it's tough. But, you know, what can you do? Sometimes, you know, they've had that Mac Cam in America. I think that's great. Sometimes you'd like to wish that if it's possible, maybe in the future, where the center umpire can maybe have a little screen in front of him. But, you know, there's so many things that can happen. You know, I can't really say that that made the match different.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Excuse me?

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Well, a lot of people swear, you know. What can you do? Obviously, I was clearly upset. I showed it. Simple as that. I'm not the type of guy that shows a lot of emotion out there on the court. Everyone knows that. And if I do argue something, there's going to be some clear-case for me to argue. I'm not going to argue over something where I think there's nothing there. If I have something positive, I'm going to argue. I'm not the kind of person that's going to do that for nothing. So there's no apologies.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Well, of course. I mean, you know, well, of course that's not a good situation to be in when the kids can, you know, hear something like that. So for that, I do apologize. But spur of the moment, you know, it's definitely...

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I wouldn't say it's a victory. But I would say it's a step in the right direction. There's definitely some positive things that have come away. You know, from clearly not winning a lot of matches in the first few months to coming out, you know, winning three matches and playing a tough match. You know, I'm happy the way I fought out there. Obviously, I wasn't playing my best tennis at the start. I tried to come back, and I did that. I got a little better as the match went on. So, you know, I got to hold my head up high. I'm proud of the way I fought. Tim definitely was too good on the day. He played a great match.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Every loss is painful, definitely. I must say it's not as painful as it was last year, getting to the final. But it definitely isn't easy. Like I said, I love this tournament. An exit here is tough.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Tim has the game. You know, there's no doubt he's got the game to do well. His game's definitely improved. You know, I don't know who he plays now.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Ancic. Okay, there's a match you would think he should win. But Ancic, he's a dangerous player, and he's got nothing to lose. He's had some, you know, good wins here in the past. Obviously, he's playing some good tennis. You would think he'd get through. I mean, he definitely has the game to win it. But depending on how he plays, how it comes up for the next match.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Oh, definitely. I've got years ahead of me. You know, it's just something I can walk away obviously disappointed, but positive. And definitely I have so many positives to take away from it. As I was saying, I can go back, and with the memory of what happened today, it will definitely make me work harder on the court and off the court. I'm looking forward to just getting back, having maybe a few days off, but then working hard and trying to get into the summer and try and play some good tennis, where I left off here.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I'm looking forward to the summer circuit leading up, and the Olympics, the US Open, definitely.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: No, my ranch in Florida. But I got friends up there. I go occasionally.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: It's a little ways away, but I'm excited, the aspect of playing in Greece. I've always wanted to play there. It's definitely going to be exciting. You know, I just got to maybe learn how to swear in another language now (smiling).

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I do, I have family in Greece.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I hope so. It's definitely going to be chaos there. I'm sure they'll try and get across, if they can.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: No, not at all. I mean, obviously it happens in every match. There's line calls in every match. Definitely it didn't cost me the match, no.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I have. I definitely have. There's definitely matches where I have been frustrated. So, yeah. I mean, I was kind of a little more frustrated because there was like one, but there were a couple others, too. That's tennis for you.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Do I think Tim got bad calls?

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I don't know. I'll have to wait -- I'll have to ask the people behind the TV. They definitely have a chance to see it with the slow motion. I don't know.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I'm pretty impressed with Roger. He's been winning comfortably his matches, hasn't lost a set. Lleyton played a great match today. I think he plays Roger. That will be very interesting. I would honestly probably have to say he would be my tip.