US OPEN

September 1, 2004

Mark Philippoussis

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Mark.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Yeah, I think it was like 2-All or 3-All in the fourth. I just held serve. It wasn't on any particular shot. All of a sudden just my left side, my left glut just seized up, just locked up on me. It wasn't a cramp. So, you know, went inside now and just saw the doctors. They don't think it's nerve related. I don't know what happened. Spasm or something. Just locked up.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I mean, I was like hopping on one leg. I couldn't move, I couldn't push off for my serve. You know, so...

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: No. I've never had anything like this. Like I said, I was feeling great. Obviously, it was hot out there, so getting a little tired. But nothing was hurting. You know, physically I was feeling good. Like I said, just came out of nowhere. It was really weird.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: No. They said normally when something like this happens, you know, something in your body might be a little off, you know, a little unbalanced in your body so, yeah...

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I've had a few days off, then I started training at home, and felt good. Hitting the ball pretty well. Got a couple hours on Thursday before I got here, hit for close to three hours, and it felt good. Hitting the ball well here. So it's disappointing.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I mean, I'm not doing anything, so it's obviously eased off. You know, it's feeling okay now. Just feel stiff, that's all.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Just got to go back and see someone just to check out my body and see if there's anything, you know, off or unbalanced to see what might have caused it. You know, with something like this, you just give it time. I think you've just got to stay on top of it. What they're pretty much saying is it's very important for me to see someone who can just check out my body who knows what they're doing to see if there's something that caused it, and if there is, make sure to take care of it so it doesn't happen again.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: The most important thing now is to go back to Florida and see someone, try and get on top of it.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: No. I was just renting there.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Unfortunately, no, not too much. I went there a couple of times to visit friends and surf. But, no, not so much.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Yeah.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I was pretty happy there. I mean, I'm pretty happy in the water. I guess when you feel this way, it's nice to get in the water. Hopefully that will take my mind off of it if I get a chance.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Not now.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: That's not even in my thoughts. You know, I've got a while till that. I've got to go home and, as I said, just take care of this, try and get on top of it, see what caused it, and make sure it doesn't happen again, to work on whatever I have to work on, my core, my body.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Sure it was on my schedule, yeah.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I wasn't really thinking about it, to be honest.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Well, it's pretty much the worst year of my tennis career, by far, so far. And I feel like I just want to start all over again. You know, I just wanted to come out here and just try and play some good tennis, try and get something rolling. You know, it's disappointing. Of all these years I've played, I think I've only defaulted like three times, and that was with my knee twice. Once at Wimbledon, two years ago here at the US Open, and today. I've always played with a lot of pain on court. I was just sick of playing with pain. Out there today I just said, "Enough is enough. I don't want to play in pain any more. This game is tough enough."

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Yeah.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I mean, I like playing on that court. It's a great court.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: It was very important for me to get that fourth set because if this is the type of injury where I can get worked on and have a day off and anything can happen, you might feel great and come back. But, you know, when I lost that fourth set, I thought, "Okay, just got to hang in there. This might go away if I play a couple games. " It's happened before, there can be a bit of pain and all of a sudden it can be gone. But it just got worse and worse. I mean, I was very frustrated. You know, very frustrated.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Yeah, it's frustrating. But, you know, I've got a few months now before the end of the year, so I've got to sit down and, you know, and see what's the best way to put everything together, think about what I have to do to try and start fresh next year. Obviously, I've got to put this whole year behind me. I've got to see, you know, what do I have to do, what do I want, what is going to make me happy inside, what's going to make me play better. I've got to sit down. I've got a lot of things to think about.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Of course. I mean, I've got a few years in me. I still honestly think I've got the best ahead of me. Like I said, I've had a shocker, but I've got to sit back and put it behind me and think, "Okay, how am I going to deal with this? What am I going to do to get ready to come out firing next year and try to be in the best physical shape possible?"

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: No. I mean, sometimes you feel like "I'm done" for a couple weeks, and I get away, whatever, go surfing, do something to get my mind off the tennis completely and get away. But you get frustrated and you get angry. When you get angry, people burst out and they'll think a lot of things, negative things. But, you know, I have things I want to do in my career that I haven't yet done. I definitely want to keep playing till I've achieved that.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Well, my family's always been there for me. My family, my best friends. Now Delta is with me. That's what your family's there for, your best friends. They believe in you no matter what. They're always there through thick and thin. People come in your life, in and out of your life. When you're playing great, you're on top of the world, all of a sudden you've got new friends all of a sudden next to you. You know, took me a while to realize that. But I have. I mean, the last few years I've just had my family around me and those people, you know, that I care for and close friends. They're there with you no matter what.