TMS - INDIAN WELLS

March 18, 2000

Mark Philippoussis

GREG SHARKO: Questions.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Well, obviously I can appreciate it, but I'm disappointed as well. Coming back from the second set, 6-1 in the tiebreaker, having a couple of breakpoints, like four breakpoints at 5-All, a couple of match points. Obviously, I'm disappointed. But I learned something today, so some positive things I can take away from it.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: What is there to think? I mean, you know, you never want to give up, no matter what. You're down. I just thought, "Win this point, win the next point." All of a sudden 6-3, 6-4, 6-5. It gets tighter and tighter. I was just playing out the match.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I'm sure he's disappointed, but he's not going to just throw away the match. It's one set all and there's a long way to go.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: No, not at all. I mean, I don't think about any stuff like that. I just come to the tournament, I give it my best, you know, that's all I can ask from myself, 100 percent on the court, fight for each match.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: I'm sure it will be a good match. I mean, Alex is playing better now, a lot better than he has. I think Enqvist hits the ball big and clean. I think if Enqvist is on, he's going to be tough to beat.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: You know, I've had a few battles, 7-6 in the third, a couple with Johansson, 7-6 in the fifth, 7-6 in the third when I played him in Stockholm. I've played a lot of tough matches. This is definitely one of the toughest ones I've played. Excitement-wise, one of the better ones, as well.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: No. I mean, you're used to playing five sets. You got the adrenaline pumping, the crowd is getting into it. No, I think I was feeling quite good.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: You know, he pretty much -- yeah, from the start he played some good tennis. When I was down, I just made him play. He made a couple of unforced errors to give me the break back. All in all, I think he played some good tennis, tough tennis, from the start.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: It's a little stiff. You know, I'll just look after it with icing, massaging, stretching. This has definitely tested it out today. See how I'll pull up tomorrow.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Made a good serve, stretched for it, hit it clean, came back hard at my feet, didn't have much time to recover.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS: Thomas has got good returns. He might miss a couple, but then he'll get some tough ones back. Like I said, he's a very clean hitter of the ball. He's going to hit some good returns; he's going to miss some.