US OPEN

August 30, 2001

Marcelo Rios

MODERATOR: Questions, please.

MARCELO RIOS: Well, for sure. I'm not playing that well because of my ankle surgery. Since I came back, I've been playing pretty good, moving the way I didn't expect to move. For sure, I think he was playing pretty good the hard court season. We play a lot of time before. We always have really close matches. This was the easiest I beat him. But just playing good. I think I returned pretty good. Every time maybe I play him a bit faster than he like to. His forehand, he have a lot of trouble. I think I play pretty good.

MARCELO RIOS: I have a little bit sore my ankle. After a match, I have to put some ice and make some treatment. That's the only pain I have right now. But I think it's okay. I'm pain-free right now for all my body. I'm feeling pretty good.

MARCELO RIOS: Well, I would say that the ranking doesn't say that much. It's not like the woman's tennis, all the Top 10 wins 6-Love, 6-1. The girl is 80, she can't even play. I thiink that's the way in ladies. We're different. I think a guy that is 100 or 90 can beat anybody. Everybody's tough right now. Even if he doesn't have a good ranking, it's going to be a tough draw. Just looking forward every match and concentrating on playing better.

MARCELO RIOS: I think if you are a professional player, you always feel pressure. Even if you not have the highest ranking or you're not playing your best opponent, I think you always have pressure when you walk on the court. Just feel the same as always. Just walking on the court, feel the same thing as always when I'm playing a tennis match.

MARCELO RIOS: I think that's a good question. I've been questioning myself for a long time after being injured. I thought many times it was a good chance to come back or was better to stop right away. But once I have the surgery, I realize, I talk a lot with my family, people with me, and I realize that I want to come back, I want to do my best. When I retire, I can say I gave everything I got, and I couldn't do it, or I did it. But don't stay halfway, don't know what's going to be in the future. But right now I'm 100%, looking forward to playing good again. I think the motivation is much better right now.

MARCELO RIOS: Everybody told me that. Everybody's been telling me that. Maybe not wasting my time, but I could do better than what I was doing before, maybe losing matches that I didn't have to lose. But I practice always the same way as used to do. I always did the same things, gave 100% in practice, and I didn't win matches. I think that's the way it was going. Right now I'm feeling much better. I'm not looking to the past. Trying to look forward to what's going to come.

MARCELO RIOS: I think it's the same. Obviously when you winning, anything you do, when you're doing good, the motivation is up, you like to do it much better, you like to do it many times. I got to be honest. When I was losing, I didn't win a match for a long season, maybe I didn't practice that hard. Everything is different than when you're doing good. My expectations were different. When I finished the day, I was thinking not the way I used to think. But I think when you want to do something, you got to give everything. I try to do what I did before, and that's the way I'm trying to do it now. If I doesn't work, that's the way it is. If it works, well, good for me.

MARCELO RIOS: Not beating Agassi. I think anybody can beat Agassi. It's not a big deal.

MARCELO RIOS: I think that's the deal, a final. Win Lipton, beat Agassi. I beat Henman, Enqvist, Ivanisevic. Agassi is one more. I don't think it's because Agassi was the one in the final. The deal is be there to win the tournament and be in the final. Obviously I've been telling myself why I (can/can't?) come back, win tournaments, Monte-Carlo, Rome, something like that.

MARCELO RIOS: I think I've been comparing myself too much from when I was 19. I felt pretty fast, probably one of the fastest guys on the tour I could say when I was younger. Maybe now my anticipation is pretty good, but obviously I don't feel that fast as I used to be. I lost maybe a little bit of speed from all the injuries over stopping so many times. But I'm working hard to try to get that back. Maybe I'm not going to get it. But I got to work harder to make my shots more aggressive and to do my tennis, to have more power than speed right now.

MARCELO RIOS: Well, it's better than winning any tournament. It was really, really a good present from God. It was something that I didn't expect, never to have a daughter the way I have. It was unbelievable being there, having her all days with me, sleeping with me. She laugh at you, she cries. When you win a match, you see her. Something special that I never thought I can feel it.

MARCELO RIOS: Not to make him a tennis player. I think it's too hard to travel all over the world and not being with your family.

MARCELO RIOS: Well, if you're good, yeah. If you're not good... Nobody is going to tell him that he's going to be good. Nobody can tell that he's going to be a good player. But for my part, I would never like my daughter to play tennis. I would like to stay at home with her and do something else.

MARCELO RIOS: I didn't understand anything. What did you say? I was not listening.