TMS - FORO ITALICO

May 13, 2000

Alex Corretja

Q. Has he played better against you?

ALEX CORRETJA: Sorry?

ALEX CORRETJA: I don't know. It's difficult to answer. I think he served better than me from my point of view; that was the main difference in this match. After we play, I believe I start in first eight games of the match, then I lost a little bit my concentration after I had a couple of break points, I couldn't make them. And he just served pretty well on that game. And afterwards, I double-faulted twice and I completely lost my concentration and my focus, and through five games I was out of the court. So it was a little advantage for him.

ALEX CORRETJA: If he's No. 1, it's because he deserves it. I like the race. Yeah, I like the race. Because we start -- I believe this year is kind of strange at the beginning, but maybe once we finish this year, everybody will understand it easily for next year and then everybody will see who the players were like in the front of the race from the beginning until the end. And right now if Magnus is there, it's because he is truly the leader of the race.

ALEX CORRETJA: No, no. I wouldn't say it was because of the phones that I double-faulted twice, for example. No, no complaints. Today was a really beautiful atmosphere out there. It was nice to play, the court was pretty fast. It was, as I said, it was beautiful. The only thing I said it's for me -- then afterwards in the second set, it seemed that Guga was much better than me; that's clear. Because he stepped on the court much closer, he starts to hit much harder and starts to serve better than at the beginning. That makes a difference. When you're going down, the other guy is going up. But for me, the main difference was at the beginning of the match. I had a lot of break points and I couldn't make them. That was the main difference, but not a difference because of the phone ringing, no.

ALEX CORRETJA: Well, I would like to have something for Kuerten's backhand, his forehand. (Laughter.)

ALEX CORRETJA: I'm happy about myself in this moment. I can say I've been playing pretty well the last couple of months already; there are no complaints. After I lost course in Monte Carlo, I got really, really disappointed and it was not worth it because you have to realize that the other guys also play good tennis, and it's impossible always to win. And in this moment, I've been playing pretty well. I played well in Indian Wells, I played well in Monte Carlo, I played well here, we are already in Semifinals of Davis Cup after four months of the year. Everything is perfect this year. So for French Open, I will have to keep this level, this momentum, and try to be focused every time I go on to the court. If I can go and play three hours, better than four. If not, I will be there fighting and I need to be really regular, especially with my serve, because I've been serving pretty well this week, and today I didn't serve as well. So it makes a lot of difference in this moment for my game. I'm looking at the race. It shows that I am the fifth guy this year who played better than anybody else, so no complaints. No, I mean, it's clear.

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