MONTE CARLO OPEN

April 26, 1997

Alex Corretja

Q. Alex, how do you feel the match went? Can you tell us a little about what bothered you with Santoro's game; how you managed to win?

ALEX CORRETJA: Well, I was trying to play as well as I could because he was mixing up really well. At the beginning, I find the game. Then when I was serving for the set, he plays a pretty good game, broke me. But then I got confidence. I didn't care. I broke him back. At the second set, he starts to play pretty well, but with a lot of risk because I was playing deep, he was coming to the net pretty well. I didn't care. I was confidence and I was waiting for my opportunity. That's when I came back and I won the second set 6-4.

ALEX CORRETJA: Yeah, I know. I saw the draw a couple times this week. It doesn't matter. Every Spanish player has his own game, and we are playing similar, but with different aptitude. I was care about him because he beat a couple good players, but I also was in good shape. I came into the court with confidence. I think that's what I did, and that's why I win.

ALEX CORRETJA: I am really proud that Fabrice say that. I just feel that I'm playing good tennis last couple of weeks on clay. I was working so hard to do that. Now the results are coming. I feel great on the court. I'm playing almost perfect. What I have to do is just keep working, try to win as many matches as I can, don't worry about the results. Last week I was a little bit disappointed in Barcelona, I lost in first round. I was coming from Estoril. I won the tournament there. That put a lot of pressure to me because that was in my hometown. I lost because I was under pressure. Now I feel like I forgot about this loss, and that's why I'm playing here pretty well.

ALEX CORRETJA: It was not a problem of the crowd. It was a problem of me. I came from Estoril and I was playing great on that week. When I came in Barcelona, I just was thinking about, "Okay, I have to do well here because I want to play well in front of my family, in front of my friends." That was bad for me. I saw after this experience, that next time I have to go to another tournament, and not care about it. Three years ago I play semifinals in Barcelona because I didn't expect that. I was playing relaxed. At that time I was like, "Come on, I have to play well here." I was 4-2 up in the third set. I didn't want to win just putting the ball inside. I wanted to do serve and volley. I wanted to play dropshot. For first round, it was tough against Medvedev. It was easy to play, get confidence, for the next round. Here, I don't care. I play against Fabrice today because all the crowd was for him. It's normal, we're in Monte-Carlo. I don't care now. I won. I'm hoping the crowd will be with me tomorrow. .

ALEX CORRETJA: For sure (laughter). I will sign it right now. Last week in Barcelona, I said I will do it every time of my life, to win a tournament and next time lost in first round. For sure, I would sign it already. I think I play, I think, like 30 tournaments for year. It means I will win 15 (laughter). I think it's great for me. I will win a tournament, then I will have a couple days off. It would work.

ALEX CORRETJA: Solo Espanol.

ALEX CORRETJA: I'm trying to speak a little bit English, and un petit francais. My Italian is similar to English. Not German. I will try.

ALEX CORRETJA: I like to speak a couple language. On the Tour, I try to speak with the French guys in French; the Italians in Italian, the others in English. That's why I improve a little bit my language. It's easy for me to speak Spanish or Catalan either way.

ALEX CORRETJA: At the moment it seems that Spanish guys, they just not claycourt players, as Moya showed in Australia, Alberto Costa and Mantilla, or myself in last year's US Open. Now we're trying to work harder on hardcourt, practicing last winter. We feel good on hardcourt. Our best surface is on clay for sure. We feel that we can win points, ATP points, on hardcourt. That's why then when we came to clay, we are more relaxed, because we win also points on hardcourt and we don't care to win all of them on clay. The next step is one of the Spanish guys doing well in Wimbledon. We will believe also that we can play on grass then.

ALEX CORRETJA: Well, it happens a couple times. It was especially with Renzo Furlan, a couple years ago, at the French Open. I'm a good friend of him, and with Piatti, his coach. He was asking me for some players. Now, it's difficult because I know almost all the players, so I don't like because if I will say to Renzo how to play against Fabrice, Fabrice is also a friend of mine. So now it's different. But before, when I was a little bit younger, the people doesn't know me; I could tell Renzo how to play. He was playing great. He was like quarterfinalist. Then he play against Bruguera. He didn't ask me (laughter). That's maybe why he lost. No, Bruguera was in good shape.

ALEX CORRETJA: Right now we are in Monte-Carlo. It's tough to think about the French Open. But, for sure, maybe can I go to Paris with the hope to win the tournament. Right now, I didn't think about in Paris. I was working hard just to be in good shape for this claycourt season. For sure, I will go to Paris with confidence because now I'm playing pretty well. I would like to keep my concentration and my physical training at this moment. I don't know. We will see at the French Open how I feel playing five sets every time. It's difficult. But last US Open I played pretty well, and that gave me confidence to go on clay and maybe do pretty well also in Paris.