ROGERS MASTERS

August 13, 2005

Daniel Nestor

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Daniel.

DANIEL NESTOR: Yeah, it was not bad, I mean, when you take all things into consideration. I came here pretty uncertain about my, you know, status. I hadn't really hit too many forehands, especially like full speed. I'm probably still not hitting it a hundred percent, but at least it's not getting any worse. It's starting to get stronger. Obviously, I could have played better. Didn't return so well. You know, a lot of that has to do with lack of match play. But, you know, there's some things I still could have done better regardless of the situation. I could have made some more returns in the second set, especially in the tiebreaker.

DANIEL NESTOR: No, not really. The serve is almost full speed. It's about full speed. I mean, I haven't played much, so it's probably not the best I've ever served, but it's not hurting or anything.

DANIEL NESTOR: The surgery, it took a little bit of ligament that was irritating the bone, like in the forehand position, it was irritating the ulnar bone, so they cut it off.

DANIEL NESTOR: I had it on June 17th.

DANIEL NESTOR: No.

DANIEL NESTOR: First tournament, yeah.

DANIEL NESTOR: Yeah, I'm going to Cincinnati next week, and then the US Open.

DANIEL NESTOR: Well, one especially, I had a backhand return that I was waiting for. I just pulled off. I mean, I saw like an opening down the line. I probably looked at the target instead of watching the ball, took my eye off it, pulled off it. I mean, I had a similar return in the third set breaker, we were already down 6-3, and I hit it pretty perfect. I was saying, "Why didn't I hit that in the second set?" Match would have been over.

DANIEL NESTOR: The scoring change?

DANIEL NESTOR: It's a little bit of disappointing considering what's been going on with the doubles. I mean, we've made some majors cutbacks in the last two years, the doubles players. We cut back prize money, we gave up more spots for singles players. Now we're changing the scoring. I think the no-ad scoring is not a bad idea because it's going to make it easier to schedule matches. You're not going to have to worry about long, three-hour matches any more. I think that's definitely something they should look at in singles before. As far as the sets up to four, I think it's a little bit ridiculous. You know, they've already changed that back to sets up to six. You know, they shouldn't be changing the actual scoring up to six or up to seven if it's tied at 6-All. I think that needs to stay. There's no problem with trying a no-ad scoring. If they follow up on their promises to, you know, show doubles more on television with these rule changes, it will be easier to schedule knowing the matches might not go on too long. There will be a better opportunity to put us on television and the bigger courts, then the fans hopefully will start to know more about doubles and know more about the players.

DANIEL NESTOR: Yeah. I mean, that's just another thing. We've already, you know, allowed more singles players in the draw. You know, in 2008, they want all the doubles players to be singles players. Imagine what the draw's going to look like if it's all singles guys that are winning, still in singles, they're just going to be pulling out. Look what happened to the Bryans here. They're in the semifinals, haven't played a match. That's already the case because there's more singles guys in the draws. I think if they do any more of that, it's just going to make things way worse and it's just going to lose all credibility. It's an ongoing issue.

DANIEL NESTOR: A little bit. I mean, I thought there was pretty good support today. Obviously, it's not as big as a singles crowd. But it's probably better than what I'm used to (laughter). Yeah, a little bit disappointing. But I think a lot of it has to do with the ATP at the same time because, you know, they're not promoting doubles and they're not showing any doubles. We can't blame people for not supporting something that they never see or they don't know about. I think it all comes down to the ATP.

DANIEL NESTOR: Yeah. I mean, I was trying to play singles here. They had a wildcard for me. Obviously, I was uncertain with my status coming in, so it didn't make sense to waste a wildcard, give it to a younger guy. I'd like to. That's the goal. If I keep improving like I have been, I think I'll be able to play.