NASDAQ-100 OPEN

March 26, 2005

Xavier Malisse

XAVIER MALISSE: Well, the cause is just, you know, there's -- in the same game, there's two foot faults, there's one bad call, and at the end I got defaulted for a misunderstanding of the line umpire. I know what I said, and I got really mad afterwards because I think it's pretty wrong to get defaulted when you didn't do anything wrong.

XAVIER MALISSE: Well, that's all after the fact. I didn't get defaulted because I threw a ball; I got defaulted because the line umpire thought I said something, and she misunderstood words that sound very similar. Of course I'm going to get mad when you play an hour and a half in the sun, you haven't done anything wrong all match, and you get defaulted before. And then, yeah, I took it a little personal because that means that all the hard work you've ever done is just thrown away by one misunderstanding by one person.

XAVIER MALISSE: Well, I'm gonna stick to my version because I know and I believe in what I did and what I said. And, you know, I'm definitely going to try to turn this around because I think - not even for me, maybe other players - it's just, to me, it's just totally wrong what happened. You know, I've had this in Wimbledon four years ago and there I did say something wrong, so I immediately stood up for it and I admitted it. But I'm not going to go down for something I didn't do. And I think that's the whole point of this thing, is that I'm not going to back off, because I didn't do anything. I know I didn't. I've always admitted I have if I did something. It's just very frustrating, you know. You can't go anywhere, you get defaulted, you get, you know, all the other stuff. It's a hard one to take.

XAVIER MALISSE: Yeah, I didn't say anything. We were in a discussion about a ball, and I looked at her and I said about the ball mark, and she misunderstood. I'm not going to go through to what that is; that's for other reasons. But, you know, it's pretty amazing when it's this crowded and there's even a head umpire probably about two or three feet behind her and he didn't hear anything, the head umpire didn't hear anything, and she's the only one that heard anything in this loud of a crowd. It's pretty amazing that she can stick to that version and at the end I get defaulted.

XAVIER MALISSE: Well, I'm definitely afraid of it. I'm afraid of it because -- I wouldn't be afraid of it if I know I did it, then that's my own fault and I should, you know, bear the consequences and do what's told to do. But when you didn't do it, it's like putting somebody on Death Row for not doing anything. It's the exact same thing. So for me it's a little -- it's very tough if something happens because I just, you know, I know in my heart that I didn't do anything. So that's just the toughest way to take it.

XAVIER MALISSE: No. Again, because I didn't do anything. I've been in -- I know that I've, in the past, I've been in outrage on the court and I've said wrong things. But every time I have, I came up for it and I paid penalties and I did my stuff. But now I was just so mad and so disappointed in this whole thing because I did not say anything. At the end, I get defaulted. And, you know, it's just -- it's almost a waste of hard work. All the hard work you put into it just gets thrown away by one person who claims she heard something, so...

XAVIER MALISSE: No, I didn't swear. Well, I'm not going to go which words, but just two words in a sentence, a normal word actually for me. A swear word, I did not say it. She says -- she claims she heard it very clearly, which is a little bit weird because it's very loud out there and nobody else heard it. So it's just -- it's a bit tough, you know. I know I didn't say anything, and I didn't swear at all.

XAVIER MALISSE: Well, probably. In the past I've done wrong things, and probably that's why. I mean, I'm not going to, you know, say anything, but definitely because of my behavior in the past I'm getting a little disadvantage. I would definitely say yesterday I didn't do anything the whole match, I didn't say anything, I didn't throw my racquet. My opponent throws a racquet 15 times; nothing happens. It's frustrating, you know. I know I caused it a little bit myself because of the past, but it's not been fair at all times I think.

XAVIER MALISSE: Well, they stick with the umpires and they stick to their side, you know, which is a little bit disappointing, too. But that's their version, and we'll see where it goes from there.

XAVIER MALISSE: Mourier, Cedric.