TMS - MADRID

October 18, 2005

Greg Rusedski

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Greg.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I mean, if you could have written a worse draw this week, that was it. I mean, Karlovic, altitude, quick courts is probably the hardest player to play here this week out of the first-round draw by far. I have to give him credit. He served fantastically well. He didn't miss any volleys. Missed three volleys the whole match. In the tiebreaker, I came up with a really good forehand return. He hit a good inside out; credit to him. I didn't do too much wrong. I didn't drop my serve. I had about 15-40, I got aced three times in a row. From 15-40 up to break in the third set after saving my game from Love-40. That was about it, my chances. You know, credit to him. He played some really good tennis.

GREG RUSEDSKI: You're not expecting any kind of rhythm out there, but you're expecting a few more chances and you're hoping for a few more loose shots here and there. But he was pretty immaculate. With this altitude, being 500 meters above, his serve's even that much more faster. He creates angles nobody else does because he's nearly seven feet at all. So you never see anybody, even whether you're playing Roddick or another big server, you don't see the angle on the ball come from the angle it does with him. He's extremely difficult. I mean, if he plays the way he did today against Roddick, I can imagine seeing some more tiebreakers out there. It's not fun for anybody to play him. It's obviously a little disappointing this week because, you know, I felt I've been playing pretty well. You know, it's one of those matches that you just don't take. But he came up with the goods when it counted.

GREG RUSEDSKI: They're very good for me. But the problem being is, you know, if you could take a 48 draw, I think everybody in the draw didn't want him. I'd be pretty happy with any one of the other qualifiers to any one of the other players, even if it was Nadal, at least I get a hit on the ball, at least I'd have some fun.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, you got to focus on holding your serve, which I did throughout the whole match. I got myself in the tiebreakers. But he was getting more of the chances. I felt I needed to probably serve ever so slightly better today. He must have served a ridiculous amount of aces and a percentage, I have no idea, must have been about 70% with maybe 20 or 30 aces. You get to 15-40, I play a great return game, and then I don't get to touch another ball. There's not much you can do there. You know, it's just one of those days.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think the first point at 2-1, hit that sliced backhand down the line which they called in, which I thought was out, 3-1 up. The other thing is he covered the net so well. With the altitude, it's hard to get the lob over his head because it sails. I was impressed the way he volleyed. He's improved his volleys tremendously. I mean, even if you watched the match with him and Agassi at the US Open this year, Agassi, even though he won in three straight sets, could have been down the first two sets. He was down set points in the first two. He's the best return-of-serve player in the world and he's struggling to get it back. It's not easy.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah, it's just trying to get yourself going there. I got three foot faults, a few line calls that were close. But, you know, you got to try to keep yourself going somehow in that match. It's so hard. You're trying to change momentum somehow and hoping that he's going to ever so slightly dip somewhere. There was maybe only one game where he dipped, which was the five [] 40 game. He brought it back up pretty well after that and composed himself very well. So not many chances.

You got to try something to get it going, whether it's getting angry, whether it's staying calm, whether it's moving in or moving back. It just didn't work for me. I tried like everything. That's what's frustrating, because these tournaments are so important to do well. I'm kind of feeling like I got the draw I got in the beginning of the year. I need to take advantage of a good draw hopefully in the next week and the next two weeks. Last week in Moscow, I was disappointed. I didn't take advantage of my possibilities. Only been about two tournaments this year where I haven't taken advantage, which is Moscow and probably the French Open. Apart from that, the other ones I've tried to take advantage of.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I'm off to St. Petersburg next week, where I got to the semis. Then after that I got Paris. So looking forward to try to get on a little bit of a roll so I can finish strong.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, if I get by matches like this, then there's a chance to do it. It would be nice. But I won't be going to Australia this year, obviously. So, you know, it's not so, so much of a concern right now. But by the time Wimbledon happens, it will be a concern to get into the 32.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Top 62, isn't it?

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think it's great. It's great to finally have someone to follow myself and Tim after all these years, someone who's got a potential to do really well in the future, if not get top 50, then get top 20. He goes from attack to defense very well. It's nice to have at least three players there. What we need is for someone to come behind Andy and help him out, because Tim and I, I don't think are going to be here another five or 10 years. It's great to have it right now. But let's hope the younger players see Andy and try to jump on the bandwagon with him and try to do really, really well. That would be great. I think he's a good kid and I think he's going to stay up a long time in the top echelons of the game if he stays healthy.

GREG RUSEDSKI: His strengths are quite obvious. He returns serve extremely well. His first serve can get better. He fights very well from the first ball till the last ball. He also -- the thing which is good, he can go from offense to defense, both directions, very, very well. He moves and reads the game very well. He reminds me a little bit of Mathieu with a little bit more power. He's a very good player.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I'm going to take my time. I hope I still have the passion and joy to keep on going. I still enjoy being part of the Davis Cup team and playing with Andy and the younger kids to give back. You know, I'm still enjoying that part. Once I stop enjoying it, then I need to look in the mirror and figure out what I'm going to do afterwards. At the moment I'm still going to be doing that.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think he's quite refreshing for you guys. He kind of just says it how it is, which I think you guys quite like. You know, he doesn't hide behind it. He quite enjoys I think, you know, the press side of it, the other aspects of it, which is great. You know, if he needs any help or anything, he can ask me. I think Mark Petchey has done a great job with it. Has great knowledge of the game. I'm impressed. He's gone out there and he did the 10 weeks in America straight back to back. Came straight back after Davis Cup, went to Thailand, got to his first final, so... You know, the future looks really bright for him and he's willing to put himself on the line week in and week out and just go out there. If he has to play 15 weeks in a row, he plays 15 weeks in a row, which some of the other guys don't do. You have to be out there and you have to do it. He's doing the right things.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Don't remind me of that. Let me touch some wood here so I can feel all right (smiling).

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I think he's going to have that luxury next year because his ranking -- if he plays well in Basel, maybe 15 in the world, if not higher. Then he can really sit down and make a proper schedule. He's good enough, as you've seen, to get through most first-round matches at every tour event, except for one, which was his first one in Barcelona. I think he'll be clever and he'll have someone who is going to work with him on his fitness, who is going to work on his keeping his body in good nick. He's got a good support team. Plus he's a baseliner which isn't as taxing as, say, a serve-and-volleyer player. That's also a benefit for him. That's the way the modern game is today. I think if he takes cares of those aspects, there shouldn't be any problem with the future.