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ATP TOUR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPNovember 13, 1997Greg RusedskiHANNOVER, GERMANY Q. Greg, we hear you're obviously not playing tonight. I wonder if you could just talk about when you made the decision, why you made the decision, and what treatment you've had today? GREG RUSEDSKI: I had treatment after my match and before my match yesterday. I've had some ultrasound and some massage and heat and everything. But, unfortunately, I had two doctors' opinions. Both doctors said it wasn't going to get any better. I need to take at least a week off.  Q. Would things have changed if you have been given the 24 hours' notice to rest? GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I mean, I don't think anything really would have changed in 24 hours, from both doctors' opinions that I received. Both doctors said I needed between six and seven days off for it. It didn't improve anything from yesterday. So from both doctors' advice, they told me to both pull out of the event.  Q. Greg, were you happy with the decision not to grant you 24 hours? I mean, it's clearly not a fracture or something like that. When you asked for a delay -- GREG RUSEDSKI: I asked for a Friday start. But, unfortunately, that didn't happen. But in retrospect, after listening to both doctors' opinions, didn't really make much of a difference in my case.  Q. What if you'd gone to the hospital and they told you that with 24 hours' rest, you've had had a chance to play, what would your reaction be? GREG RUSEDSKI: Obviously I would be very disappointed because it would have been better. But that's not what both doctors said, the doctor here at the tournament and the doctor at the hospital today. It really doesn't come into effect.  Q. What's the plan now, Greg? You have six or seven days off. Do you immediately start practicing again? GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I just go -- for a week, I'm going to have physio, massage, and stretching, the full program I'm going to do. Then I'm going to have to build up the muscles and do some weight training on it, then get back to my tennis and back to work for the upcoming season.  Q. Did the doctors warn you that if you did go ahead and play against Moya, you could do yourself some quite serious damage? GREG RUSEDSKI: I could make it worse. I didn't get an improvement yesterday after all the treatment I received. If I would have continued and played against Moya, I could cause more damage, which wouldn't be worth it in the least.  Q. You still don't know how you did it? GREG RUSEDSKI: I don't really have a clue how I did it. I mean, I just woke up in the morning after my match with Pat and it was very, very stiff, my hamstring. The diagnosis the doctors both gave me that the hamstring was just a little bit of a pull. How would you describe it? DOUG SPREEN: Tightness. GREG RUSEDSKI: Tightness, just a little bit of tightness and a pull on the hamstring.  Q. Doug, could I ask you a question? DOUG SPREEN: Yes.  Q. When Greg made his application for a 24-hour delay, was that with your support or without your support? DOUG SPREEN: When we discovered the problem, we felt that possibly 24 hours may do help. And Greg indicated that at that time it would be nice to look at the possibility of having a Friday start. That was immediately conveyed to the people involved in making the schedule. The information was given to them.  Q. And they ignored it? DOUG SPREEN: Absolutely it was not ignored. I repeat, that was not ignored. That was taken into account. We had a discussion with the doctor and myself for 10 or 15 minutes about the situation. Actually two separate conversations.  Q. Presumably, though, although it wasn't ignored? GREG RUSEDSKI: The request wasn't ignored? They took it into account but they still played me on Thursday? DOUG SPREEN: Right.  Q. It was decided, "Sorry, you're playing"? Obviously it hadn't been decided at this stage that Greg would need a week off? Do you see what I mean? DOUG SPREEN: I see what you mean. I will say this: The request was taken into account, and they had to examine all the factors that they have to examine in making the schedule, and they decided to schedule the match for Thursday. But it was taken into account.  Q. And then we learned that you would need a week off? DOUG SPREEN: That's true.  Q. What factors do they have to take into account when making this decision? DOUG SPREEN: You'd have to ask them. I'm going to give the medical -- I give the medical opinions; I don't get involved in any of the other stuff.  Q. Doug, what is the actual medical problem? DOUG SPREEN: Well, this is something we commonly see with people who have played a lot of tennis; not just with the hamstring muscle, but with different parts of the body. When a part of the body gets fatigued, you may have minor strains in that muscle, and as a result, the symptoms you get are tightness and soreness. Greg had some slight spasm and a lot of tightness in that hamstring. The tightness is what was causing the pain and causing him the inability to really play at the level he wanted to.  Q. So we get this absolutely clear: You said that it would be better if Greg had a 24-hour delay? DOUG SPREEN: No. I just merely give the medical diagnosis to the individuals making the schedule.  Q. What was that? DOUG SPREEN: What was what?  Q. What was the diagnosis? DOUG SPREEN: That he had a right hamstring injury.  Q. So you don't express an opinion as to whether you think in 24 hours it will be better? You don't do that? NICOLA ARZANI: He had to see the doctor. GREG RUSEDSKI: I think what happened in that case, I talked to the doctor, I talked to Doug, I talked to all the trainers. I went to the ATP and the people organizing it. They asked if I could have 24 hours, an extra day off. They said no. That was it.  Q. When Doug says that the problem is that his hamstring is tight, there's some spasm, do you also then give an opinion as to whether 24 hours is likely to make a difference to allow him to play or not? DOUG SPREEN: Sure. We'll give opinions. I mean, these are conversations that happen between staff and myself every week.  Q. So you said to the officials who made the decision, "Greg has a tight hamstring, with a spasm, and it would help him to have 24 hours' rest before he plays"? DOUG SPREEN: No. When the question came up about the time, I could not give for sure that it was going to make any difference, that 24 hours was going to allow him to play.  Q. Greg, do you think this would have happened if it was, say, Pete Sampras, or, even though he's not here, Boris Becker? If Pete had asked for 24 hours, do you think he would have gotten it? GREG RUSEDSKI: You can't really look at it like that. I mean, perhaps something would happen. But in retrospect, it doesn't make any difference. So you can't really say. I mean, you never know in these cases.  Q. Greg, how disappointed are you at this stage to be told, "No, you have to play Thursday"? I appreciate now it is irrelevant to yourself. GREG RUSEDSKI: Obviously, I was disappointed. I was hoping I could have played Friday. But in retrospect, with everything that's happened, I mean, I have to take a full week off. So it doesn't really make a difference at the moment.  Q. How great is your disappointment that your first ATP Tour Championships, that you were really looking forward to? GREG RUSEDSKI: I was looking forward to playing. I was really pleased with the way I played my first match against Pat. I thought we had a great match out there. Even though I lost, I thought it was a very high standard of tennis. That was enjoyable. To not be able to be a hundred percent fit against Pete, to lose that one, was disappointing. Then not being able to compete at the end is not very satisfactory. If I was healthy and I would have lost three matches or I would have won one match, it would have been fine. Hopefully, I'll be back next year and be able to make up for this. I guess it gives me more incentive to get back for 1998.  Q. Greg, after you had the injury fit again, are you going to have any sort of break before Christmas? GREG RUSEDSKI: I'm going to have Christmas at home. It's going to be nice, maybe New Year's as well this year. It will be a nice change of pace. I'm looking forward to the time off.  Q. Doug, does the amount of power that Greg puts into his serve, does that make him more susceptible to injury than the players who don't serve as hard? DOUG SPREEN: You really can't answer that because everybody's body is built different. And he's done very well with the amount of power he plays at. How well his shoulder has held up, how well his arm has held up, how well the rest of his body held up. My body couldn't withstand the forces that he's able to exert. No, you can't really draw any conclusion there.  Q. Obviously a disappointing end to the year for you, Greg. How would you sum up the year? GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I think it's been a great year for me. Tennis-wise it's been my best year ever. I had a great start to the year in Zagreb and San Jose. I had a wrist injury for two months. Got it rolling again winning an event in Nottingham, quarterfinals in Wimbledon. The whole year tennis-wise has been a great year for me. I'm hoping to build on it next year and accomplish the things I didn't accomplish in '97. I think I put myself on the map as a tennis player now. It's just to keep building on that. Obviously, it's disappointing. I guess it gives me motivation to come back in '98 and try to get to Hannover, to do better. I can only do better than what I did this year.  End of FastScripts.... |
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