NASDAQ-100 OPEN

March 25, 2005

Greg Rusedski

GREG RUSEDSKI: Wasn't as bad, wasn't as windy. I don't know, I talked to the guys who work here and train here, and they said the only time it gets this windy and this bad is for the tournament. So, you know, the week leading up, the weather was fine. It was not windy. It was good. But it's the same for both of us out there, and he just dealed with it better than me.

GREG RUSEDSKI: If the direction of the wind is the same all the time and you can figure out what to do with the toss, then that's fine. Today I just couldn't figure out what to do with the toss. Neither one of us served particularly well today. It was just a battle of attrition, who could just try to find a way to keep the ball in the court one more than the other any which way. I mean, there were some dreadful unforced errors and some good shots - but not too many. It wasn't a pretty match. Under these conditions, you're going to expect a lot of strange sort of matches like today.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah, exactly.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I'm going to play doubles. Justin Gimelstob came up to me in the locker room and said, "Do you want to play doubles?" So I'll play some doubles and get a few matches. I'll still be here and, you know, just try to work on my game some more and get ready for the rest of the year.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I think it's just frustration because I'd create chances and I couldn't take any opportunities. I mean, I'd get frustrated, then I'd get up Love-40 the next game, get an early break. So I was just trying to get myself going somehow in there, even just to vent my frustration, and then try to move on. Every time I vented my frustration, I actually played a good game afterwards. But just I needed one more point here, one more point there. Sometimes you just have to release it and try to turn it over, but, unfortunately, it didn't work for me today.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, you know, we're supposed to play clay court season with the rankings, with the system. I don't know why we have to anymore, we should just be able to play what we like (smiling). But, no, I mean, obviously I might play a few events just because to go two months without playing any tennis whatsoever is just too much. I'll play a few matches and see how it goes. I just want to keep on working on chipping and charging, being aggressive, attacking, getting forward, just playing my game. That's what I've got to work on.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, we'll see. We'll see if I make Monte-Carlo. Still a lot of time in between.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I can only improve in that tournament (laughing). I can always stay at level par at that one. Don't have to worry about my results in the past. That's what makes this tournament so difficult. If you play on an outside court and you don't get a stadium or a big court, it's really difficult with the conditions. It's obviously the same for both of us.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah. And, I mean, Court 7 slants up like that as well, so both of us --

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah, no, I mean, it was difficult. I talked to Thomas after the match and said, you know, it wasn't pretty. Either one of us couldn't serve, the conditions were really tough, the courts are tough and everything, so...

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah, it goes uphill. That's why I asked them to remeasure the net. I asked them to see if the net height was different. I spoke to Thomas about it. That's life. It's the same for him as the same for me, and he just handled it better during the day. That's the way it goes.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I just think the ball's flying. One minute it's not going anywhere, and the next minute it's sailing. Just doesn't give you much confidence. That's the problem. I mean, the thing is, it was kind of similar to my first match I played. I mean, first set was windy all over the place, then the storm blew in, got calm, and life was good again (laughing). You know, so it's difficult to try to find some solution because you don't want to push the ball, but then you don't want to hit it too hard, so you have to find a good balance. I never really found that balance out there, and he had a better grasp of the balance with the conditions than I did. That's the hardest thing with this tournament in these conditions, is to find the right balance. But, I mean, serve and volley, you can't make as many mistakes with the wind because the courts are slower. If you don't knock your volley, the guy has a long time to hold it. It's a Catch-22. But usually if the wind is front to back, then that's fine for a serve-and-volleyer.

GREG RUSEDSKI: No, I had different -- I changed them up to try to find a solution. Was trying to find a solution but nothing happened for me today.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I think they run a great event. I mean, they can't control the conditions. But, I mean, if you look at it for the facilities, everything that's here for the tournament, I think they run a fantastic tournament, you know. If they could just talk to God somehow and ask him to have some - we don't mind windy, but just some straightforward wind - it would be great. That's fine, you know. Nobody can control that - unless you've got a direct number to the Man Upstairs, but he's got more important things to deal with.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I feel I've been striking the ball. As I said, I've been winning the matches I'm supposed to, but I just haven't been able to take that next step over the guys I should have to beat. You know, I'm going to put in a good session the next month. It's going to be very hard physically to get that bit more stronger and just to get that bit more powerful. You know, it's just taking that next step up. I'm quite excited about the grass court season coming up because historically I played well. The unfortunate thing for me this year was missing indoor season. Had I had more of an indoor season, I think I probably would have been a little bit higher up. But that's the way it goes sometimes. You can't look back; you've just got to look forward.

GREG RUSEDSKI: No, I'm just going to be staying in the UK. They have the two clay courts indoors, plus Wimbledon has the clay. There's enough clay to deal with there as well, plus maybe they'll open some grass courts early, too. I think that will be nice. It will be a combination. Main focus from now on will be just getting ready for Wimbledon. That will be the key.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah, Jean-Pierre and Martin, hopefully, he's not traveling too much. There will be a lot of people to do a lot of work, to just try to clean up a few areas, and do some stuff. So that's going to be -- just look forward to the future.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I think it's good that they're going to build a new national training center if they have all the facilities from physiotherapy to indoor courts to swimming pools to gyms to everything. I hear they're going to have boarding there as well for players to come to. It will be nice to have a good group of kids there with the right coaches and the right people working there. It will create an environment of competition. If I was one of the youngsters coming up, I would be quite excited about it because you want to earn a place there because you get everything for free, and if you can work with top people, what more could you ask for? I mean, that's lucky for anybody.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I've been there for years now. I think it's improving. There's still room for improvement, but I think it's starting to go in the right direction. This new center, if they build everything right with the right courts and the right facilities and the right everything, it should be a good thing.