US OPEN

September 1, 2001

Greg Rusedski

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah, I have to say I think what let me down a little bit was my first serve percentage. I think, you know, he handled the conditions and the wind a little bit better and he really punished my second serve. He hit some great returns really well into my feet. I think that was probably the key of the match. I won the first set, which was very tight. You know, little windy, hit two double-faults. Lose the second set 6-4. Have 40-love, he comes back and breaks me to win the third set. Then we get into a tiebreaker. I miss two reasonably makeable forehands. But, you know, I competed out there. I did everything I could. And, you know, he came up with the tennis. I didn't raise my level enough as I needed to. If I could have got more first serves in, it could have been a different story. But I have to give him credit. He came out and he did what he had to do today.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I have to look at it in two ways. You know, I look at last season, last season was a total write-off, let's be honest. Was terrible. You know, I have to look at this year, okay, fine, I made improvements. I had fourth round Australia, second round French, fourth round Wimbledon, third round here. So next year I want to improve on that. Next year I want to be getting quarters, semis, finals and trying to win Slams. So that's the aspect I have to look at from a positive. From a negative point of view, I have to say to myself, "Okay, it was a good opportunity. I let it go." Could have been Tim or Malisse, whoever won that one - I don't know who won that one - you know, to get on, move on in the tournament. So that's the only negative aspect. I just couldn't raise my game that little extra I had to today.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I needed -- sometimes you need a little bit of luck.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Didn't happen. You have to give the guy credit. You don't go out and beat Grosjean in straight sets or Dent in straight sets without playing very well. He stood 20 feet behind the baseline and was getting the volleys into my feet every single time, which, you know, the guy's a good player and he hasn't done that all year. Then all of a sudden, this week, you know, he's done it. So, you know, that's too good. I have to give him credit. I'm not making excuses. But the only thing I was disappointed in was my first serve. I don't know how many times I hit the top of the net. If I could count, you know, if I had ten hands, I could count 50 times. Just getting that little extra over the net and just handling conditions better.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah. I was talking, that's why I'm a little bit late. Because I said, you know, I said fudge. If I said the "F" word, I said, "Give me the fine. I'm more than happy to take it." But I didn't say the "F" word. And I at least try to keep my language proper.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I've talked to them so they're going to take it into consideration. So if I'm a bad boy and I say the wrong words, give me the fine, I deserve it. But when I didn't, then I don't think I deserve it.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think my two forehands hurt me. That one I missed to go down 3-love, the other one to go down 5-2, those were the two forehands. I don't think the outburst hurt me. I think it was those two half-volley forehands. Put those out of the game and you have a chance to win the tiebreaker. Missing those two forehands really were costly.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, you just have to sometimes let it go out there. We're fighting as hard as I could. The guy had Love-40 on me in the fourth set, I came back and I had to hit a squash shot up the line to win the point. You know, I gave it everything I had but I just wasn't good enough today. And that's the bottom line. And, you know, that's what I have to improve for next year for the Slams, is just being able to raise that little level. If you watch Agassi, Rafter, guys who win Slams, they have a day like today where they don't play maybe at their best, best, best, but they can find that gear just to shift slightly. That's what I'm missing slightly at the moment. And that's what I need to work on for next year. And if I can find that gear, then I'll have a chance to get back to where I was in '97 and to do that. I mean, I have to look at the year and say, "Okay, so far's it's positive." Everybody's writing me off and saying my career's history, basically. I think I've reestablished that my career's coming, and I want to really prove to people next year that I can do even better at the Slams and I can perform like I did in '97 when I had a quarterfinals in Wimbledon and finals here. That's my goal for next year. My goal for the rest of this season is to get between 20 and 10 to finish off the season so I can feel happy about myself and my accomplishments for this year.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yes.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think it's a very important match for us. To be honest with you, I think it might be the most important Davis Cup tie Britain's had in years. I think we need to get back to the World Group. We need to get people excited about, you know, tennis again. What we had when we played America at Birmingham was fantastic for the game of tennis. So this is very important for us to win. I'm going to be staying over here in America for an extra week, then the training camp starts on Sunday. I'm going to be down there grinding myself on the clay because I want to do everything in my power to make sure that Tim and I are as -- possibly as fit and as good as we possibly can be. We need to win this. It's as simple as that. Losing that tie, we can't look at as an option. We just have to prepare. We have to put this away, which is probably going to be tough for two, three, four days, whatever it's going to be. We'll just have to put it away and just get back to serious work, because it's important for us to win this. We want to take a step. Martin Lee, Jamie Delgado, Barry Cowan, if we can get back in the World Group, maybe we can get more younger kids to play. I think we have to go out there and just train really hard the week before that tie and get really used to clay, try to come home with a victory somewhere there. So for me, that's the utmost of importance there.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah, there is. It starts on Sunday, which is the finals here. I'm gonna be there Sunday night or Sunday morning getting ready. Brad's going to be coming down to work on a few things with me, to help me out, with Roger and the team. And, you know, I'm looking forward to it. I want to get my revenge. It was embarrassing to us losing to Ecuador on grass. There's no question we shouldn't have won that tie. And I think, you know, Tim and myself feel we'd like to, you know, we'd like to win and we'd like to make up for that experience. That's what we're going to try our best to do.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Beg your pardon? Yes, they have clay.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah, I'm going to be staying. I'm going to be staying in America. I'll get back to work as soon as I can. Probably have three, four days off, spend some time with my parents and Lucy and her family and do some stuff, get away from tennis then really get hard to work physically and mentally and get on to that clay as soon as possible to make the adjustment. Because it's important, I think, you know - all of you know how important it is for us to win that tie.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah, I'm looking to play three matches. That's the aim. I think I'm healthy, I'm fit. I think if we're gonna get through this, the doubles is very important. If we can get away from the first day with one-all -- 2-love would be sign me up right now for, but one-all is more realistic. So, you know, the doubles is gonna be key. I'm going to be playing for three days, and I think Tim will probably be playing for three days. And that's what we have to do. There's no question. It's like Lapentti, you have to give him credit. He's a great clay court player. If you can sneak a match off of him, that's great. But you've got to consider to win the three matches, try to win those three, if you can get a Lapentti win, that's even better.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Just was unfortunate, you know, because just the timing, I ended up playing Washington, he ended up playing Indianapolis. Long Island, I was gonna play doubles, couldn't get a wildcard. So I think we should be able to practice some doubles in the week prior, and if not, there's no excuse. (Laughing). So we're definitely going to have to put that together, but I think Tim and I are accomplished enough players that we should be able to put it together good enough to hopefully do what you guys want to see when you come down to visit us in Ecuador.