REPUBLIC NATIONAL MONTE CARLO OPEN

April 22, 1998

Greg Rusedski

Q. Greg, it looked for a while as if you were going to pull that around, particularly in the third set, had breakpoints, luring Boris into making mistakes, but it didn't happen.

GREG RUSEDSKI: No. I just didn't take my chances. I didn't take too many risks. I think I played a little too defensive on the big points. He had one breakpoint in the third set, and he made his one breakpoint. I had 101 breakpoints, and made zero. It's a learning experience. It's disappointing because it would have been nice to be into the third round against Philippoussis and another clay court match. There's not a lot you can say. Just don't perform the same next time. Just hope I don't.

GREG RUSEDSKI: What did I learn? I should hit my topspin backhand maybe (laughter). No, I mean, I had a lot of second serves and first serves, I knew it was coming. I had 15-40 early on at 2-All. I had a backhand pass up the line, I missed. He hit one good approach, so it wasn't too big a deal. The other times, should have taken a risk and gone for it a few more times, come over the ball. I just put it back in play and gave him the initiative, which you can't do against Boris. He has enough experience.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think I can play well on the clay. I think I had a good chance in the first set, up 4-1. Lost it 6-4. I won the second 6-3. I had a lot of chances. So I think it's just more and more improvement. If you can win matches, the more confidence you get on it. It would have been nice to have won this one today.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think my first goal right now is to win my first match on clay, then progress from there. I think I had a good opportunity to do that this week. It's my first time here in Monte-Carlo. Hopefully next week in Munich, I can get on a little bit of a roll, a little altitude, a little quicker, and so is Rome and the French Open. It's a chance to keep improving on your game, do the right things. If I did the right things today, I had a very good chance to win. I didn't do the right things and he did, so.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think he's always difficult to play. Supposedly, Boris is training as much as he was when he was playing at the top; he's just not playing as many tournaments. So I think he's hit a lot of tennis balls. He's a very good competitor. I don't think both of us are the two most naturally gifted clay courters on this planet. He's got a lot more experience than I do on the clay. He is a good player. There's no question he can still play well.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think I came down here, gave it a good preparation. I was here on Thursday already this week trying to prepare for the clay. I don't really think it came down to my clay court tennis. It came down to taking my breakpoints, being aggressive, coming over a few, taking a few risks. If I would have done that today, I probably would be sitting here with a different result. I didn't do that and he did take advantage of the points. I think there's a few things to learn. You just have to try to take the positive out of it and get onto next week, just don't make the same mistakes over and over, if you can do that. I did that quite a few times today.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah, I'm going to practice some more. There's no point in really going back to London. You're not going to be able to practice with all the Spanish clay courters and people who are specialists on these courts.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I'm just disappointed in myself for losing the match because I had my opportunities. If I would have taken a chance, I would have rolled over a few backhands, he would have come up with the shots, I would have said "too good," because I did the right things. I didn't do the right things, and that's what's disappointing. If I do the right things, I say "too good, you deserve to win." If I do it the negative way by putting the ball back in play, that's a disappointment coming off the match. The other, I had two match points, coming off a good week in Antwerp. I think only two first round losses coming in, later stages of April, isn't too bad for the year.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think I've had two weeks off from the game. In practice I've been hitting it really well. Just have to set my mind. It was a little bit more indecision rather than being aggressive. If you have that indecision in your mind, no matter what standard you are, it's going to happen. I watched the match with Medvedev and Ivanisevic yesterday. There was a lot of strange things going on there as well, you could say. I wouldn't say I'm the only one who is doing that this week.

GREG RUSEDSKI: It does. It gives you more of a chance, more time to come over it. I had the time to come over them; I just played the wrong shot selection. I don't think it was anything technical. I think it was just more a mental thing to do.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think it's absolute rubbish. I think it's really a ridiculous idea. The sport has been going on for years. All of a sudden to throw coaches on the court I think is quite ridiculous because it's always been one man against the other. I think it's just something to get the game more popular in America. I think that's the only reason it's being done, is to try to bring more people. In Europe, I think there's more than enough people watching the game, there's no problem with the game. I totally disagree with it.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I'll have Tony come on the court. I mean, it just seems -- it just doesn't seem like tennis. It's always been a one-on-one sport. It's always been like that. So I don't really see the point to changing that rule. I find it a little bit strange.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah. I mean, it's an experiment. They're experimenting with six tournaments. I don't know. I don't really think too much of it. I should be left alone. What are you going to do -- okay, you have a coach traveling with you. You are going to have 128 coaches in the locker room for a Slam, 128 players? What are you going to do for the players coming up who can't afford to have a coach coming up and travel along with them. That's an unfair advantage. I don't think it's fair to the people that are coming up. I don't think it's fair for the players coming in.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think Ronnie is going to have a minute and a half with Thomas, a minute and a half with Andrea. I guess whichever one he wants to win, he's going to tell him what he did to the other one. I don't know. I don't agree with that.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Next thing you will have the coaches sitting there with his shirt off, sun-tanning, patches. I think maybe if I had a football helmet on today and someone telling me to come over my return of serves, then maybe I would have won today. Maybe I would have thought it was great.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Davis Cup has always been like this, history of the game. I think it's fine in Davis Cup, always been around. It's a team event. But when you're playing one-on-one, it's not a team event really. I just feel very strongly about that.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I think coming off after the U.S. Open, it might not be bad to play either hard courts or indoors somewhere because Leander Paes is good on hard court, but Paes and Buphati are one of the top doubles players in the world. I think maybe a hard surface or indoor surface might be better.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think that will be a good idea if we can do that. I tried getting ahold of David on holiday. We just missed lines a little bit.

GREG RUSEDSKI: No. Still the same. Nothing else interesting to talk about besides the coaching change? I think we should have the coach there from the first point to the last point, we should be able to call a time-out on breakpoint, have Tony walk over, and Tony say, "Roll the backhand," then I'd agree with it, if I could just go "Time-out".

GREG RUSEDSKI: We could ask for that.