THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 19, 1999

Greg Rusedski

MIKI SINGH: First question for Greg.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah, it was. I didn't serve as well as I could that game. But I think he picked my serve on a few ones. Actually played a very good game, but I didn't serve as hard as I'd like to in that first game. But then I think my rhythm on my serve came along nicely. He's playing some good tennis, having won his first round 6-Love, 6-3. It's nice to win that sort of match where you're behind in the both sets and still come off 4 and 4.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Definitely not. He's a difficult player. He had a great win against Becker a few years ago in the French making the quarterfinals. You know he can play some good tennis. It's just nice to get by that sort of match, 4 and 4. Especially with the heat; it got extremely hot today. I'm not the best player in the heat. So for me to come off in two sets is a nice feeling.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think I'm working hard on my fitness. I think my movement is a lot better. I'm moving better around the court. I'm knowing how to handle those situations. It's part mental and it's part physical dealing with the heat as well. It's the two aspects. I think I'm fitter and getting stronger. I'm still building up for basically Wimbledon and the US Open. So those are the two events I want to be as strong as I can be. But I think I'm getting strong.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Kenny has been helping me out with Steve for quite awhile now. He came down to London in December to help us out. Steve and Kenny just coincide together and help me out. It's a really nice combination. I'm very fortunate to have both of them helping me.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think it's a combination, mixture of the two. He does a little bit different. He worked with Chang for I think nine or ten years. He doesn't move too badly, that player. If I can get part of his movement, it would be good.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think so, definitely. Indian Wells, he started helping me out because Steve and I did a patch before Indian Wells, then Kenny just brought it on. We worked hard the week before this tournament started when we had a few days off.

GREG RUSEDSKI: You can always improve. You can get more flexibility, more strength, more movement on cutting the ball on different angles, all sorts of things. I think you can always improve your game. I don't know, if you take a player like Todd Martin, he's never going to move like Michael Chang, but he can always get better on movement. Take a player like myself, I can always get better on my sideways movement, short balls. You always have to keep on improving.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I've talked to Kenny on a few occasions. He's helped me out. It just happened to be there. Just started chatting. I've known him for a little while. He's been helping me out. It's nice to have the two. Because I have Steve in London a few weeks a year; Steve in America. They get along well, it's a nice thing to have.

GREG RUSEDSKI: No. Usually that's great. I like to see the sun like that. It means it's a nice day outside.

GREG RUSEDSKI: It's just getting stronger and working at it. I think that's an area I have to improve on. I'm always going to have a tough time in Australia. That's probably the most unbearable part of the year. So I think it's just continual work. It's tougher on my game because I play really an energetic sort of aggressive game where I expend a lot of energy. I'm not like, per se, a Moya who hits a lot of balls, loops, just is a mellow sort of character on the court. For him, it's always easier. For me, I'm a more aggressive, hyper player on the court than him. So it's tougher.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Probably heat. But I'm getting better with that heat factor. It's improving and we'll see how I do these next ten days. Maybe at the end of the ten days I'll really like the heat and the wind by the time it's over. I'm hoping.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I do, but usually just to sun myself.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Probably, I'd have to say it is one of the hardest tournaments, dealing with the wind. You never know what you're going to get on a given day. I think the facility is well done, professionally done, they try to maximize it as much as you can. You have a lot of elements, different elements to deal with. I think that's what makes it so interesting and exciting.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think it definitely does help. I've always been very good at those frame shots. They usually go in. I don't want to take that out of my repertoire. I think the movement is helping. I'm getting more solid contact, longer on the ball. I think it's helping my backhand because I'm more stable, more down. I think it's just helping everything in general.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think it's a little bit my racquet that does it for me, the way my racquet is constructed. I don't have a very high tension in my racquet. Between 47, 49 pounds. My racquets are very flexible. I play with a very flexible frame. I just think - I do my exercises for my arms and my wrist every day. It's a combination of everything.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I've been fairly loose. When I was younger, it was about 60 pounds. I've always been 42 and about 47. That's where my range is.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I know. That's why Pete has a few arm problems. Plus he plays with a racquet that's so mall small. He has a dampner in there. If I had to play with Pete's racquet for a week, I probably wouldn't be playing tennis right now.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I'm still trying it.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Ask me next week.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I'm playing a Donnay at the moment.

GREG RUSEDSKI: It's just the regular standard size, the racquet. There's no long body or anything on it. Don't need those long bodies. I need the control, not the power.

GREG RUSEDSKI: It's going to be a difficult match. It was actually a nice match to have today because he takes the ball early, hits it quite flat. But not as much power as, per se, Dreekmann. He doesn't vary his serve as much as Ferreira. It's actually a great match to have won today because it's similar to the two guys style I'm going to be playing tomorrow. It's going to be a difficult match again. I have a tough section. Just looking forward to it.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Hopefully Sunday. If they want it tomorrow, I'm ready because of this heat. I'm all set (laughter).

GREG RUSEDSKI: I haven't. But the time before that was a really nice memory when I played him in Hong Kong, which was 6-4, 6-2. I like to think back to that one rather than the one at the US Open. He played awfully well that day. I think I'm a better player than '96. Because my movement is sharper. He's one of those guys who can really go on fire and just hit winners from all corners. You have to really mentally be in there from beginning to the end because he's a very streaky player.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I don't think he's been very healthy. I think he's had a lot of injury problems. I think he had that one great French Open where he beat Becker, getting to the quarterfinals. I think he's got the ability and the talent, but it's just being able to be healthy and playing every week, being consistent and solid. Hopefully he can move up and go to the Top 20 one day. He needs to just be healthy and play consistent.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think he's really taking the Davis Cup seriously. I think it shows that he really makes the Davis Cup important for himself by pulling out of a Super 9 with a stomach injury to try to get ready for the Davis Cup. I think that's quite a good thing for him to do because it shows that he wants to be there at Birmingham and get ready to play in the Davis Cup. I think he's playing good tennis, and it's going to be an interesting match. I'm sure he'll be there.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think the thing that's going to be questioned is when he shows up on Monday. I guess you'll get more of your answers then than really now. You really can't make a statement on him. It couldn't have been that serious because he played awfully well at Indian Wells and lost a tough three-set match to was it Philippoussis? I think he lost to Philippoussis.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yes.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, I think it would be nice if they were there to play. The last time I played Pete and Andre, I think I beat them. I think Tim has beaten Andre the last time they played. It would have been nice if they would have been there because you would have had the best in America against the best in Britain. They're not going to be there, but it's still going to be a great tie for us. It's the centenary year in the Davis Cup. It would have been nice good they had been there.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think Monday or the Tuesday. It just depends how we do here. If we're here on Sunday, which would be nice, I think we might get a day off from the captain. I think probably on the courts on Monday we'll probably all meet up.