TMS - STUTTGART

October 30, 2000

Greg Rusedski

MODERATOR: Questions for Greg.

GREG RUSEDSKI: It was nice to get that match out of the way. Golmard can be a bit of a tough opponent. I think he was struggling a little bit with his fitness today. He can always be dangerous because he can hit flashy passing shots, returns. You don't want to give him too much of a target. For me, I was pleased to get that match, the first match, done, get ready for my next match.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah, I feel pretty confident. Last week was a big boost for me, I think. It was the first week where I felt really physically good. I felt even though I lost to Hewitt, I didn't feel I played the best tennis of my life. But I felt physically, my body was good, mentally good. I think that was a positive. Against Richard, that was one of the best matches I played this year easily. I feel like it's coming back. I'm getting there. I've got this week and the next two weeks to get at least a decent ranking for the end of the year.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yes, it was nice. I mixed it up. First set, I thought I served really well, hit some nice volleys. Pleased with that. Always nice to get the free points because it makes life a lot easier.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah, I think I'm over my injuries and my injury-prone period I had. Now I'm really feeling positive, looking forward to the future, looking forward to playing good tennis. I think this year has been haphazard, stop-start, stop-start, all sorts of different things happening. I've had probably what happens to most people's career in about five years rolled into one. It's been a difficult year, but one I'm looking to do the best I can at the end and then really make up for it in 2001.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Let's put it like this: It doesn't make tennis too much fun. You know, it's a wonderful job we have to do for our living. You know, it's tough when you lose matches, and it's not always because of your tennis. You know physically, that's the hardest part to accept, because you work really hard to get back, you feel good, then you break down again. You do it five or six times in a year, it gets very -- you get very down, it's very tough. I can accept if I lose tennis matches because my opponent plays too well or I played bad tennis on the day, but it's tough if you have a combination of things going on at once.

GREG RUSEDSKI: It was perfect. I felt good. I could have gone out if I had beaten Hewitt and played the semis. Gives me a lot of confidence. I was on the court maybe 50 minutes, an hour today. I have a reasonable draw playing Puerta in the second. That's not bad for an indoor event. Clay or hard courts, you might think differently. Indoors, it's quite a good match than to play Safin, Ivanisevic or Santoro. It's a good opportunity this week.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, Tim has a rough section. He's playing very well. I think he's playing some great tennis. He had a little bit of a bleep against Enqvist, but Enqvist was playing very, very well. He's, I think, got Krajicek, Hewitt, and probably Novak in his second round match. If we both get in there, we've had a good week. I'll have beaten Safin and Puerta probably to get there. That's pretty positive for both of us.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Beg your pardon?

GREG RUSEDSKI: No. I think if I can get to 50, that would be a rescue of the year, because then I'd get in most places. I have a zero pointer at the Australian Open. I could play the first week of the year in Adelaide or Doha probably, which would make my schedule a little bit better. If I can finish the year at 50, that would be a fabulous result for me.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I'm hoping.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Not the year of Tarango. I don't want to have a year like that (laughter). No, I'm looking forward to it. I think that's my game plan. Right now I'm focused on just trying to get to 50. If I can do that, then I've accomplished my goal. I don't think I can have a much harder season than I had this year.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I've spoken to Pat Cash last week. He's very busy at the moment. He's building a tennis academy with Gavin Hopper in Australia. You know, we're going to sit down when he gets back in December and discuss things. I want to get someone who is based around England, who I can work with on a constant basis, and who's got expertise and knowledge. You know, I'm still deciding who is it going to be. I've started to look more or less now to try to figure it out. I don't think it was fair to have a coach when I was breaking down all the time, because that can cause conflict. You know, be ready to work, start from the first ball till the last.

GREG RUSEDSKI: He is. It would be a good thing. But we have to sit down and discuss it, see where we're both going to go first. We're still in the initial stages. There's nothing definite. I'm starting to look now for a coach.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think at the US Open, he asked if I ever needed anything, to give him a call, to have a chat. We've both got to sit down together. I hope he would be interested. I still will look at other options. He's one of the candidates. Hopefully, he'd like to do the job. We'll just have to wait and see.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I'd like to have a coach traveling with me, helping me out, especially at the majors. You need them there. That's probably the most important areas, Australian Open, buildup for Wimbledon, I'm not going to bother saying the French Open buildup (laughter), the US Open buildup, stuff like that.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah. My wife comes once in a while. My parents are here this week. It's more that sort of just family and friend support.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think, you know, even if I would have had a coach through this period, I don't think I would have done much better, to be honest with you. I was just breaking down all the time. It wasn't like, you know, the coach could have changed things. Now I'm feeling good. My body's feeling good. My mind is feeling good. Now I'm ready for it. I didn't think it would be fair on an individual to take me at such a different time physically and mentally.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I'm taking a week off, just Paris and Brighton. I just want to be fresh for the events because I know if I can play well here and in Paris, then they count on your ranking. They're the biggest tournaments. I've won Paris, and I've played well here. I'm hoping to have some good results.

GREG RUSEDSKI: It is pretty slow. But I think it's quite fair. I think you'll get some good tennis, some good rallies. The attacking player has to serve pretty precise, he has to volley well. If he doesn't volley well, he's going to be punished with the passing shots. But, you know, I think it's good. You can play all sorts of tennis in this. It's good for both sorts of players.

GREG RUSEDSKI: There really are not too many serve-and-volleyers left. There's myself, there's Rafter, there's Henman, Krajicek, Sampras. But after that, really the young generation, the only one you have is Max Mirnyi really classified as a serve-and-volley player, that's coming up. No, it's just the way tennis is going at the moment, because guys are hitting big returns, big groundies, big passing shots. Look at Safin in the finals of the US Open, what he did to Sampras, because the balls were a little bit slower. He played a tremendous match. That's your stereotype now of what the players look like.