TMS - FORO ITALICO

May 9, 2000

Greg Rusedski

Q. Well, that must have been a fairly frustrating experience, Greg. It was a long wait, conditions weren't to your advantage.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Well, no, I think the conditions were really tough today. I'm playing a very good claycourt player, I mean, who won at Estoril his first tournament of the year. I'm not going to beat that sort of player from the back of the court unless I'm playing 100 percent my best tennis. And it's difficult under these circumstances, because, you know, it doesn't favor an attacking sort of player, and I had to have a really good serving day if I had any sort of chance. Even still, if I would have had that, I don't think I would have had much chance to win. I think the conditions took a 180, it's usually quick, dry, fast and flying. With all this rain, I think, as you saw by a lot of the results, none of the serve-and-volleyer players survived at all.

GREG RUSEDSKI: No, I didn't start off serving too well. I think I made a few too many unforced errors. He's a tricky player, I couldn't get it on to his backhand side. When I did, he was in that pretty well today, too, so just one of those days. Just move on to next week.

GREG RUSEDSKI: He's very experienced on the clay. He's one of the best claycourters. I look at the claycourt matches I've played this year, I mean I played Dosedel on the humid, hot court with terrible weather, then it drys up on a Tuesday and is lightning fast for the rest of the week. He should have beaten Pioline. My second tournament I played a great match against Alami, played a great match against Haas, was pretty satisfied with that week because it was dry and quick. Come here this week expecting another dry, quick week and, you know, playing another very experienced claycourt player, won a lot of titles, beat a lot of great players on clay. Under these conditions it's going to be tough to come out and get a win no matter how I play.

GREG RUSEDSKI: Yeah, I had a good week practice, I'm feeling healthy, I'm feeling strong, just keep on building really. Just look forward to Hamburg and keep on building toward more the French Open. I've had some difficult draws in three tournaments, I mean everybody I've played is a claycourt specialist. It's not -- this is their best surfaces. So I'm putting my test against the best and this is really the first match where I feel like, you know, I got pretty much dominated from after about 4-3, I mean when I lost my serve I hit a pretty good forehand volley in the back of the line early, the guy looked like he had two hours to hit the forehand passing shot.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I think it's the court that dictated. I mean if we were playing on a faster, dryer court like yesterday, he wouldn't have had the same amount of timing. I think he's got one of the best forehands on the clay, especially with the disguise as well.

GREG RUSEDSKI: I'm just going to stay here, practice a little bit and get ready for Hamburg, then after Hamburg go home for a few days. And then off to Paris, Queens, a week off, then Wimbledon.