DAVIS CUP - INDIA vs USA

October 12, 2001

Harsh Mankad

HARSH MANKAD: I thought I played well - definitely the first two and a half sets. Third set towards the end I got a -- lost focus a little bit once I lost serve early but then we have to give credit to him the way he served. I thought he served really unbelievable. It was a lot of pressure on me.

HARSH MANKAD: Like I never played him before so I didn't know what to expect initially. The players told me he really has a big serve to stay back initially, but then I wasn't really -- I kind of got the pace of it but he has got really good variety. He hit the out wide serve very well. Second serve was jumping up, but I thought for me it was just a different experience. I think that's what helped me for the future, but he's got really good variety on his serve; moves the ball very well. More than the pace, really moves very well in the corners.

HARSH MANKAD: Yeah, I think definitely it helps to play at home and after the first two sets once he went two sets to Love up, I think he played a lot looser, picked up his level.

HARSH MANKAD: I think so. I tried to keep the ball to his backhand once in a while open out the court to the forehand. He likes to run around and hit forehands, so...

HARSH MANKAD: Yeah, he came in off some big shots. He likess that. He doesn't really open out the point with a volley. He opens out the point with a groundstroke. So when he came in he came off a good start; it was tough to pass him .

HARSH MANKAD: I thought it was great. I had a good time. For me it is a great experience. And I thought it was really nice. The crowd was very nice too. It was fun. Really it was fun playing.

HARSH MANKAD: Well, I mean, it was a great chance for me and I'd like to thank Ramesh for giving me this opportunity to play such a player. There's a lot of positives I can take from this match. I definitely felt like I could keep up with him once the ball got in -- once I got the ball in, but I need to work a lot on certain explosive things. Like I just feel if I can get a little stronger over the years then I can, you know, compete with these guys. Plus the more I play at this level I think that you know, I will be more used to playing players week in and week out, so it's a good experience.

HARSH MANKAD: I mean, there was -- on paper he's ranked Top-15 and, I don't know, what my ranking is like 700 because I play only in the summers the professional tournaments. But it felt -- I went into the match thinking that I am going to win. I went with a positive attitude, so believing is important. Of course, no one expected me to win on the team, so there was no pressure on me; just told me to go out and enjoy myself. So I tried to do that.

HARSH MANKAD: First set he was definitely -- you could see it off the ground he wasn't really hitting out that much because he had a lot to lose. He's playing a guy he should beat. I have played guys in college and stuff, when you are supposed to win, so there's a different kind of pressure but I am sure he's used to it. He's on the Tour, so he's probably used to it.

HARSH MANKAD: I think it is important. I think the tie is going to probably be decided, you know, in the singles, so it's probably a good start for them. But at the same time Leander is probably favored in this match. So if we can tie it up then things will be interesting.

HARSH MANKAD: Well, like I said, if I end up playing him in the fifth match I am just going to go out there and try to play one point at a time and not worry about, you know, if it comes down to that, it's just another tennis match and I am going to try to play my best.