DAVIS CUP - ITALY vs USA

September 24, 1998

Andrea Gaudenzi

PAGE CROSLAND: Welcome to the Italian Team press conference. We will begin the questioning.

ANDREA GAUDENZI: When I played him it was a totally different situation. I played him on clay. It was a slow court. It was raining. So, I think it was totally different condition and I don't think he played much tennis on clay in his career, so, here is indoor; it is supreme, and he plays at home, so I think everything is in favor of him. But, still, it is going to be -- I am going to try my best. I am going to fight hard and I am going to play point by point and see what happens.

DAVIDE SANGUINETTI: It will be tough because Todd is such a good player in indoor and in fast surface so I think tomorrow I have to be in a perfect shape, perfect condition to do my job.

CAPTAIN BERTOLUCCI: Davis Cup, it is very important and we play three semifinals in the last three years, so we hope to be better this year. We know the States is a very good team, but we will try our best.

DIEGO NARGISO: I think Davis up is very followed in our country because we are very much nationalists and we like the flag a lot. So I guess when we play for Italy, we have an extra tension and an extra push from the public and from our own country and so it is very important for us to play our best.

ANDREA GAUDENZI: I think we all think the same. I think it is the same for all of us. I mean, there is no point in --

DIEGO NARGISO: Well, as I said before, I think it is -- you know, when you play for your own country the people get behind you much more and they really follow you and we had a great -- on TV, a great following; also like the share on TV and so it is something that Italians really feel a lot when we play for -- when we play Davis Cup and we are followed a lot and we like that.

DIEGO NARGISO: A lot of soccer players like to play tennis and we like to play soccer so I guess we follow them more because they are much more on TV, but I guess they would follow us whenever they can.

ANDREA GAUDENZI: It is better. I took a week off after the US Open and I did some treatment and now it feels good. I hope it can last for the weekend.

CAPTAIN BERTOLUCCI: Yeah, for us it is a great pleasure to be here. And we just saw something about the city, but we like -- we feel very good here, so there are no problems.

ANDREA GAUDENZI: I think it is a good speed because I think if it is too fast, it is not even fun for the crowd - it is only serve and volley or there is no rallies. So, I think it is a good speed. You can see good quality of tennis and obviously we like it slower, but I think it is going to be good also for the show.

GIANLUCA POZZI: When we practiced in Italy we practiced on a really fast surface. When we came here, it was so slow, we were a little surprised. I think Andrea said probably it is better even for the crowd, there would be more rallies.