US OPEN

August 31, 2001

Justin Gimelstob

MODERATOR: Questions, please.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Nothing to do with the match. I mean, it was noticeable. You know, it was amazing how many there were. It wasn't one way or another.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Everything bothers you when you're getting your ass kicked.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Thank you. I appreciate that.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: No. I threw a nice 52 mile an hour strike, I think. I was just glad I didn't bean anyone with the pitch.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: He was cool. Those guys were cool. They like tennis a little bit. It was nice. They were very nice to me, Ventura, Zeale and Valentine were all really nice.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Gosh, it was nice. I finally got my nose ahead a little bit, but then proceeded to dump that next game, so that wasn't good. It was tough out there. It was so windy. I don't know if you guys could tell how windy it was. On one side you had a hundred mile an hour wind at your back, on the other side a hundred mile an hour wind in your face. It was pretty tough. I never really established a rhythm on my serve. It's tough to establish your rhythm off the ground with him serving so well. I didn't serve too well. That was the main thing. You know, he served great. I had a few chances. The chances I had, I didn't take. That was pretty much it.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Yeah, I'm over it. It's over. I think it's old news. It's an unfortunate incident. It's behind us. That's it.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: No, I don't think he's around anymore.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: It's tough to do that if you can't -- tough to get the crowd into it if you start from behind and you stay behind (laughter). Then when I did get ahead for a little bit, got my nose in front in the third, I didn't build on it. It's pretty much impossible to get the crowd involved.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Just one player is all I get? I was going to hedge my bet a little bit.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: I think that I would take probably Andre.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: You're asking me a question, then you're asking me why. You ask me one person. Maybe that's all you deserve. If you won't let me hedge mine, then you just have to figure it out yourself.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: I don't know. I was going to say Andre, Pete and Rafter would be the three guys. That's, I guess, pretty tough prognosticating there. It's tough. They're all in that little section there. I think that Pete and Rafter are going to have to play each other. It's a good court surface for Andre. It's fast, not too fast. You could do both, you could defend and play offense. I think he's in a good position to maybe win the tournament.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: I broke him once. I had breakpoints in maybe three other games. I think the main thing, I wasn't playing good service games for me. Compared to what most people do against his serve, I had an opportunity to break him in four games. I only broke him once. I didn't really think that that was that bad.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Well, that's God given. If I cover the T, it's easy for him to slide it wide. He was acing me everywhere.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: I don't know what surfaces those were on. I like his chances.

JUSTIN GIMELSTOB: Anyone can give anyone problems out here, if he has an off day on his rhythm. Matches change with points, days, how you wake up, how you feel, if you tweak your hamstring, or if someone does something really well. I think against most baseliners, except maybe like Andre Agassi or something, he has a good shot because it's a pretty fast court and his serve is great.