DAVIS CUP - BELGIUM vs USA

July 17, 1998

Koen Gonnisen

Q. Could you just translate what you said to them in French (laughter)?

CHRISTOPHE VAN GARSSE: First of all, I didn't think I played really my best tennis, but I played okay. He's not a hundred times stronger than me, not a thousand times, but a million times too strong for me. My coach says no, but I don't care (laughter). I was so impressed. The first games, I didn't think -- I saw him playing on television so many times, but I didn't -- I couldn't imagine that somebody could play so fast on the ball and put so much pressure on me. It's tough to say if I played well or not, but I was really impressed. And I practiced so well all week. I thought I was physically okay, and I felt really strong. But today, I mean, you saw it.

CHRISTOPHE VAN GARSSE: No. I mean, I could be disappointed, but I'm very realistic. I'm 24 years old. I'm not a super talent. I'm a good player; I can beat a lot of good players. But I'm realistic. Today, okay, some people would tell me to don't say that. But for me today was a dream that came true today. I did my best. What can I say, you know?

CHRISTOPHE VAN GARSSE: Well, we can play on it. It's just not our best surface. I mean, if we play those guys on clay, we have much more chances. We can play well on it, but not our best tennis. Our best tennis is on clay, for everybody. We were grown up on clay. You can see it here.

CHRISTOPHE VAN GARSSE: I have no idea. I hope so, first of all (laughter). I mean, when I saw him playing in the French Open, I thought, "Okay, maybe I can do something today." But I don't know, it's so tough to say. When I saw him playing last matches, I really thought -- maybe I didn't thought I could win, but I was sure I was going to do something today. Yeah, he was all over me. I hope he played really well today (laughter).

CAPTAIN GONNISEN: I think I know Christophe for many years. I was his private coach for three, four years. If you see the long way we made to come here, to get here, I can only congratulate Christophe. He tried all of his best today. He's not a serve and volley player, which could have helped him to give Andre more troubles. We have not really a serve and volley player in Belgium, for the reasons he told you. We've grown up on clay. It's quite tough. Maybe Malisse in the future, he could play more aggressive, more typical hard court player. But anyway, Christophe, as you probably know, he had a bad injury a few years ago. He was really bad surgery, lost a lot of his tendon, his quadriceps. It's already a miracle that he's playing back tennis. He saved us, if I can tell, the last two times. He played unbelievably well. It was a little bit lower level; it was not Andre playing. But every time in the last game when the tie was at 2-2, he played unbelievable, critical match, the most beautiful match. Twice he did it for Belgium. I think he deserved a little bit more in the results today against Andre. But I know he tried everything. We were discussing, "Try to play more slice, try to approach more, try to play serve and volley," but it's just not his game. I know in my heart he try everything. I can only congratulate him.

COACH GONNISEN: The last two times against France and Holland, we played on clay, and at home, which makes for us a huge difference. I don't know if you're you've already been to Belgium. If it ever gets to 60 Fahrenheit, we're very happy. It's a summer day. It's always raining. The balls get like that (indicating). Some guys just don't like it. We love it. It's a huge difference. It's so much faster here.

CHRISTOPHE VAN GARSSE: No. Filip, everybody knows that he's always talking. He's mostly talking to his coach. They have a strange game going on for many years. When he hits a good shot, then it's Filip who does it. When he makes a mistakes, he says, "It's your fault." Is it's a crazy game they have, but it's been going on. He has big apostle eyes, the apostles who follow Jesus Christ, eyes that look through everything. He's just looking beside me. He kills me every time, but it's going beside me, going straight to his coach. It's just Filip. What he's playing really well, he's not doing it. When it's not going like he wants it, he starts to talk to himself. I tried to change that, tried everything, but it's very difficult to reverse. It's a little bit of a shame. We could have made more in that game, I'm sure of it.

CAPTAIN GONNISEN: Well, Filip almost every time played with Libor Pimek. He had the best ranking, 50, 60 some years ago. But then he quit playing doubles on the ATP Tour and just concentrated on his singles. I know he can play well, but I also know that Johan can play well in doubles, Xavier can play well in doubles. I've got many possibilities. We'll just discuss it this afternoon. As you all know, I can change the team until one hour in advance. But the thing is, we have got a new team. Libor Pimek is out of the team. We have to create a new doubles, to get started thinking about the future, about the youth. We'll get something on the court tomorrow, something decent.

CAPTAIN GONNISEN: Sure. When we made up the selection, we discussed it. It's just a thing that Xavier, he's a very good player, but he's a young player, 17 years old. We wanted him this time to learn. It's the first time that he's also in the team. Like I think the States is doing a good job with Gimelstob and all the other young players being around all week just to learn about it, what it is to play for your country. Sometimes I have the impression when players play for themselves, they just play bad and behave bad on the court, they just cutting their own wallet. They lose some money, the coach will be upset. They have to learn to play for the country. That's what Xavier has to learn this week, to play for the country, because I strongly believe it's different. The second thing is he didn't play since Coral Springs, which is since two months ago. I wish he would have played some matches in between to show more of what he's capable of. We think we know what he's capable of, but we came here with the team, with the older team, and those guys have always been there. I know what he can do, I know what he did. I was sure to put Christophe in the selection. Maybe in the future. Xavier still has many years to go.

CAPTAIN GONNISEN: It's a sure thing that in Davis Cup it's just logical. I mean, it's a war going on. It's just a beautiful aspect of those guys playing all the time alone on the tour for themselves, and here they're playing for the team, and they all love it. As far as I know, every player that has played Davis Cup, they just love it. Sometimes it may mess up his scheme, but they all love it, to be on the team for a week. The coaching on the ATP Tour, well, I think I go against many of my colleagues when I say that the most beautiful aspect of tennis for me, it's like boxing, it's two guys just being there alone on the court and competing on all levels, mental, conditioning, technically. It's a boxing game for me. The best boxer wins and knocks the other guy knock-out. When the coaches get involved, I'm a little bit afraid it's going to be one big show event. It's just going to change the aspects of the game. It might be more interesting for the crowds to watch, because the fight is going on between coaches and stuff. Maybe it gets the game more exciting because we need that also. But if you just ask me the sports aspect, I think it's just two guys knocking. For some guys, that might be good that they have somebody always correcting them. Doesn't it take away a lot from intrinsic intention of tennis, just trying to beat the guy on the other side in every way you can? That's my point of view. I don't know what Christophe is thinking about it.

CAPTAIN GONNISEN: Sure.

CAPTAIN GONNISEN: Many times as a coach, you're sitting there, like Filip, you can't just reverse him. You can start thinking that you fail in your job because you can't reverse him or it's something that's been going on since the kid was six years old and never coming back, a learned behavior. Then you just can't change it in one day.