US OPEN

September 6, 1998

Geoff Grant

Q. How was it out there the fifth set? You must have gone through a bunch of different emotions.

GEOFF GRANT: Yeah. It was a little painful. But that's what this sport's all about. So I didn't feel so bad that I didn't think that I couldn't win. I mean, I felt fine. It was just a battle, you know. He won the match. What can I say? I'm not really disappointed too much. It's not like I played terribly or anything. It was just a well-fought match.

GEOFF GRANT: I didn't feel fresh. That would have been nice. It's strange. I don't know. He would get the treatment on the changeovers, then he'd come out and he was running everything down. I don't really know if he had a problem or not. Maybe I should have gotten a little treatment (laughter). But, yeah, the legs certainly start to feel a little fatigued. Any time you get into the fourth or fifth sets, especially when you have such long sets in the first three.

GEOFF GRANT: Exactly. This is only the second one. It made a big difference getting that match last year under my belt, because I felt a lot better today physically and mentally and emotionally. I was just able to deal with everything a lot better, the crowd. I wasn't really distracted or anything.

GEOFF GRANT: It's great. I'll remember it forever. Yeah, it's really fun, it's really fun. I hope that can get me a little bit more recognition. It's tough to get recognition in this country, unless you're Top 10 in the world or something. We can get the lesser-ranked guys out there, give a little bit of respect to the guys that are around the Top 100 in the world, because I think we're all pretty good players.

GEOFF GRANT: Sure. If I can have a positive effect on the sport of tennis, I'd love to do whatever I could. I mean, I finished college, which is somewhat rare in professional tennis. In a way, I was kind of penalized for doing that back in the early '90s. I think you were considered just you had no chance if you went to college and graduated. You were considered old at like 22, 23. They neglected to give support to guys like myself and other guys coming out of college. Now I think their philosophy has changed quite a bit. They're helping out a lot of guys that have gone to college, and rightly so. I think we can be a good asset to the game.

GEOFF GRANT: Yeah, yeah. Thank God they recognized what I've been doing. I felt like I deserved it. I'm glad they felt that way, too. It showed.

GEOFF GRANT: Yeah. Well, it showed that I deserved to get the wildcard help, even though they haven't been helping me in the past. I've certainly been trying to get some help. If I can change philosophies from this point on, as far as who they help and how big their scope is in helping people, then I'm very happy about that, even if it doesn't affect me, I hope it does affect me. I hope my career -- it will continue. I feel great. This is just the beginning.

GEOFF GRANT: Yes.

GEOFF GRANT: No. Once was enough for me. Yeah, I retired, quit, whatever you want to call it. I wasn't making much of a living at the time. That's one of the reasons why I decided to hang the racquets up. That was at the end of '94 and pretty much all of '95. But I realized that being a professional tennis player is pretty fun. If I have the ability to do it, I'm going to do it as long as I can.

GEOFF GRANT: Within the next couple weeks, I'll probably do a little bit of shopping tomorrow. Then I have team tennis obligations. Playing with the Schenectady OTB's. That starts immediately after The Open finals. I do that for two weeks, then I'll start back playing in some Challengers here in the States. Then I'll go over to Europe for some of the European bigger tour events. It's time for me to start playing some of the big ones. I think I'm ready. I need to start putting some results in some of the big tournaments.

GEOFF GRANT: Oh, yes. It was almost like it was inevitable. It had to happen for me to be here today. I had no perspective on what it was like to earn a living as a tennis player and to make it your business and to make it your job, enjoy it. I was on this progression from the juniors to college to professionals. I didn't really understand it. I didn't enjoy it, and I didn't respect it. That year off really gave me the perspective and understanding of what it's like just to make a living and to be in the business world and the difference between the business world and being a tennis player, what it's all about.

GEOFF GRANT: Exactly. They're both the real world. I'd rather be in the tennis world. I look forward to the business world when I'm done, but I hope that time isn't for a little bit longer, at least five, six years.

GEOFF GRANT: I'd love to do that. I have a big notebook full of notes on how the game can be improved. Some of them are probably pretty valid, some of them are a little crazy. But it's tough. I mean, to think about the game, to think about how it can be improved, also to worry about your game and improve, be good on the court. That's one of our problems, I think, in the ATP is that we're in charge of the ATP Tour, and the players have a big influence on the tour, but who has time to really think about it the way it should be thought about? It's kind of a strange organization we have, when we're making important decisions and we don't have the time to do it, like other corporations where that's someone's job, is to think about how to improve and how to make changes. But I enjoy thinking about that.

GEOFF GRANT: I haven't looked at it. My two biggest things are, I think trainers are very, very important. I've really come to realize that, even in the past six or seven weeks, especially in Europe, it's very difficult to get good treatment at the Challenger level. Obviously at tour events, it's good, everyone is very competent. In the States at the Challenger level, everyone is very excellent. But there's only one guy doing each tournament. He can't possibly do his job when he has to take care of 40 or 50 guys in the beginning of the week, and do it properly. It's just too much of a strain on him. I would love to see more trainers, at least in the beginning of tournaments at Challenger levels, in Europe. I'd love to see them get guys that are more approachable, guys that are really knowledgeable of sports injuries and sports training. They tend to get doctors that just kind of hang out at the courts, drink Heffeweizen in Germany, smoke cigarettes. That's my opinion.

GEOFF GRANT: No, nothing in particular.

GEOFF GRANT: It's by far the biggest. Finally out of debt.

GEOFF GRANT: Out of debt.

GEOFF GRANT: The previous biggest. Probably in the Canadian Open last year. I think it was, I don't know, 14,000.

GEOFF GRANT: No, I'm not incredibly disappointed. Obviously, this was a great, great tournament. I expected to do well, so it's not like a shock. Going into today's match, that's what helped me relax. I mean, I was going to be very happy with the way the tournament finished up, if I were to lose today, as long as I played every point as hard as I could. That's what I did. Oliver played great. The tournament's over. This was just another step in the beginning of my career. Even though it's starting a little bit later, I still have plenty of time. This is the beginning for me, and I'm excited. I feel great.

GEOFF GRANT: Two years ago, yeah.

GEOFF GRANT: In Amarillo, Texas, first round.

GEOFF GRANT: I won. Really good match, too. We both played well.

GEOFF GRANT: Yes. I went over to Europe and played the French and Wimbledon, all that stuff. But I'm still playing more Challengers than I am tour events, or I did play more Challengers than tour events.

GEOFF GRANT: It helped it. But it's still on the border of like big Challengers and smaller tour events. It's probably going to be about 117, 18, which is my career high. That's another thing to be happy about. Got to get Top 100 for sure soon (laughter), then go from there.