US OPEN

August 30, 2001

Xavier Malisse

MODERATOR: Questions, please.

XAVIER MALISSE: Good question (laughter).

XAVIER MALISSE: No, I've played him before and I like playing against him. I mean, he doesn't hit it that hard. He doesn't hit that many winners. But it's tough, though. You've got to always, you know, get low, hit slices. I knew it was going to be the biggest deal, how to handle that slice of his. But it was fun. I really liked playing against him. We've had a good match four months ago, and I think we had a good match today.

XAVIER MALISSE: No, no. We talked. That's when players and coaches are there for, to sort it out. David helped me. We got through it. I took a day off on Tuesday and started practicing again on Wednesday with a clear head. Everything is fine.

XAVIER MALISSE: Well, I mean, there wasn't much to say. I know how I acted and I know what I did. You know, I saw him Wednesday. He was fine. I mean, we talked about it. But he told me, "Today's a new day." I know I could do it because I did it for six months. We started off a new page. We had to forget about Monday. I had to learn from it, you know, just keep going. I was still in the tournament, so I had to think about today.

XAVIER MALISSE: I hope it will help me, how to play him. But, I mean, it still has to be played. I'm not going to really look at it as I'm playing Tim. I'm just going to go out and play my own game. Of course, I'm going to keep some things in mind, what David tells me, obviously. I still have to play my own game. It will be a good match. I have to go out there and I don't have to look who's on the other side.

XAVIER MALISSE: We've got totally different games. I like to hit from the baseline. He likes to play serve and volley, attack to the net all the time. It will be interesting. I never played him before. In the beginning, it will be kind of sorting it out, you know, how it will go. Overall, I think it will be a good match.

XAVIER MALISSE: Yeah, I mean, it was hard for Christophe because Rafter, he's playing good. But to play these guys, they get everything back. They're smaller. They don't have the big serve, but they're fast and they know what to do. You know, it's not always easy. You have to go out there and play your own game, attack, see what you can do. To play these guys, it's always a hard job. You can never take it easy or you'll be behind any second.

XAVIER MALISSE: Yeah. I mean, you have to be patient. You just can't whack it, just go for every point. For sure, you'll lose. You have to be patient and wait for the right point. If you just want to whack it after one or two balls, there's no way it's going.

XAVIER MALISSE: I just cut it. I was acting stupid. I just cut it. Didn't bother me. It was like two days ago.

XAVIER MALISSE: I was jumping up and down. I don't know. I hit a table by accident. I mean, it's not a big cut, but it's better to cover it.

XAVIER MALISSE: No, no, no. If I had a reaction to my match, I would have only two fingers left probably (smiling).

XAVIER MALISSE: Yeah, I'm very relaxed off the court. I know what to do, but I'm always calm, I like to have fun, laugh, make jokes. I'm very relaxed. You'll barely see me mad next to the court. If I could bring that to the court, that's when everything will sort out good.

XAVIER MALISSE: Yeah, because I know I can beat the guys. I get a little nervous. Today I just went out. I have nothing to lose. He's No. 20 in the world. I know by getting nervous and trying to do other things, you get a result like Monday. It was better just to go out, relax, play my game. If I lost, you know, it's not the end of the world.

XAVIER MALISSE: I'll still be in Florida. I'll be a lot in Florida. I'll be there December, February, March probably. I'll still be in the States about six or seven months.

XAVIER MALISSE: Practice. It's a great place to practice. I still have all my friends there, too. It's always sunny. We don't get too much sun in Belgium. For the European Tour, when we get there, from the French on, we'll be in Europe.

XAVIER MALISSE: I mean, I took over some habits, yeah. I've been living here for four, five years. But I'm still Belgian, there's no doubt about that. I took some habits. But it's half-half. I'll stay Belgian, though.

XAVIER MALISSE: If we keep talking about it and thinking about it... We talked about what I did wrong. I can't keep on like this. We talked about that. But I'm still in the tournament. I had to think about today. It's not easy. I mean, it's not easy for David, too, the way I behaved. But we talked about it's not possible, it's not the way life goes, you know. I should enjoy it. I think I came with that today. It goes a lot better. I have to learn from it, learn what David says, move on to the next thing.

XAVIER MALISSE: Yeah, very important. I mean, he's helped me tremendously. I was 80. I've jumped to 40 in almost two to three months. He's helped me basically to where I am right now.

XAVIER MALISSE: Yeah, definitely, a hundred percent. David is a great guy off the court. On the court, he's very smart about the game. Obviously, he knows a lot. He brought Tim to No. 4. Yeah, I would love to keep going with Dave.