ROGERS MASTERS

August 11, 2005

Sebastien Grosjean

THE MODERATOR: Sebastien Grosjean. Questions, please.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: I mean, his balls is really heavy, especially when he hit the forehand. You have to -- you stay back and take the ball when he's going down or you take early. When you take early, it's risky and it's tougher. It's not easy. Especially when it's pretty hot, the ball is harder, the ball is higher. It wasn't so easy to control his ball. But it was a pretty good match. I lost twice my serve, you know, making a few mistakes. At the end, I had chances to break back.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: Yeah, he's No. 2 in the world. He hasn't lose many matches this year. It's a pretty good game the way I played. I'm really happy. I have to be maybe more focused on maybe the easier ball and never relax during the game because with him the ball always come back in a good position.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: I don't know. You know, now I'm done with the tournament, so I don't ask this question to myself (smiling). I don't know. I don't know who he's going to play now. Depends on the game. No, to beat him you have to play a really good game.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: It's not necessarily the easy balls, but sometimes I knew where I was going to hit, but he anticipated and went on the good side to return the ball. I think sometimes I should have waited for him to make a move before hitting. But maybe he's a player who has the best movement on the circuit. Mostly, he doesn't only hit the ball back, but he counterattacks so you have to stay focused in the point and be vigilant.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: I'd say that the balls are hard and the balls bounce even higher on hard than they do on clay. I don't think he served that well, so I could have broken him more times than I did. But his balls bounced so high, and there was also a lot of wind. Since I hit balls flatter than he does, it was more difficult for me to keep my balls in play.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: I don't know who it will be. It depends on who he will be. I really don't know. Maybe to be concentrated a lot. Of course, there are times where I made some stupid errors that cost me a service break against the best players, and that would not have cost me as much against other players. I think whoever wants to beat him must play with constant concentration.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: In any case, on hard I think he can win. Maybe not on grass. I don't know if it's his goal. There are only one or two tournaments on grass yearly. But outdoor on hard, he could win.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: Don't forget I played him at Roland Garros. And there are a few players who move very well also: Clement, Coria. They are players who move well and who are very fast. But I'd say about him, that he even counterattacks after having moved very fast and he comes right back in the point.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: I'd say for the level of play, it's not that bad. My three matches were good matches. I'm glad the way I played those three matches. I was aggressive. I tried to do what I did well on grass on this hard surface. There's no shame to lose against a player like Nadal. I'd say I am sad to have lost, but on the whole, this tournament was a good tournament for me.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: I'd say we played a long match. I had chances to break him, just like today. But small errors prevented me from doing so. It's about the same type of match. It's the same type of fight because he plays with a lot of intensity in all the points, from the first to the last. Those are good matches to play against this guy.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: I wouldn't say you'd have to do wonders, but I'd say you have to expect the ball to come back. Sometimes we somehow relax because we hit a good ball and we know it's not going to come back - but not against this guy. We don't have to make miracles, but we have to be ready.