ROGERS MASTERS

August 10, 2005

Sebastien Grosjean

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Sebastien in English.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: You know, it was pretty easy because he make a double-fault on the first point. But I would say I serve much better after the rain, and I was maybe more aggressive than him. You know, even after the rain, it was really close, 7-6. Then in 2-All, he had breakpoint on my serve, maybe two breakpoints. It was pretty close. But I think my serve helped me a lot.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: I would say maybe after the rain because now I used to it. I played, you know, in Wimbledon, and you have many matches like that. You can have a rainy day like three, four, five times for the same match. You know, maybe I was more aggressive after the rain, yeah.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: Well, I remember he won six points in a row. I only served one point that was not well-played, but he somehow played his backhand down the line a little more. But at 5-3, when he started playing, I decided to receive serve further behind the baseline. Until then, I was too close to the baseline. I returned not as well. The balls came too fast. That gave me more time. But it's true that he did not serve that well after that.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: Maybe on the last point, two seconds after the lightning, we heard the noise of thunder, so it was very close, then it was better to stop.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: We wait for the chair umpire to make a decision. It's not a situation where it was raining and it was obvious we had to stop. We just had to wait for the decision of the chair umpire. When it sprinkles, the lines become slippery. At that time maybe we can ask the chair umpire to stop, but it was not the case.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: It's true that we are used to those situations in Wimbledon, but here the situation was different than at Wimbledon.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: He did not serve as well after play resumed, so it gave me a better chance to hit and get into those rallies more than before. He served a little less well. It's true that I was not afraid to play on his backhand any more. I felt I was going to be aggressive as often as I had the chance. On the whole, it's true that after play resumed, I played more aggressively than he did.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: Yes. I knew he had a lot of talent. There's no doubt about this. We have trained together. I knew more Gael than him. But I was happy to play him because he has a great future and he is a great French tennis player.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: It's a nice situation because I did not have an easy first-round match. To beat Richard the way I did was a good match, and this is the positive part of it.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: It's not obvious the way I have to play him. He loves to lead the match, to put pressure on the opponent. He has a great physique. He moves very well. To beat him, I will have to play a great match.