TMS MONTE CARLO

April 17, 2001

Sebastien Grosjean

THE MODERATOR: First question, please.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: Not bad. Yes, it's fun. We returned well. It was nice playing there.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: It was a good match in general, quite solid. It was not obvious. We have to get used to the surface again, but I came here early to try to get used to the surface and to get back my instincts. And I'm very satisfied with my first match.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: Yes. He didn't play very well. He made some mistakes that he doesn't do normally. I was watching my game, it was not bad. I served well in general. I had a good feeling on the court, also.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: Yes. I knew that any way there was another set to play afterwards. He had a better second set, and I started being more aggressive and I was able to break him and to break him again at 5-all. It was a good serving game.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: Yes. It's not a comparable match over there because the surface is totally different. But tactically, I played well today.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: I'm not watching that far. I'm playing Ulihrach tomorrow. He's a good player who plays very fast on both sides, so it will not be easy. I will have to concentrate on that match, and after that we'll see.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: There is Eric who knows me better. I worked for a long time with him.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: I said there were personal reasons.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: I am not alone. I ask Eric to take care of me a little bit. We had a week preparation. I am not alone. He knows me very well because we worked together with Arnaud in the past, and I'm not the only one in the tournament.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: No, I've rarely been alone these past years. I was always with a coach, so I don't know how it feels otherwise.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: Last week. I started hitting twice on Tuesday and then I came down here. But here I played only once on Wednesday.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: Yes, they are very hard. It's very difficult to make the ball go forward, because they are quite heavy. Maybe it's also due to the fast surface. I don't know what the other players think about it, but we have the impression that it is quite difficult to make winners.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: Well, I had a whole week of practicing on clay. It's quite a lot already. I played in February on clay ten days for the Davis Cup. It's a surface on which I was playing when I was younger. So I came here early to get used to the conditions. The balls were quite heavy, but the court is fast. So, therefore, the game can adjust, and it's easy to play well on this surface because we see some very fast-court players who play well also. The fact of having heavy balls and a fast surface is a little advantage for every player. There shouldn't be any problems.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: Generally speaking, that's it.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: I don't know how I'm going to play tomorrow.

SEBASTIEN GROSJEAN: No, I tried to play a good match and I tried to win. We'll see what will happen in the following days.