DAVIS CUP - USA vs GREAT BRITAIN

April 4, 1999

Todd Martin

Q. Where did it get away, Todd?

TODD MARTIN: Well, I don't think it ever really got away. I'm just a few points away -- one point away from winning the fourth set. And in total I think he broke me one more time than I broke him. So I don't really feel like it ever got away, but being up a set and a break, being in a great rhythm and feeling good about my game, and I don't really feel like Tim had found his range yet, that's a big opportunity lost.

TODD MARTIN: Well, when the ball is in, 40-15 is a lot better than 30-All. I can't fathom that I missaw the ball -- that I mistook the ball for being in, in that situation. I thought it was so far in that it was -- so far in, meaning inside the line, not like six inches inside the line, but I think it caught the inside of the line, at least, and it shouldn't have affected me that much, but it's Davis Cup, and it's a great opportunity to be up a set and there I would have been one point away from being up 5-3 in the second. I think if I get up 2 sets to love, I don't think the match is over, but it's as close to it as it's ever going to get, if I'm not going to win.

TODD MARTIN: For sure, absolutely. I'm not saying it should have, I'm just saying it did.

TODD MARTIN: Well, certainly in a set at 4-3 I felt great. I lost serve two out of the next three games -- or that game and -- actually, yeah, after that, three out of those four games I lost serve, and that's a moment in time where you just can't afford to have a lapse in concentration, and I did. And it was -- I'm disappointed because I thought it was avoidable, and it wasn't necessarily circumstances that Tim or I produced that caused that lapse in concentration.

TODD MARTIN: Definitely, I think I approach the game pretty level-headedly, and after the first few games in the third, I regained my composure, but walking off the court, I really hate to feel like I want to make an excuse for myself, and for losing my concentration. And it's my fault, but it would have been a hell of a lot easier to keep my concentration, had that call been made properly. And I think you could have asked Tim, and he had a pretty good idea it was in as well.

TODD MARTIN: I never would have expected him to give me that call in this situation. It's a gentleman's game, and that's all good and well, but in this situation, you're not just playing for yourself, you're not out just having a friendly game, and it's possible that he could have seen it wrong. It's possible that he could have seen it wrong, I could have seen it wrong, and the lines lady was correct. But I don't really feel like that was the case.

TODD MARTIN: I felt good. I was really pleased and surprised that my stomach held up. I think -- I didn't feel like I did in the first set against Greg on Friday, but there was no pain and I just don't think I was quite as strong, but minimally weaker than I was at the beginning of the match. It's mental fatigue as much as anything else, being out there three and a half hours, and not being pleased with the way things were going.

TODD MARTIN: No. There was a very realistic possibility, with Greg and Tim in the doubles together, both serving the way they do, coupled with the way they volley, I knew that was going to be a tough match to clinch on, and Tim is not the 7th best player in the world for nothing. He's a heck of a player, and today he proved he's a great competitor, as well.

TODD MARTIN: Yeah, they were fine, even the one time where we had a little bit of a lapse, because of some noise in the crowd, half of that lapse was due to me, just trying to take a few extra moments to collect my composure, and I was pleased. I've always said that it's more fun to play in any environment with people who are interested in the result and the caliber of the play. And these fans, here, were and are, obviously, very interested in both of those things and it's nice when they're a part of the match.

TODD MARTIN: I thought it was great. I thought most of the breaks were -- on the breaks, if the server made a mistake, it was not an unforced error, it was maybe choosing to hit the ball to the wrong place, and the other player guessing right or maybe just not hitting the target on the serve, and the return, hitting good returns. I thought the caliber of play was excellent, and the most so in the last tiebreaker. I can't complain at all about the tiebreaker I played. Good first serve on the first point, he hit a great return I just missed a volley off of. The other point I lost on my serve, I hit a great serve and super volley, and he hits a running forehand pass and all day long he'd gone up the line with the shot, so I had to prepare for that. He lobbed a few times off of that, too. But that was the first time he came up with a real solid angle, and, boom, that's 4-0 right there. And from there I played great, I just -- Tim served two or three aces in the tiebreaker and had too much game down.

TODD MARTIN: Yeah. There's about eight hours between matches, here. There was time for us to actually make eye contact.

TODD MARTIN: Well, all he said was well fought, and bad luck, and I told him to go out there and bring it home for us.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I think matchup wise I think it's a real difficult match for Jim, because Greg serves so well, and I think yesterday was really good for him, probably, having a chance to get his serve back in rhythm. And he certainly did have it in rhythm yesterday. And that's just his serve, but Jim's serving and has a great serve and I think there's no way you can underestimate his experience, his fortitude and his tenacity, and I honestly feel like those are usually the keys to big Davis Cup matches and hopefully that will -- it will come down to that today, because if the match is a close one, there's nobody I'd rather have playing this match than Jim.

TODD MARTIN: I play Estoril and Barcelona the next two weeks.

TODD MARTIN: In pressure --

TODD MARTIN: Rate it like signage or rate the ball girls or --

TODD MARTIN: It's great. It's hugely important. Every Davis Cup tie is huge, I mean I can't understate it or I can't overstate it, actually. I know if Jim's unlucky enough not to win this match, nothing for the rest of the year will stay with me like this result, and if Jim wins this match, nothing will stay with me like this, at least until Boston. So I was thinking out on the court at one point, when I think I was probably down 3-Love in the third, maybe Davis Cup is just too important, because the way I reacted to my stroke of bad luck is just not how I usually react to bad things happening. And that's -- but retrospectively I couldn't be more pleased about it, because that's why you have professional athletics, is because it's an arena that athletes can challenge themselves, people can challenge themselves, and most definitely it was a challenge.

TODD MARTIN: No. I can understand it because there are still flaws. After this there's three months or something like that before the next tie, that's a flaw, but if the public knows when these Davis Cup ties are, and bother to come or turn on the TV and watch, I don't see how this can't excite people about tennis, but especially about Davis Cup, and I hope some of the guys when they're older do what Stan Smith is doing, and come and visit and take a view of Davis Cup from the sidelines, because I think it's probably almost as exciting as when we play.