U.S. OPEN

August 30, 1996

Todd Martin

TODD MARTIN: It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I took yesterday off completely. To be frank, I really didn't progress as much as I wanted to yesterday. Swung the racquet around a little bit last night in my room. Didn't feel all that bad. Knew it was going to be tough to serve regardless. Felt like I could play off the ground okay. When I went out and hit with my coach this afternoon, that was confirmed. It's really just a matter of how well my -- how effective my serve would be. It's usually what determines what's going to win for me.

TODD MARTIN: I was in a little doubt this morning. I've done this before once. It was in Lyon last fall. I can't remember if it was the next day or if I had a day off. My next match, I served great. To have any kind of sensation at all two days later, just opening doors and picking up bags, I was a little concerned. I was able to hit the ball. If I was going to be able to hit the ball without pain, I was going to do it.

TODD MARTIN: Just willpower (laughter).

TODD MARTIN: Like 4-2 the other day in the fourth set against Younes. Just hit a stretch backhand volley. My arm went completely straight right as the ball hit every part of the frame. All the torsion went right to the elbow in one spot. I obviously have a weakness there. Just got magnified.

TODD MARTIN: It's not like any tennis elbow I've ever had. It's not a dull ache. It's just a sharp pain when I exert a lot of pressure on it. I'm just glad I earned couple more days off. Maybe it will be another ten percent better on Sunday.

TODD MARTIN: The training geniuses in the locker room constructed some kind of -- the bandage just really doesn't allow me to straighten my arm completely, or at least not as quickly as possible. It's nice just to have something there. I mean, I don't know how much that really helps. Mentally it's nice to know that the -- that if the same situation presents itself, I'm not going to be hanging up the racquets for the rest of my career.

TODD MARTIN: No. I felt it a couple times. I was surprised. I was figuring I'd be in the high 80s, low 90s the whole match. A couple times I got into the 100s. A couple times I forced it a little bit and frankly didn't feel all that great. It was just a momentary -- not even, just a pinch.

TODD MARTIN: Four injections yesterday (laughter). Don't believe me, please.

TODD MARTIN: I thought in the first set he was probably a little bit caught off guard by the fact that I came out and served pretty slowly. It's difficult to play when somebody is playing like that against you. It's tough to get the ball in play. You don't know whether to try to hit winners or just get the ball in play. He had a couple breakpoints in one game, and I played a great game to get out of it. In the second when he broke me back after 1-Love, and in the third, both times I was able to break him back to go up a break again. I think that took the wind out of his sails both sets. Without being able to come up to the baseline and hit a bunch of big serves, I think I kept my intensity up on my return game much more, put a lot more pressure on him more consistently than maybe I'm used to.

TODD MARTIN: Taking the day off yesterday sure did help. I'm going to try to persuade the coach to let me take another day off.

TODD MARTIN: He's British, right (laughter)? We played in Wimbledon, as you know. There was one break all of three sets. He's going to play a lot differently than Andrea today. He'll be coming at me a lot more. I think he'll be a greater challenge for me. I'm going to have to be on the ball constantly. He does a good job of being aggressive and taking play to his opponent.

TODD MARTIN: It's all a show (laughter). No, I'm fine. Really, I was most concerned whether I was going to be able to focus the whole time out there. I knew I was thinking about my elbow, was able to do it.

TODD MARTIN: Where would I prefer to play?

TODD MARTIN: I prefer to play on clay.

TODD MARTIN: If I'm playing for my life, probably grass courts. If I'm playing for fun, hardcourts.

TODD MARTIN: Was it neon or something?

TODD MARTIN: Very consistently is one thing. The aces that I had were purely because I surprised him. I don't think I hit one serve hard enough to where if he weren't flat footed he could have gotten them. I think my hardest serve was probably 106, 107 that went in. Anybody out here can get to those balls if they're up and ready to play. I think he spent half the match with a pout on his face. I don't think he was really ready to go an awful lot. That was very fortunate for me.