DAVIS CUP FIRST ROUND: FRANCE v U.S.A.

February 3, 1995

Todd Martin

TODD MARTIN: My overall thoughts - well, Cedric played well, first of all, and I never felt too comfortable out there ever. I didn't get a set. I never felt like I was in control of the points until at the end and a good part of that was the fact that Cedric was tightening up a little bit.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I had a chance at Love-30 in one of the games in the first set and it was a long point and he ended up winning it and got out of that game and then, you know, I still should have been in it. I let the first set get me down maybe a little bit, early in the second and likewise, early in the third I got down a little bit. I was much more pleased with the way I finished the match, but, you know, when you get yourself into that type of hole, there is not much getting out.

TODD MARTIN: Am I tired? Right now? No.

TODD MARTIN: No. I just -- just wasn't my day.

TODD MARTIN: Well, it is a pretty interesting setting out there. Davis Cup is one of the things that we all live for in tennis and so early on, I was a little nervous and as I started to get my bearings, I actually played worse and then, you know, Cedric was obviously a little nervous at the beginning too and he started to find the range and I never did. When that happens, then it just seems to -- you seem to dig yourself deeper and deeper into the hole.

TODD MARTIN: Not really. I think Cedric is a very good player and today, especially, I guess when he is playing his best tennis he used several different tactics to his advantage, he stayed back and hit some slices; he stayed back and hit some loops and yanked me around the court and he also used the net to his advantage. He came to the net well and put a lot of pressure on me when he needed to.

TODD MARTIN: Well, surface wasn't a factor at all. I think when I served well early in the first, it was extremely effective and Cedric served pretty well throughout the match and his serve was very effective, so in regards to that, the surface wasn't a factor, no.

TODD MARTIN: I think it is probably easier. You don't have to sit around and wait and you know -- it is almost impossible not to watch or not to pay attention to what is happening out there. The match before you, your mind maybe -- gets a little distracted. It is more focusing on what your teammates doing in the first match than what you are about to do in the second match.

TODD MARTIN: Well, it's a lot different. One: You are playing somebody else's country's very best players which doesn't always happen in the first round of the tournaments we play in. And then it is really just an all or nothing shot. Fortunately enough, for me I, have got another chance to prove myself on Sunday and hopefully help the team out; I just hope my teammates give me a chance to play for something on Sunday.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I started missing a lot of first serves and like you said, that takes away the opportunity for me to come in quite a bit. I still could generate the balls to come in on off the ground, but once the points started, I was not playing defensively, but I didn't really feel like I was dictating and I had say of when I was going to come into the net and when I was going to stay back. And really the first two sets, maybe the first two and a half sets he -- not only his first-- hit his first serve really well, but the biggest problem was he hit very good second serves and won a lot of his points on his second serve and didn't allow me to get in too much on his second serve which is one of the things I really wanted to do. But between the way I was hitting the ball; the way he was hitting the ball, and the way the ball seemed to be flying, it wasn't happening too much.

TODD MARTIN: I got to support my teammates now and give them the support that they have given me, and, you know, hit with a lefty tomorrow and work on a few things, but then really start focusing about my match Sunday when tomorrow is over and maybe Saturday at dinner, start talking about it and try to prepare that way.

TODD MARTIN: No. I mean, for the most part professional athletes, I think, thrive on pressure and I don't think I am any different. I just didn't perform well today.

TODD MARTIN: Well, he is awfully athletic, and I think when he has the ability to use that athleticism a little, I think it gives him a lot of confidence and motivates him to keep playing very aggressively and enables himself to show more and more athletic ability. I think he is very flashy and when that flash shows early, then it is my job to sort of stop that and I just wasn't capable of doing that.

TODD MARTIN: I am certainly going to walk out and feel good about myself on Sunday and feel good about, one, my chances against Guy and two: My being a part of this team and contributing -- I can't say that I am not awfully disappointed about today, but hopefully my skills of putting the past behind me and learning from the past and preparing for the future and present will serve me well and I go out and do my job even better.

TODD MARTIN: Well, certainly Davis Cup is different, but only to a point. We still play singles. We still play on the same size court and I can't remember ever a winning a history between another player and myself has influenced me one way or the other; just you got to go out and play the match today and not go on two years ago.

TODD MARTIN: For the most part I think it is pretty common. I am sure some players do it better than others.

TODD MARTIN: Actually, he didn't -- you didn't think he returned my serve that well until my serve started to go off a little bit; then once that happened, my serve had less accuracy; less -- less power behind it and it was just -- I was forced to make it much more conservative, which enables him to make more plays on it.

TODD MARTIN: It was great to have the support I had.

TODD MARTIN: I think Captains of Davis Cup team have a tremendous role in the success of their team. But I think also you can only ride as far as your horse is going to carry you and he has got a couple of pretty nice horses, so I think, you know, I don't necessarily think that it is Yannick's doing that Cedric played well today; Guy might play well today. It is their doing. They are the ones doing the work. Obviously it has paid off.