U.S. OPEN

August 30, 1994

Todd Martin

TODD MARTIN: Went back and hit it as hard as I can.

TODD MARTIN: That wasn't the shot that won the point. I made a very awkward stretch for the ball off a good backhand he hit down the line and was fortunate enough to hit it to about two inches over the net and short and gave him an awkward shot. He really could just scoop the ball deep and try and make me pass him, and I'd gone off the line with a lot of backhands. I had to go cross court and I think I hit it pretty clean. So I was pretty pleased with that one.

TODD MARTIN: Quite a bit of it. It came and went. As far as how much it bothered me, I'm not necessarily sure if it's still the groin. I think it just moved over to the side of the leg.

TODD MARTIN: Well, personally, I've got these rubber shorts on that are actually -- I don't -- never mind. They're very, very insulated, and to be perfectly honest, I don't think there was much a trainer could do. He asked if I wanted one and that's when I told him then I really think the best thing for me was to keep going and try to keep it warm, so I didn't really pull them.

TODD MARTIN: Before I broke him in the short set.

TODD MARTIN: I really don't know. I mean, it was -- sometimes I made full-out stretches and I think just running is probably the toughest -- running forward was very tough, that's why I stopped serving and volleying.

TODD MARTIN: If I missed it, yeah, it hurt.

TODD MARTIN: Well, you walk out on the court, I don't think there are any favorites. I think you go out on the court and you have to win the match and you do what it takes to win the match. And I certainly didn't think it was -- I didn't think oh, gees, here I am, another upset in the U.S. Open. I don't care if Becker and Ivanisevic lost. Actually, I was pretty happy for Richey last night and you just got to fight and it doesn't matter who you are or what your credentials are. He was a better tennis player than I was in the first two sets and I had to prove otherwise in the last three.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I was a little nervous because, you know, I have to -- it's tough because you gear up for the U.S. Open for quite a long time, and especially since I had most of the summer off, I had a lot of time to think about it. And I was very excited and I was feeling well, but you also have to think about your future because of the -- we have tournaments in the next few weeks, there are other goals I have and I don't want to sacrifice those necessarily just for this. And so, I -- then I made the decision just to be selective on my effort.

TODD MARTIN: Yeah, I felt fine.

TODD MARTIN: Actually, I felt it in the last couple of days a little bit, but not to the point where it bothered me. I noticed it was a little stiff, and when I was stretching it, maybe I wasn't able to stretch it as much because -- as I felt it.

TODD MARTIN: I realize that. That's got nothing to do with playing my match.

TODD MARTIN: I want to say this without being rude, but the fact that people are seeded is just to be placed. It is not who's the best player in this tournament. That's why guys upset other players, and that's why Guillaume was beating me, that's why Richey beat Boris last night, that's because those guys are playing better than the seeded players. The seeded players don't get any bonus points. They have to play the full match just like everybody else.

TODD MARTIN: I knew that. At 4-Love in the fifth set tiebreaker.

TODD MARTIN: I was concerned when I hit the forehand on the line and I didn't hit it very well at 4-1 which is when I sort of lost the momentum in the first, and I was pretty intent on just really staying focused and making some first serves and making them beat me. Also, I tried my best to stay relaxed in the situation.

TODD MARTIN: Well, the two things I did was, one, I stayed back on my serve because I wasn't able to move to the net quick enough because he was returning my serve well. And also, I decided to take some of his second serves and be more aggressive with that just for the sake of making points a little shorter and putting a little pressure on him instead of having him come up on me, coming up with the passing shot.

TODD MARTIN: It was fun. I don't know. It's quite a good feeling to play in front of people who yell every point, and tell you you're terrible when you aren't, and tell you you're good when you aren't. And it was an awful lot of fun after the first two sets for me to be out there. It was just nice to be out there and finish the job that I started.

TODD MARTIN: I went nuts.

TODD MARTIN: No, because I played two terrible deuce points, missed two backhands, pretty routine backhands. I think when I did get through that game, there was a bit of momentum switch, but I certainly don't think I lost the momentum. I think I just gave more of it back. I was losing a little bit of the momentum because he was playing much better in the fifth set. You still got to feel pretty good about it when you are down two sets to Love and obviously you see his facial expressions or his body language and I knew that he was not very happy.

TODD MARTIN: Well, basically, I just -- I go over on my mind what I wanted to do with the serve and what I wanted to do with the first shot if I have any chance to do something, and then subconsciously I tell myself to just do the work and go back and do the fundamentals.

TODD MARTIN: Can you say that again?

TODD MARTIN: Well, it's been about 14 years now since I started playing competitive tennis. So, we've all gone through the same stages. You learn how to deal with certain stages, junior tennis and college tennis, and I'm learning more and more about the pro tour. And I think the experience of maybe losing a few of those matches last year against Krajicek when I think he saved three match points against me, realizing that if somebody can do it to me, I can do it to somebody else. And also, it's -- I think it's just natural to have too much pride to give up. That's the biggest key, just keep on using your energy and doing the right things.

TODD MARTIN: Oh, yeah, certainly. I think you look at the best players and most of them are very good when the going gets tough, and you're becoming better and better, I think. And I think today was not necessarily a match of tennis skills, but maybe just a matter of, well, I competed.

TODD MARTIN: Do I find what?

TODD MARTIN: I don't know if the new rules for the ATP tour are in effect.

TODD MARTIN: One person distracts you. Hundreds don't distract you. It's an awkward thing, but that's how it is.

TODD MARTIN: It was.

TODD MARTIN: I think I decided to buckle down and compete instead of feeling sorry for myself at two sets down and I think that was the biggest key. And I had a lot of breaks that sort of made me feel a lot better and made him feel a little worse.

TODD MARTIN: No, that was the thing at Wimbledon, I was off to a fast start. I was -- except for one match, I was up -- I mean -- I was up except for against Damm and actually I let down. Today, I just didn't play well in the first two sets, and I competed less and less well, and you know, I think they're totally different circumstances. I hope I don't have to start slow to finish good -- it's better than starting fast and finishing bad --

TODD MARTIN: I didn't necessarily hit that the way I was supposed to. You're not supposed to hit passing shots as hard as you can or as flat as you can, but I was sick of tennis right then, so I had to finish something. And I hit it very clean, but the ball was where I like it and, you know, I think even if Guillaume had guessed right and was there for the volley, it would have been a tough volley. And the reason I hit it the way I did was just because I didn't want to have to run for another ball. I didn't think I was -- that would give myself the best chance to win the point.

TODD MARTIN: I'm going to go ice it as soon as we finish.

TODD MARTIN: Well, ice is very typical treatment for any muscle injury.