TELECOM ITALIA MASTERS

May 3, 2004

Carlos Moya

THE MODERATOR: Go ahead with questions.

CARLOS MOYA: Well, I'm very happy that he said that. I believe I am one of the favorites, but I will not say biggest favorite because it's just the first day. I played well today, but usually I didn't play very well in Rome - I don't know the reason. So hopefully this is gonna be a good year for me. But I respect what he said, and that gives me confidence to play well and to try to keep winning.

CARLOS MOYA: Not really.

CARLOS MOYA: Well, I don't really know, because is a tournament I like. Maybe the court is little bit too fast for me. It seems like there is altitude here, and usually I don't like to play in altitude. The conditions are like if I was in Kitzbuhel. I mean, it's very, very fast. Maybe that's one of the reasons, but it must be the only one. Because usually when I like the tournament, when I feel happy, I used to play well. Here is the only one that, feeling well, I have not been able to do my best.

CARLOS MOYA: Well, I got here playing really well. I'm very confident. So many times even if the conditions were not the best for me, if I was confident, I was able to play well. So I hope for this year it's gonna be different one. And, you know, it would be great for me if I can get really far because this year I want to get to the Masters again, and doing well in the big events like this one is gonna help a lot.

CARLOS MOYA: Not really. The only thing is that I could not practice that much in December because we had the Davis Cup final, and then the first week of the year I was playing again. So I practice just two, three weeks. So I feel that it was not one year, then rest, and another year. I feel like I been playing for some years in a row.

CARLOS MOYA: Yeah, yeah, two years. So far I'm feeling well and my fitness is okay. So, for me, is hard to stop month and a half and then start again, you know, to get the rhythm again. So maybe in some ways that's not good. But in another way, the good thing is my rhythm was there and my confidence was good, too, when I begin this year. So that's the only difference between this year and the other years.

CARLOS MOYA: No, no, I don't feel tired now. But I know that the year is long. So if I start losing matches, maybe I gonna go down a little bit. But so far my year has been very good. I was injured, my ankle, so I had little bit of rest. But, hopefully, I not gonna go down.

CARLOS MOYA: My game, do you mean?

CARLOS MOYA: Well, I have always said that to be in the Top 10 now compared with -- I mean, the same player being in the Top 10 now and five years ago, you have to improve little bit every year, maybe one percent every year. Because, otherwise, all the other players are improving, all the other players know you better, so they know how you play. You have to change a few things and try to adapt to the game. So from that point I think I am a little bit better. Now I'm more mature, I have more experience. So you realize now that experience helps a lot when you play these young players. You know more what you want. You know what you need to be there, and all this experience helps me a lot. So probably I'm almost the same player on court, but knowing a little bit more about what it takes to be there.

CARLOS MOYA: Well, I don't think he's that old, so...(smiling). Cannot talk about this very much, I guess. I don't consider myself old, either, but older than him.

CARLOS MOYA: More experience, I think all the points in your life, it helps. So I wouldn't say it doesn't help. It's that you get more adapt maybe when you get to the third or fourth year as a pro. You know, it happened little bit my first years, I mean, you always going up in the rankings and all these things. It helps. But then you can have doubts; I understand that. But experience, I would say that is always good to have it on your side. I think also he has doubts because he has been injured, and it's getting hard to come back. Although he played final in Australia, so that's big result. But maybe he has doubts now because he's been injured. But, otherwise, I don't think it has anything to do with age.

CARLOS MOYA: I think it's improving every year, not only on clay, but on hard court, indoor. Since I start, I think we prove that we can do well everywhere. My example or Ferrero's or Corretja's, you know, all of us have won a big title on hard courts, even indoor. Ferrero has been No. 1 not only having the clay court points, but final in US Open, final in a Masters. So now Nadal is coming and Verdasco, Feliciano, they all play maybe even better on hard court than on clay. I think you have to adapt these days. Spain, we're doing well in that fact.

CARLOS MOYA: Well, my preparation so far is going well. Past years, I was playing very well Monte-Carlo and Barcelona, not playing well here. And (inaudible), I doing sometimes well, sometimes not that well in French Open. So hopefully this year is going to be different here and in Hamburg. It was different in Barcelona because I lost second round, and almost every year I was get in to semifinal at least. So something changed already, so hopefully it's gonna change also for Rome and Hamburg. Then for the French, is everybody's goal. So hopefully I'm gonna get there in form and healthy, which is the most important thing, and confident.