US OPEN

August 30, 1999

Carlos Moya

USTA: Questions for Carlos.

CARLOS MOYA: Yeah. It was supposed to be a very tough match. You know, no doubt about it. He's a good player. He can do anything. He can beat anyone, but he can lose to anyone, too. I knew I had to take my chances, make him play every point, and that's what I tried to do. The weather conditions were not easy to play today. It was very windy and very fast. He plays flat, so it's difficult to play with him. But I said, If you win, it's a good draw. If you lose, it's a bad draw. You get a lot of confidence beating a good player in the first round. I hope it's going to help me, this win, I'm going to get some more confidence, and I have to be same as last year, I got here, was not very confident, playing bad. And I won two matches, then I got confident. Hopefully it's going to be the same this year.

CARLOS MOYA: Sure, I thought about that before the match, that I not playing well at all, I not feeling confident. What I had to do is to fight every point. That's what I did. I could beat him today. I thought if I beat him, I can get some confidence. It always help to beat a good player. I'm very happy, very pleased. Hopefully it's going to help me for the next round.

CARLOS MOYA: Yeah.

CARLOS MOYA: I think it's better for me to play with that wind because he plays the same. If it's windy, if it's not windy, he's hitting so hard, he doesn't care about anything. When he plays well, everything is in. But when he plays bad, he does not try to change his game. So I knew that was good for me. When you play with windy conditions, you have to be more conservative because the ball doesn't go where you want the ball to go. So I played with that, more conservative, not taking many risks. I knew that he was going to make mistakes. Sometimes he hit great winners, but many other times he made mistake. I also took my chances. You know, it was better for me with this wind today.

CARLOS MOYA: Right now I not able to play semifinal, but I'm feeling better than last year first round. I try to remember how I was playing last year. It was the worst feeling that I ever had. At least this year I didn't win many matches, but at least I'm fresh. After a few rounds, which I hope I'm going to get to, I'm going to be much more confident. That's what I need to develop my game. This first round, for sure it will help. But I don't want to be very happy and think that I'm done, that I'm playing well. I think I'm playing okay; not my best, but enough to beat him today. Let's see if I can play better next rounds.

CARLOS MOYA: Yeah. It changed the match for sure. I had chance at the beginning. I was 4-3 up, I think, with my serve. I don't know. For sure I was break up. Two set points at 5-4. Two more with 6-5. He's able to win that set, for sure it helps him. But he didn't. I took my chances. So many times it happened that I have many chances, I don't get them. Today was opposite. Had many chances; he didn't take many of them. That first set for sure changed the whole match.