REPUBLIC NATIONAL MONTE CARLO OPEN

April 22, 1999

Carlos Moya

ATP: Questions, please.

CARLOS MOYA: No, I don't think so. Our friendship is still the same, you know. Doesn't matter how you do. Everybody is trying his best, you know. You have to have clear in your mind that tennis is tennis. Off the court, you can be good friend, you know. So I don't think anything change. We are still the same friend as we used to be before. It's much better like this, you know, because sometimes you can feel alone on the Tour. This friendship make it to be easier for us.

CARLOS MOYA: Excuse me?

CARLOS MOYA: Yes. You have someone to talk with. You can go dinner with friend of you. That's what some of the players, they don't have. They used to be alone. So I thought to play well you have to feel well out of the court. That's what I'm doing. I feel pretty well off the court. That makes me feel happy on the court. I can play better, I develop my game, suffer much more if I happy. I think that's why it's much better for us.

CARLOS MOYA: Well, it was a tough moment for me, you know. But all what I did is lose against Kuerten, which he's such a great player, you know. On clay, he was playing great. I could not do anything. But after that, I was playing well at that time, I've been playing well lately. I had some problems with my finger, but my confidence was great, you know, because I won some good matches. Even if I'm not doing my best, even if I'm not playing my best tennis, that means I have a lot of confidence, I'm suffering a lot on the court. But was a tough moment for me, you know, that Davis Cup tie.

CARLOS MOYA: Well, it's not a hundred percent. I have some dead skin on. We don't know what to do yet. If we cut it, is fresh meat under, it will hurt. We don't know what we're going to do, but it's still hurting a little bit. Today is the first time I play without the bandage, you know. It really worked well, you know. I don't know the way I'm going to play tomorrow, if I'm going to put it or not. I mean, is much better. Every day I'm feeling better, I think. I don't know how it's going to be, but I'm feeling better.

CARLOS MOYA: I hope everything will change because he beat me both times. On clay I think it should be different. At least I'm going to have more chances. The two times I play with him, once was in Cincinnati, I was playing so bad, he beat me pretty easily. The second one was in Dubai this year. He was playing great. I thought I was going to win, maybe I was kind of relaxed. But he's a great player. He's been improving so much lately. He's going to be a tough player to beat. But on clay, I think my chances are better because I'm playing well right now. I don't know how it's going to go, but I better be careful with him because he's a great player and will be tough to beat him tomorrow.

CARLOS MOYA: He's a lefty. That's dangerous, you know. He has a good serve. Also his backhand is great. I used to play against my opponent backhand, but his backhand is pretty good. He moves well. He's hitting hard. I don't know how he plays on clay. I never saw him before. I'm just going to try to play my game and try to beat him. If I'm not able to play my game, I'm going to try to change it. At the beginning, I'll try to play as I used to play, see how it goes.

CARLOS MOYA: I don't know. It happens. If I knew, it wouldn't be like that. With me, I always say that everything's possible. I can start out like that and then I can come back, you know, I'm able to come back. Sometimes, like yesterday, I was 3-1 up, suddenly I was 6-3, 1-Love with a break down. I don't know what's wrong with me, but it happens like this. Maybe my concentration is not perfect. I have to mature a little bit more. I don't know. I don't know what's wrong. I always had these problems, you know, that suddenly I give up like a few games or something like that.

CARLOS MOYA: Yeah, maybe that's why at the beginning I was not moving that well. Took time for me to warm up. I was a little bit tired from yesterday. I had a tough match. Finished around 10. I didn't have much time to recover. But after those games, I start to play better and better. Now I can say I'm fresh, I don't have any problem, any physical problem, only my finger. But I hope I'm going to feel even better tomorrow.