US OPEN

September 6, 1998

Carlos Moya

Q. You seem to like long matches.

CARLOS MOYA: Yeah, looks like. I rather win easier way. But, you know, if I have to win 7-6 in the fifth, having match points for him, I don't care. As long as I'm winning, I've got a lot of confidence with these two victories. I hope I'm going to do it better next round.

CARLOS MOYA: Well, it was really tough, difficult to play with these windy conditions. Maybe it looked like not windy from outside. But when you were in the court, you know, it was really tough to play. Yeah, it's changing direction. One time you have it that way, and then is in the back, you know. Also, he's playing really well, he's hitting so hard. It was really tough to play. But, you know, as I said before, as long as I'm winning, I don't care what's going on.

CARLOS MOYA: The wind?

CARLOS MOYA: The win, okay. Yeah, it gave me a lot of confidence. Even I was two sets to one down, I was fighting. I knew every time he was serving, I had good chances to break him, but I didn't do it. So I just thought that I have to keep doing, keep trying. Sooner or later I'm going to break him. It all came because of that win against Chang, you know. I didn't play that well lately. So it gave me a lot of confidence. I'm even not playing really well, as I didn't do it today. I won, which is the most important thing.

CARLOS MOYA: Well, try to return, his serve is not easy.

CARLOS MOYA: Well, I think he's serving pretty well. He's one of the best servers on the Tour. He's doing so many aces, you know, every match. Maybe today he didn't serve that well, but I cannot say I didn't return that well. I made like, I don't know how many breaks, four, five, six. I also did so many against Chang, six. I think of course I'm having trouble to return the serve. The surface is really fast. It's not easy to return, but I'm doing my best. By now I'm still surviving.

CARLOS MOYA: Now it's fine. When I fell down, it was hurting me a little bit, my ankle, and here, the right muscle here (indicating). Now is the one which is hurting me the most. The ankle is not that bad. But, you know, I hope is going to get better for tomorrow.

CARLOS MOYA: Perfect, fresh (laughter). I have to be honest. I was feeling really bad after the Chang match, because was so many long rallies, pressure. Here today, it was five sets, but it was not even three hours long, the match. There was no rhythm, windy. I didn't even change my polo. So, of course I'm tired, but I think I'm going to feel better tomorrow. I'm going to sleep a little bit tonight and hopefully tomorrow I feel better. But now I'm worried about this muscle here (indicating). I hope tomorrow is going to feel better.

CARLOS MOYA: Well, usually when I was not playing my best, I was losing every time. So that means something change. I cannot say. Against Puerta I didn't play that well, but I won that match. Against Chang, last three sets, I played really well. And today, you know, the conditions were not easy to play. I was not feeling the ball that well. But I'm still winning. For sure, if the ball is great and everything is perfect, I think I'm going to play good tennis. But what is more important now, I have a lot of confidence after these two victories. We'll see what happen next round.

CARLOS MOYA: Well, they're playing here.

CARLOS MOYA: Both are very dangerous players. Corretja is really fit right now, he's a lot of confidence. Same happens to him, even he's not playing that well, he's always winning. That's important. He won like seven, eight matches in a row. He's playing really well. Black is a very dangerous player, not that consistent. But, you know, if he has a good day, he can beat anyone. So I just going to sit and wait for my opponent, you know. I have to care about myself. If I play a good match, I think I have good chances to win. So I have to care about how I'm doing.

CARLOS MOYA: I don't know. It's when I fell down, I tried to get up as soon as possible. You know, I don't know. The trainer said is nothing really bad. But I hope it won't be worse tomorrow. I'll be ready to do five sets again.

CARLOS MOYA: Passing shots what?

CARLOS MOYA: It was not that. It's just that today, I was not doing my best. I was not playing that well. I had no confidence. It's not the same like against Chang. Against Chang you play from baseline, you have to finish the point, so you have to go to net. Against Gambill, you can play from baseline. He's making mistakes. You know, he's not like Chang. Today I didn't need to go that much to the net. I was also not very confident. Maybe that explain why I didn't go so often.