US OPEN

August 28, 2003

Todd Martin

TODD MARTIN: Ultimately, yes. I wasn't confident that I'd be overcoming those in the tiebreak. I was starting to think about a fifth-set tiebreak. But I knew I had my chances. That's one good thing about going down early in a tiebreak as opposed to late, you got more chances to get that one opportunity that you need.

TODD MARTIN: As confident as I was walking out on the court and as confident as I was up two sets to love and two sets to one and whatever. I felt like I could win the match, and I felt that without being presumptious, I felt like I would win the match. When you're down 5-2 in the tiebreak, against Martin Verkerk, and he's hitting 135-mile-an-hour serves and hitting every line, there's basically nothing that I can do at that point because he's got me. But as it turns out, he missed a shot in order for me to get back into it. I played a fairly good point to get back into it. But, ultimately, it was his error.

TODD MARTIN: You guys were seeing him for the first time.

TODD MARTIN: And the people in the stands were seeing him for the first time.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I had watched him play, I think it was only the 2002 Tennis Masters tournament in Miami. You know, he's a better player, much better player today than he was then. I had no idea that he had quite as much fire power on his service as he does. After the serve, he does just fine, too.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I think, one, it's just easy to keep my focus on that court. There is -- you know, when we talk about movement and the crowd and noise and all these things and, boy, we need silence and stuff like this, we don't need silence and we don't need stillness. But if there is noise and if there is movement, it's better if everybody is loud, it's better if everybody is moving. That's sort of how it feels. That's almost easier than silence.

TODD MARTIN: Yeah, yeah.

TODD MARTIN: Well, when there were 15 total in the stadium when we walked out, and there were 14 of them, it was pretty easy to hear them. Recently, the last couple years, we've had great support from, I assume this is the same group of guys. You know, I'd hate to have it against me.

TODD MARTIN: If you say it is.

TODD MARTIN: You know, I'm sort of in a constant statement of reassessment. Whether I do well or don't do well here, it's on my mind. But I'm also enjoying myself a bunch, and focusing on playing my tennis right now.

TODD MARTIN: Not at all.

TODD MARTIN: I think one match that certainly didn't stick out in anybody else's mind or wouldn't stick out in anybody else's mind was I think I might have played the first men's match on this court against Jim in the first round of '97, which was the year I had elbow surgery. It was my first match back from elbow surgery. It was the first time I beat him. I was down a set and a break. I felt like as far as needing a boost, there was nothing much like that one.

TODD MARTIN: Oh, my goodness. Flip a coin between -- well, flip a three-sided coin between Rusedski, Moya, and Agassi.

TODD MARTIN: Honestly, that was probably why I was still so confident. You know, the first two sets I thought he played poorly. I would imagine that he'd come in here and tell you the same. But, you get through a few service games, he had gotten down a break early in the first two sets. He did a very good job of starting the third set with some energy and sustaining that, obviously starting to serve better. But I really felt like he served as well as he could for those two sets. You know, I still had at least one breakpoint in those two sets - maybe a couple. I was still holding my serve. I felt like due to the way we play, I had to do more than just serve; whereas oftentimes, he was getting through his games by hitting it right through me.

TODD MARTIN: I was thinking maybe matchpoint for Mary Pierce in the second set, we would be going on. But, you know, it's understood that matches don't always take the course that you expect them to. There's plenty to do and more food to eat, so...

TODD MARTIN: Kept on watching that match, tried to find a closed circuit TV that was covering Hewitt and Lee because I didn't want to watch that match. Sort of did my best at twiddling my thumbs.

TODD MARTIN: I didn't notice any antics. I noticed he -- I was one of the witnesses or spectators of his run in Paris. The way he conducted his business, I thought, was terrific. He was showing what he was feeling and playing the way he was feeling, and that's -- I think that's as natural as a tennis player can be. I know today he started to get more excited as the match went along, and, you know, that's good. That's what we're out here to do. We're out here to compete. That's part of competing. That's part of the game.

TODD MARTIN: Well, he's got a tremendous upside. I don't think you have to wonder about whether he's gonna make a final or not or win a Grand Slam to discuss how good of a player he's potentially gonna be. But you have to understand that you have to win six best-of-five-set matches over the course of a week and a half, two weeks, in order to get to a final. That's not necessarily gonna happen every year or every time you play a Grand Slam. So he could, and he could not.

TODD MARTIN: I don't know if experience has a whole lot to do with it. I mean, we play tennis every week. Specifically to this court, I think experience helps in general because hopefully I know a little bit more about the game than the next guy. But the fact that it's our national championships and that it's in New York, that New York's got the most amount of energy of any city in the world, and there's some substantial patriotism floating around these grounds I think helps a lot.

TODD MARTIN: Not really. I'm younger than you, though (smiling).

TODD MARTIN: I'm sorry. He's won one match since?

TODD MARTIN: Well, I think you have to look at surface. He won six out of his last seven matches on clay. I imagine he probably played a little bit on the clay this summer. But right after that, he's taken off of his favorite surface and put on probably what I would assume is his least favorite, and then eventually coming over here and probably hasn't had all that much experience on the hard courts. It's difficult. It's difficult. He's a different player. It's a lot different when every single guy out here is ready to play him.

TODD MARTIN: Well, listen, if you serve as well as he does, you should play well in quicksand, you should play well anywhere. But if he plays like he did in the first two sets, he's not gonna win many matches because there are enough guys out here who can fight enough serves off to give him -- I mean, he missed a lot of balls that I never would have dreamt him missing in Paris. And it's not because of the type of ground under his feet. He just was off of his game. I think in the third and fourth sets, you saw how good of a player he is. I'm sure momentarily, he regained a lot of that confidence.

TODD MARTIN: I'm pleased. I'm probably healthier than I've been in a while, but not for good reasons. It's more just because I haven't won enough matches to tire myself out and break myself down. But hopefully I'll break myself down this week.

TODD MARTIN: Amer grew up where I live. He's a tremendous talent. He's got a lot of the tools that are necessary to succeed out here. You know, it's just a matter of time before he is successful, I believe. I think that success will come whether he decides to go back to college or if he decides to turn pro and do it full-time. I think he's got a good head on his shoulders, and, like I said, all the talent in the world, so... And look at the guys he's competed with this summer. They're not second-rate players by any means.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I hope you don't waste enough time on me to worry whether you should be surprised or not.

TODD MARTIN: But I wouldn't be surprised.

TODD MARTIN: You know, I'm not sure if that's the proper number to make that comparison. I know what it was like when I was trying to beat 200, and, boy, I wouldn't have been able to have a sniff at the guys who are -- or some of the guys who are 200 now. But, you know, all the younger players learned with the modern technology and I think they've learned how to swing violently at the ball, repetitively. Whereas those of us who are older learned with wood and small racquets, and we're focused on making contact with the ball. So I think it does make the game easier to play. But it certainly doesn't diminish the talent that's out here, because I can't imagine -- I can't imagine swinging the racquet as hard as some of these guys do once, much less 150 times every day or 500 times, whatever, how many ever times you swing.