WIMBLEDON

June 25, 2003

Todd Martin

TODD MARTIN: He's got a great serve. I think, you know, we sort of take for granted the guys who do best on clay. You know, they either serve okay or not okay. But, boy, he's got a huge serve. I was fortunate today. I don't think he served as well as he could have - at least in spots he gave me a lot of opportunities at second serves. I, frankly, didn't do very well with them for quite a while. But, you know, here and there in the second and third set, it was a little bit better.

TODD MARTIN: Felt great. I have been serving pretty well the few days I practiced before. My first two matches, I think I had four or five double-faults in the first two or three games, and from there my serve started picking up.

TODD MARTIN: I expect to walk out on the court on Friday and hopefully equip myself as well as I have so far.

TODD MARTIN: Well, my level's better than when I've done best here. Unfortunately, week in and week out, there are a lot of guys who are playing at a higher level than that. I think when I'm sharp, I can compete with anybody - especially here. Just a matter of making sure I'm sharp on the day.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I think you saw last year that in some ways more than 30 guys are capable of winning here. I don't think anybody would have expected David to be in the final. You get to the final, you're capable of winning. But, you know, in the prognostication world, I think 30 might even be high. I think in reality there's probably, you know, come the day after tomorrow, 32 guys that can win.

TODD MARTIN: From what I hear, about 149.

TODD MARTIN: These two fellas both have very good technique and near flawless timing on their serve. Those two components allow you to go pretty hard. I would imagine we haven't seen the max, but we're awfully close. I think you'll see that the returners will continue to catch up to the servers as time goes by.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I don't think there should be limits. If somebody, you know, can do something that nobody else can, more power to 'em. I think, you know, 20 years ago, if we would have had a little foresight, we would have limited the size of the racquets, maybe a couple other things. But, you know, this is the way the game's played. And I think it's still a great sport.

TODD MARTIN: Well, actually probably somewhere between 130 and 135, but probably closer to 130.

TODD MARTIN: For me, if it says 130, then I'm probably not serving well from the standpoint of I'm trying to hit it too hard. I would rather hit it 110 and hit it right where I want to hit it than hit it 125, 130 and not hit it where I want to hit it. Inevitably I might hit one or two serves right where I want to at 130, but inevitably the consistency and accuracy are going to deteriorate.

TODD MARTIN: Yeah. It probably means I'm overhitting it. Sometimes the gun is just, you know... The day before yesterday, I hit some good serves and it said 98. So I was pretty confident. I've been lifting a little bit. It was going faster than that.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I've only had one cast on in my entire life, and that was only for a couple weeks. But, you know, I've been injured plenty. If you look through my career, I had seven months in '97 that I was injured and out of competition, and then other than that maybe cumulatively six to nine months - which is not a lot for a 13-year career, to have had only one truly significant injury, maybe one other that would inhibit me for any period of time. I've been very fortunate.

TODD MARTIN: Well, we're certainly aware of the issues. The numbers I think are always news to us. We get them quite a bit later than the media does. I think, one, the USTA does a great job of taking the sport to more people year in and year out. But there are obviously shortcomings in the way the sport -- there aren't enough people that are getting attached. By saying "attached," I mean they get a chance at it, and then they keep on playing. And I think that's our big -- that's where the catch is. We need to be able to retain the players once they start. You know, there have been so many initiatives, you know, free lessons for a month. But what's there to grab 'em? You know, I think part of that is our responsibility, and part of that is the clubs and parks of our country to have legitimate programming to retain players who want to keep playing.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I think most of you are probably here for a different reason than to talk about my tennis. But I think this is a perfect example of why it's time for the Grand Slams to put into the promotion of the game a little bit more so that a Verkerk-Ferrero final is not only attractive in Spain, Holland and France, but also in the States and Australia and England and wherever else. Like James said about Wimbledon, there are maybe 30 guys who have a legitimate chance of winning. Well, there's probably even more than that everywhere else. You know, it's disappointing to know that a great tournament by two players, especially, doesn't get the acclaim that it deserves.

TODD MARTIN: I'm not the marketing specialist.

TODD MARTIN: I think you get them on TV more. When we go to the States this summer, sell Martin Verkerk, sell Juan Carlos Ferrero. There's a good chance when they get to The Open, they're contenders. Get these guys' faces out into the public more, there will be more reason to stay tuned when the channel gets to USA Network in August.

TODD MARTIN: No. We're very confident that the negotiations that we're embarking on will go well enough to not warrant the use of a contingency plan. And if it does, then it will be because of a failure on probably both sides to be responsive to the other.

TODD MARTIN: Well, the word "boycott" shouldn't be in the air, first of all. But that being said, the players feel very strongly that the Grand Slams need to do their fair share for the professional game - and that does not just mean prize money, that does not just mean promotions, but it means the whole kitten-kaboodle. The numbers don't lie. It's the percentage of revenues they put back into the professional game, it's not as high as we believe it should be. We're trying to encourage them to redistribute their budget so that it helps develop the professional game because, like I answered before, the professional game is a huge part of the retention of players, of the fans, the people who have interest in the sport. That's really where we fall short in the States, but I think worldwide, as well.