NASDAQ-100 OPEN

March 20, 2002

Todd Martin

TODD MARTIN: I wouldn't necessarily say it was technical. I would say more or less it was rhythmical. And I guess you can argue that that's technical. But I believe I was overhitting the serve in the first set, and I didn't figure that out until I sort of rolled my arm over and hit a good serve and hit it just as fast as I had been hitting it in the first set. So, I do have a tendency to do that. But it's usually not the first thing I look at when I'm struggling with my serve.

TODD MARTIN: He gave me one opening. Love-40 point, he missed his first serve. It's not a gaping hole, but it's -- it is an opportunity. He missed his first serve at 30-40 also. But the point at Love-40, it was one of his few conservative second serves, along with it being a conservative second serve he stayed back, which he hadn't been doing much. I just flaked out on the shot. It's pretty disheartening to know that that one opportunity that you might get, and I probably had an average of about one good opportunity per set, it's pretty disheartening when that one goes away, especially in a situation where in that game he had made a couple errors. You know, him staying back was an opportunity for me right off the bat. So retrospectively, I wish I would have granted the ball back into the center of the court and seen what happened from there, but can't make that decision so quickly.

TODD MARTIN: No. I hit a pretty pathetic second serve. And, you know, the difference between -- in some ways I could have very easily lost that third-set breaker. The difference between the second-set breaker and the third-set breaker was when I got the lead in the second-set breaker I continued to press. Or I should say put the pressure on him. And in the third set, at 6-5, I didn't execute a great first serve, then the second serve I certainly made sure that I wasn't going to double-fault; let me just put it that way.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I didn't feel all that great tonight. I felt much more comfortable in the last three tournaments I've played. But I did -- I did move well when I needed to, and I moved progressively better throughout the course of the match, which is encouraging. It's been a while since I've been as strong as I am now, and that's a large part of the reason for my recent success. And, you know, my joints probably aren't in as good as shape as they once were, but my muscles are better. So, hopefully I can continue that and have muscles make up for the joints.

TODD MARTIN: I've lost a little bit of weight since the US Open. That, no doubt, has benefitted me in spades.

TODD MARTIN: It was not a conscious effort to do it in order to have my knees feel better or what have you. It was a matter of somebody very important to my career suggested that I was overweight. I had never even given it a thought, honestly. I don't feel like I've ever been overweight. I don't feel like I've ever been that out of shape. But I had enough on-court reinforcement to that statement to, at least, challenge myself to do some things differently. And very minor changes were -- that were consistent were able to alter the way I feel, the way I look, and, subsequently, the way I play tennis. I feel a lot more comfortable out on the court.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I've trained harder. And not so much weight training, but more cardiovascular training, which I still can't stand (laughing). You'd think the more I did it, the more I'd get used to it but that's still not the case. And I just -- I monitored my diet probably for the first time in my career - in my life, for that matter. I've always eaten well, so I didn't feel like I had a lot to do. But the more I looked at it, the more I realized that, you know, the portions that I was eating were probably a little bit bigger than they needed to be, and some of the foods I was eating probably weren't great for me.

TODD MARTIN: Juan Carlos Ferrero? Is that who I play now?

TODD MARTIN: Well, I guess it's not too early. It's not too early to think about going to bed either, but... Geez, I've never played him. I think the world of his game. But I'm excited about having the opportunity to get out and give him a run for his money.

TODD MARTIN: I've been asked about it, and that's about as much as I've thought about it. I guess my staple answer last week was that, no, I haven't thought about the competition too much. I think there will be plenty of time to think about that after this tournament. But, too, as far as I was asked often about, "Should I be playing singles," and what have you, I don't think Patrick has a bad option out there. And the fact that he has so many options is a very encouraging sign. It's been a while since one of our captains has had as many options as he does. And, frankly, I think all of us can feel good about supporting whatever decision he makes.

TODD MARTIN: I'm not the captain, Charlie.

TODD MARTIN: I would look at all of my options, just like Patrick is.

TODD MARTIN: I don't need assurance. I just don't think that me being the fifth or sixth guy at the end of the week is really in anyone's best interest. I don't think it -- with Patrick, Jim and Pete all there, there's more than a senior voice there. And then by not being on the four-man squad, I think what happens more than anything else is that I take a spot away from another young player who could be in that position and have an opportunity to get a taste of what it's all about - the preparation, the competition, and possibly even have a chance to make his way on to the team.

TODD MARTIN: Well, success never hurts you. However, before Oklahoma City, I played in two tournaments down in Australia and I played very well in both. Patrick got to see a good deal of my tennis down in Melbourne. So I'm sure he was encouraged about the way I was playing down there, and leading up in to Oklahoma City. And I, more or less, I've reinforced that thought in my mind and probably in my teammates' and Patrick's mind. But like I said, whatever Patrick chooses to do, he can't make a bad decision, and I don't think he has in the past. So I'm excited to find out who's going to play, and excited to figure out if I'm going to be able to watch on TV or if I'm going to be in a front-row seat or getting firsthand knowledge of how good the Spaniards are on clay -- on grass -- Whoa. Almost said clay.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I stink down here. I've never once felt sincerely good about the way I've played here, and that's pretty disappointing. Every time that I played one good match, or maybe even two good matches, I followed it up with a stinker. And usually if I can make it past the second round I get to the point where I pretty much know what's going to happen, what am I going to be capable of doing that day. And that's a very reassuring feeling for me. However, here I've never really felt that way. I think one of the reasons are the conditions. It's very windy here. Even at night, it's sort of gusty and swirly. I frankly don't think tennis was meant to be played on an island (laughter), but that's neither here nor there. It's a matter of even when I don't play well and don't feel great, I figure out a way to give myself the best chance to win. And in many ways, this is one of the more - I don't want to say rewarding - but this match made me feel very good tonight to know that I got off to such a slow start against a guy who I never really impressed myself upon him, and somehow squeaked out a victory.