AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 23, 2001

Todd Martin

TODD MARTIN: No.

TODD MARTIN: I mean, I was beaten today. I certainly didn't lose. I didn't play nearly as well as I had hoped. Most of that is due to the way Andre played.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I think the matches speak for themselves. However, you know, I think a lot of it has to do with Pete being a little bit out of practice, only having played one tournament before this since New York. I think Andre is very much in form. They're such different players, you know, a lot of it has to do with maybe what I'm doing well here, what I've been doing well here, matched up better against Pete than it did against Andre.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I think his level of play today was close to the highest it's been against me. I think, you know, there was a possibility to make it a little bit more difficult for him had I executed or played a little bit better at certain crucial points of especially the first set, but even the second set also. Andre thrives on confidence, and he's got plenty of it. Once it's a set and a break for him, you saw how well he played, even despite being down a break in the third. I really don't feel like that threw too much of a scare his way.

TODD MARTIN: Well, tough to beat for me. But if you look through the draw, I'm really the odd ball of the group. You know, Pat serves and volleys, but he serves and volleys with a much different style. Hrbaty wails away on every ball. Clement is a prototypical counter-puncher. Grosjean is a cross between Hrbaty and Clement. Moya, you know, has got a little bit of everything. Kafelnikov has a little bit of everything. I think that's everybody. I think a lot of those guys, since they have a pair of feet for assets, compared to maybe, you know, a big serve and good returns, powerful returns for assets, I think that might match up a little bit better against Andre. I hit the ball very well at times today, and that didn't faze him. I think a situation where he gets maybe out-maneuvered our somebody can beat his ball to the spot a little bit better than I can - or than I did today - I think that might throw a little more concern his way.

TODD MARTIN: I'm not allowed to gamble on tennis, so I can't do that.

TODD MARTIN: There wouldn't be a point where I'd have to (laughter).

TODD MARTIN: I think that's the nature of tennis. Tennis is a movement-dominated sport. When I play well, that's what wins matches for me. You know, I've got a lot of other things that help. It's the least obvious for people watching because I never look fast, I never look really anything more than slow, but sometimes I might look very slow. That's the key. You know, there's combinations, but if you look at Rusedski, I mean, Rusedski moves very well. That's one of the big keys to why he wins. Pete is, you know, an athlete among a bunch of I don't know what. You look at today. Andre hit the ball great. But the only way he can hit the ball that well is by moving. I've never really given much credence to the argument that tennis is a serve-dominated sport. The serve is very important. The return is very important. I certainly would not categorize these courts as slow. I think they're more than fair enough for somebody who plays my style or Pete's style or Patrick's style. It just so happens that more and more each year, we've got a bunch of guys, and you can look at last year's race to prove it, more and more we have guys who hit the ball just remarkably well. A lot of that has to do with their movement. I think it's a pity that the world is not developing some more players who play like some of the others of us. But maybe, you know, some of the guys who hit the ball so well from the back court will develop into people who can approach the net and do a little bit more in the front court.

TODD MARTIN: You know, my state of mind is very happy to be doing what I'm doing, how I'm doing it. You know, through my career I've had a couple of injuries, one in particular that gave me a considerable amount of time off, and it allowed me to reflect on what I do and how I do it, how long I want to do it for, how I'd like to tinker with it. But it's always beenn sort of mandated by injury. This time I made a conscious decision to give myself a little bit of a refresher, a little bit of a refreshing period of time to do some other things, getting married being one of them. I realize more and more every day, every week and every year that I really love this sport, and I love to compete at it. Despite, you know, getting my clock cleaned every once in a while, it feels awfully good to be here and to do what I do. Sometimes I walk off the court and I wonder if I'm not kidding myself. You know -- long story short, long story longer -- I want to keep playing, and I will keep playing as long as my wife supports me - well, you know, emotionally - and as long as the game provides me with everything that it has in the past, or as long as I can find things in the game that make me feel the way I do now.

TODD MARTIN: You mean literally a tennis father?

TODD MARTIN: As if this press conference is not long enough already. I would tell him that "You hold the racquet like this, you toss the ball like that, and then anything else goes. Just play it with a smile on your face and do it the way you want to do it."

TODD MARTIN: Despite the way I make the game look, it is a lot more artistic than it is mechanical. I think it's important that we all have a feel for it ourselves. If the kid picks -- picks the racquet up with his left hand, let him swing it with his left hand. If he picks it up with his right hand, let him swing with his right hand. If he picks it up with both hands, swing away. There are some great tennis players out here who were bred to be tennis players or raised to be tennis players. Without taking anything away from them, I think that's not the way I want to do it. If my son or daughter wants to play tennis, they will be supported. If they want dear old dad to help them out with their tennis, I'll be there. I just think that planning any child's future on your own wishes is --.

TODD MARTIN: I like to pull up the soapbox every once in a while. So what did you mean? I'm sorry, Barry.

TODD MARTIN: Well, my reaction to that would be my son or daughter would have a coach other than me for a reason, and I need to respect that. My initial reaction obviously would be, "Hmm, that doesn't sound quite right to me." I'd go speak to the coach and see if my child communicated his message or her message correctly and then have a discussion afterwards.

TODD MARTIN: The primary reason he came down here in the first place was to help out the USTA. I end up reaping a lot of the benefits to that. I don't think it's going to be tough to get him back down here, considering how he's enjoyed himself this year.

TODD MARTIN: If he is -- I answered this question well the other day. If I could pull out the transcript, I'd read it. I'll try to say the same thing. You know, if he's a part of our team as a player, he's exactly that - no more, no less than any of the rest of us. It would be every one of our team members' responsibility to receive him and to support him, if he should be on the court, and his responsibility to do the same for the rest of us.

TODD MARTIN: You know, I'm sure it would have an interesting feel to it, to be on the court in competition with John. Last year I played a lot of doubles with John in practice against various teams, preparing them to play. That, you know, gave me plenty of time to get used to it. But in competition, especially as intense as he is on the court, I think -- and that probably being escalated during competition, would be an interesting experience for me, yeah.

TODD MARTIN: What I think, it would be great to have Andy there. Patrick's got his hands tied a little bit with not having necessarily the luxury to invite guys to give them the experience. You know, there's no obvious four guys that should be a part of this team, and that hurts. However, you know, if you can take six guys and make it four, and everybody be on board with that, then I think that provides you a definite opportunity to have somebody like Andy be a part of the team and possibly even play.

TODD MARTIN: I saw it briefly on the TV. It looked like Mike Morrissey was jumping out to separate them because it looked like they were ready to go. I heard this morning it was a let that was not heard.

TODD MARTIN: I know the point before he was upset about a call. If his reason for giving the point was strictly because he didn't hear the net, I think it's one of the more sportsmanlike things to be done. I hope that was the feeling that he had.