US OPEN

September 7, 1998

Todd Woodbridge

Mark Woodforde

Q. What happened, guys, in the third set?

MARK WOODFORDE: They played really well. They served well. Sandon served very well the whole match. We didn't really get a chance until when he served for the second set. We had a couple breakpoints. But he came up with the goods. Then Cyril started serving pretty well. Usually, you can get a chance on his serve. But he served exceptionally well today. Didn't hold back. We probably didn't make the shots that we would have liked. Sometimes it doesn't work out. It was a pretty good match other than that, I thought.

MARK WOODFORDE: Well, I think today they played very, very well. I don't think we were entirely happy with the way that we played. I mean, we can play a whole lot better than that. I think they can play days like that, but they haven't really put it on the line the whole tournament. You know, they're a dangerous pair. That was the first time they beat us?

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Yeah. For them to do well, Cyril has to serve pretty well. He served well today. We kind of let him -- he got that break in the second -- let them kind of get a bit settled. I think Sandy played very well, I thought. He was probably the most solid player on the court.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: We'll have to serve better, probably both of us. Our serve percentage was way low.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Not a high enough percentage, mine especially, with the drop serve. I think a couple of games there, we got through tough games, missed a lot of firsts. I think that's one of the things we -- if we would have served another 10, 12% better in that match, we probably would have got out of it, at least through to a tiebreak in the third. Would have had more pressure on their return games. We were struggling to hold. It was always -- it's always good if you can hold quickly, then put pressure on the return, then they feel under pressure the whole time. We weren't making them feel enough pressure.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: We have the European indoor section, Davis Cup, tournaments in Asia. Still plenty of tournaments left for this year.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Yeah, I would imagine so. At this stage, that's our plan.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: It's hard to say. Possibly. My job -- I've just really been concentrating hard on getting out on the court, working hard, putting a lot of good effort in. That's all I could ask from myself. I'm pleased with the effort that I've given. I didn't play as well the past few weeks as I would have liked. That could be from a number of reasons really. But I gave, you know, my best performance that I could give.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I don't feel it from home.

MARK WOODFORDE: No.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: We have our own expectations on our own performances and our own goals. That's why you become a player, why you continue to try to improve as a player, and aim for more -- in our case, aim for more achievements. Same for the younger guys. I think you learn that a little bit more as you get older. I know for me when I was younger, you struggled with that, and maybe Scud may struggles with that at the moment. You learn you can only do what you can do and not what everybody else wants you to do.

MARK WOODFORDE: That's part and parcel of the game. I think when someone plays, leads the way in standard, like I think probably we have over a number of years, it's inevitable. If they want to win, they've got to be able to come out and beat us. I mean, there's not too many times when we give a match to anyone. You know, Sandon is a bright guy. You know, he had a very bright father as a champion tennis player. He knows a lot about doubles.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: You see a lot of people play now. That's probably good. It means the standard has improved against, picked up.

MARK WOODFORDE: That's why, after Wimbledon, we need to reassess where we're going, set our goals to the end of, say, 2000, or the immediate goal for the rest of this year, next year, then the ends of 2000. I mean, we have our high expectations, high standards. We have to keep them up, otherwise you start sort of just shuffling down in the pack. It's good because it keeps us working, not sitting on our laurels.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: First time in six years or so. So it's not good. I guess that happens.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Definitely I think the Championships of the Championships is Wimbledon, where you go through a match like we had in the final, and even the quarterfinal this year. That's where everything gets tested to its utmost. In some ways, yes. I think we'd like to see it, at least from the quarters, go to five. If they have trouble with whatever their reasons are, it's not like there's not enough courts or enough time. You know, to add to the importance of the event, I think it would be good to do that, like Australia does. Otherwise, they're just trying to get it over early, they don't really care. That's not the way that the people of the game should run the game, if they want to promote it to its best. Certainly a final like Wimbledon was promoting that game to its best.

MARK WOODFORDE: We were beaten by the best team they could put up.

MARK WOODFORDE: I think if you start worrying about their team and what they're doing --

TODD WOODBRIDGE: We have to do our job, win our next match.

MARK WOODFORDE: We don't want to lose against Uzbekistan. If we worry about what the Americans are doing, just because it's not in Agassi's backyard or Sampras is too tired from winning here, whatever. It's like mind games. We've got a job to do. The next one is going to be -- hopefully it's going to turn in our favor. You just get down there and do the job, get into the World Group next year, try to start beating some of those countries.

MARK WOODFORDE: They have their reasons. Someone like Chang wants to probably forego Davis Cup to try and get back on track. Well, they should have another pool of players to choose from. Probably Mark's option was to try and really lift his ranking up. Everyone has their reasons.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: It doesn't disappoint us. The only thing is they lose a chance at a good experience because some of the best matches and best experiences that you have are by playing that event. Some of your greatest matches.

MARK WOODFORDE: For the two of us, I'm happy that my partner is committed to it.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: There's nothing better than playing a match in Australia where you win. That's part of the reason, for me, I started to play tennis, was for that, to do that, to get that feeling. But for them, they obviously don't have the same goals.

MARK WOODFORDE: And the luxury of winning it a few times.

MARK WOODFORDE: I don't know. For me there's not one particular team that drives me absolutely crazy. The one team that probably we have good matches with and who push us and we push them is Jacco and Paul. I think that's how we gauge the way we play and how our year goes. When it's those, us, and them. They don't send shivers down my spine, the thought of playing Jacco and Paul. I'm wanting to play them because I want to see how I'm playing and how we're playing. It would be nice if there were other teams out there that could make you a bit more focused on trying to improve and lift the standard up.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I agree.

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