US OPEN

September 9, 2000

Todd Martin

TODD MARTIN: Well, he played the big points better than me and he played the little points better than me. You know, the score is 3, 6 and 6. I was fighting an uphill battle the whole way. Even up a set point in the second set, I still feel like he's so on his game that it's tough to handle. But, you know, I had plenty of opportunities in the first set. You know, I was up 15-30, 15-40 a couple times. At that point in time, his first serve wasn't very consistent. You know, I backed off a couple times, he made a couple good shots also. You know, I was coming in every point I could, and it was purely out of defense. I had to attack in order not to get smothered.

TODD MARTIN: Well, actually I've been here for three weeks. I will look back at this tournament and feel like I got my money's worth. It's like renting a car. The new plan to have is, "Do you want to return it empty?" I'm going back to the airport empty.

TODD MARTIN: Well, you know, I've practiced with him. It's impressive to me that somebody can ignore what the environment is, what the situation is so well. You know, other guys, like Pete is very good when push comes to shove. But you can tell that he knows that push is coming to shove - not necessarily the knowledge of it, but he's aware, and he's focused on the fact that push has come to shove. With Marat, you know, he plays the first point of the match as loose as the last point of the match, breakpoints as loose as he plays 40-Love points. You know, you go out and practice with somebody, and everybody plays that way. Everybody basically hits a serve, takes a swing at a couple balls, and it's great. When we get into matches, that's when we see who's really -- who are really the tennis players and who are just those who hit the tennis ball. You know, so many opportunities that I had. I actually made good plays. It seemed as though he was laughing at me.

TODD MARTIN: I don't think it's ignorance. I think he's able to ignore. I don't know if you can understand the separation I'm trying to make there. He's able to ignore that importance, the weight of that point, or he just executes under pressure better than most guys.

TODD MARTIN: I don't think many very good players do. I think the guys who have that are simply guys who are knuckleheads and don't play well. But Marat, for as disappointed and dejected as he looks on the court at times, at least today, he was a hundred percent there. I know he taps out completely sometimes and goes away. There wasn't a bit of that today, despite being extremely upset at times. "All right, next point, things are fine."

TODD MARTIN: What I've been saying all week about, you know, showing some emotion and putting some effort in, it's the US Open, and it's US Open semifinals today. If he can tap out in that environment, if he can let himself, then he has no idea what's going on. And I didn't expect that. But, however, I was trying to capitalize on those periods of time where he was upset. It just so happened that those periods of time were relatively brief.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I know Pete's got a lot more on his serve than I do, but I was very impressed with the way he returned first serve. You know, unless Pete has a burner today, he's going to be more fresh than I was. I think against Marat, you have to really come and be on. You not only have to be focused and play the points the right way, but you need to also hit the shots, execute the shots. I think I played a pretty good match as far as the way I played, as far as what I chose to do, as far as when I chose to do those things. I didn't play the greatest match as far as, you know, making a number of first serves that I needed to or, you know, coming up with a clutch volley here and there when I needed to, you know, scraping one more ball back, you know, hitting a couple passing shots. I think either one of the guys who Marat will play tomorrow will certainly have a greater ability to execute. Whether they do the right things at the right time is another story. But I actually think against Marat, you need to do both. You need to bring everything you've got, mind and body.

TODD MARTIN: Well, you know, I think the game's pretty simple for him. Today he was able to hit winners with shots that weren't going for winners. If he understood that that pretty much is good enough every day of the week, he would have no problem with a lot of guys. But, like I said, I think the fact what Lleyton does and what Pete does, what they both do well, will concern him. I think there will be a greater propensity on his part to overhit. Today, that wasn't really there. He saw molasses across the street, wasn't too worried about it.

TODD MARTIN: Well, my comment, that comment in particular, was meant towards being able to return his serve. That's the one thing I think I did so much better than I was expecting to. I got a lot of good first serves back, some first serves I returned very well. I was expecting to, you know, be ducking out of the way of balls. It just so happened coming up with those returns and defending the first serve pretty well wasn't enough because, you know, even off the good returns I hit, he didn't seem too fazed by it. After a couple groundstrokes, he was more or less in charge of the point.

TODD MARTIN: I was pretty impressed with his discipline as far as playing from the back court. Once again, I don't know how much that is due to not being so threatened by my groundstrokes as he is against maybe some other guys. But, you know, I thought he went down the line well, and at good times, not just swing at the ball and see if it goes in type of swings. That's why I said what I did about him being able to hit, you know, just a pretty strong groundstroke and have it be a winner. He was hitting it to the right part of the court and hitting it accurately.

TODD MARTIN: Well, the five-set match (raising eyebrows) --.

TODD MARTIN: The only effects I feel are from Tuesday, and maybe a little bit the fact that, you know, Tuesday night I went to bed -- Wednesday night I went to bed at 4:45. Friday morning I went to bed at 2:00, 2:30. You know, it's just tough to change the clock back around. That's a little bit difficult. I felt well enough to play. I actually felt better than I did Thursday night at the beginning. However, my body -- his game, yeah, his game and the match wore me out a little bit both mentally and physically.

TODD MARTIN: No. I thought it was a little premature. I mean, he'd given me I guess they call it a soft warning. He said, "You're slowing down a little bit." I said, "Good." That means I was thinking and doing the right things. Marat thrives on rhythm and just being able, you know, to get up there, toss the ball up, whack. When I'm serving, get up there, whack. But then, you know, getting the warning, one, it's no big deal. It was a little bit in my mind a couple times just being cautious, not to get the point penalty at an inopportune time. You know, he's doing his job. I think it was a bit premature because that was really one of the first times where I took significant time. But then again, it was, one, a long point; two, we're sweating profusely, I needed to dry off; and, three, the crowd's getting into it a little bit, too. You know, if I was a couple seconds over, I think that's fine. But it's a judgment call. I can't argue with it.

TODD MARTIN: It's just another tournament, you know.

TODD MARTIN: Well, you know, results are so overrated. I don't know how to stress it. It just doesn't matter. You know, if I would have come here and played a great match against Vince Spadea in the first round and lost, I would have been disappointed because I wasn't around, I didn't get an opportunity to play as much as I wanted to. But, you know, if I go out and play a great match, so be it, the other guy's better. It just so happened that I played six pretty darn good matches this year. On that sixth match, I just wasn't as good as the other guy. Shake his hand, tell him, "Good luck," get the hell off the court. It's an experience.

TODD MARTIN: Absolutely not. Every time I walk on the court, I want to win - I want to win, I'm out there trying to win. You know what? I can't win every time. You know, it's just like, gee, you go out and ask a girl out. Well, let's see, she can say yes, she can say no. I never learned that. That's why it took me about two months to ask my fiancee out. I at least learned it in tennis, okay? It doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. If you go out, you give your best, you come back, you look yourself in the mirror and say, "Gee, you know what, put it on the line, challenged yourself, challenged the other player, so what if you shook the other guy's hand with not the greatest smile on your face." There's so many experiences within the process of getting from point A to point B, that point P, it doesn't matter.

TODD MARTIN: Does it matter?

TODD MARTIN: It's nice. It's nice. It's not going to make me feel any different about my tournament. I feel great. I feel absolutely terrific about how I performed and how I handled every bit of adversity or positive occurrence during the last two weeks. To have people know or to have witnessed or to have enjoyed what I did against Carlos is nice. That's sort of like the cherry on top.

TODD MARTIN: I'm not completely prepared to disclose that.

TODD MARTIN: Sure, sure.

TODD MARTIN: Wait one second. I know you're a serious guy, but my personal life is serious, too. A physical therapist I worked with, and still do a little work with, she used to baby-sit for his kids. He came with me a couple years ago to the tournament here. Just in the training week before the tournament, my coach, my physical therapist and I went out to dinner, and he invited her. She was working in Manhattan at the time.

TODD MARTIN: It's been denied, but it's also been accused.

TODD MARTIN: One, I've played him in doubles. With a guy like Marat, with that big of a serve, you get to know a little bit of his tendencies with his serve just in the doubles match. That was a little bit helpful. Two, I've practiced with him. Three, the guy is doing so well, I get to watch him on TV a fair bit. You know, you learn quite a bit about a guy just watching him. I felt like, having played against him before, I don't think it would have made much of a difference.

TODD MARTIN: I'm sorry, what was the question?

TODD MARTIN: Will I compare?

TODD MARTIN: Well, I think Yevgeny is pretty well-equipped physically and technically. When he wants to play and really think his way through the match, I think he's probably the second toughest guy for me to play, and therefore I think he's the second best player in the world. With Marat, I think he's so well-equipped physically and technically that he just has to go out and try physically sometimes to get through matches, where I think Yevgeny a lot of the times has to try physically and mentally. With as much as he plays, I don't believe he's capable of that all the time. You know, Marat proves that sometimes, too, but I think -- I also think that Marat's got better nerve and eventually will be a better tennis player than Yevgeny.

TODD MARTIN: I'm getting married.

TODD MARTIN: I'm going to golf a little bit and I'm not going to play any tennis.

TODD MARTIN: Yes.