PILOT PEN INTERNATIONAL

August 21, 1998

Todd Woodbridge

Q. You looked very sharp today, I thought.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Big improvement, that is for sure, first time we have played in the day. This summer every other match we have played at night. A lot different conditions. I think the conditions we play better in today. We are working on just trying get a bit better each match. That was a good improvement from our match last time.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Probably as long as he can put up with me.

MARK WOODFORDE: It is not quite like that. I think we sort of set ourselves a goal of trying to play 'til the Sidney 2000 Olympics and then that, I think, will be the ultimate goal for us if we can still play at the very top level up until that stage and then after that, I think I will go away quietly and let Todd finish out his illustrious career. So hopefully we can survive 'til then. We have been playing pretty long time and, you know, so, we would like to make it through 'til then see what we can do.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Probably a little bit of both, but when you are at the top so much, everybody charges at you and what we have had to deal with over the last few years and thinking that we are both fairly proud of ourselves for staying there for so long is that everybody comes out and plays their best tennis at you every time you come out on to the court. There isn't someone -- because they have nothing to lose and they feel like they probably maybe are going to lose anyway, so I am going to try and win it; see if I can come out of the gates swinging and they do. It is generally -- that is the hard part about being at the top is that you have to absorb a lot of great play from people all the time. To stay there you have to get through that. Over time, you are going to come back a little bit, but it is sometimes good to come back a little bit because then you can reassess perhaps where you have been making a few errors and can get better again.

MARK WOODFORDE: I think every tournament we go into we always look at trying to win. That is one of the big tournaments that we play. It is the season-ending tournament for us, you know. I think the way we have played this year, we are trying to set ourselves up to make it through to the end of 2000 and, you know, winning something like this along the way is just going to -- this year hasn't been, you know, what we consider one of our better years, but we have won tournaments and I think we are just trying to redevelop our games a little bit to strengthen up again. That will just top the year off nicely if we can -- obviously by winning here and the US Open and then winning Hartford as well, so, we haven't won the last couple of years really there.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Last year was funny first because we played reasonably well and thought we were pretty much through the real stage of the tournament so the semis after the round Robin we didn't make the semifinal, so that was kind of weird. It will be nice to do a little better this year.

MARK WOODFORDE: For now it is just trying to get through this tournament; then the US Open, like one tournament at a time for us. I don't think we have ever looked too far in advance.

MARK WOODFORDE: Yeah, that is a reasonable goal for myself, and for our partnership, it is still a year and a half away or something like that, so, I am not saying that I am going to play singles -- I'd like to be out and play singles up in that stage as well, but it is something there for me to shoot for. I think if I can keep setting goals for myself, it helps me focus in and continue with, you know, my training on and off the court and trying to still develop my game and become a better player. I think that is, as I said, reasonable goal for myself, and for us as a team. So then I can, you know, hopefully look back and say well, I have gave myself every chance to become a decent player and hopefully be able to say that I have had a great year and great life as a tennis player.

MARK WOODFORDE: No, I don't think age really has, you know, too much to do with it. And I don't think our level has dropped dramatically. Jacco and Paul are always there. We enjoy having them as one of our main opposition because they keep -- I think we keep pushing each other, both teams up to become better teams, and better players. We have had so many years of being at the top, it is nice to be not the hunted team for a period and, you know, just -- I think while I have set a goal for myself, as I said, it is just going to help me keep pushing and pushing and while Todd accepts me as a reasonable partner and be able to play well, that will keep pushing me as well. As soon as he says that I am not playing well, then we will stop. (Laughs)

MARK WOODFORDE: Not yet to me, anyway.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: That is one of things that we have tried to do and it is good now that we have had other teams that are, you know, building that profile too. It helps to have countries, you know, like say like ours the Woodies are Australians, the Indians that are coming up playing well, the Dutch team, that helps building in those countries as well. You wouldn't believe the amount of following in India when we went to India this year and played and we were superstars because how big a superstar the Indian teams were and they knew that we were their biggest rival. That is great for the game in general and particularly in getting doubles back up there in peoples' eyes as a really entertaining piece of the game to watch.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Yeah, it will always continue, but when you have the quality there and like with our performances and then the other teams now coming to back you up and making the competition strong then that helps it out.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I guess, but we have a great -- in Hartford you have a great sponsor who really believe in the event and it makes it work because they want to make the event work. Right now we have to go where people will take it and make the event work. They have already 30% above their ticket sales for the whole year last year this time already. So the event is progressing in that area. So we are working really hard at trying to get it going well in that particular site. Hopefully it can continue to do that.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: They didn't have much to beat.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I don't know. If you go to India, you can play in the middle of a cricket pitch and have 250,000. You get attendance records there, but whether that is feasible, who knows.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: In Chennai, the ATP Tour event there.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Sold out day and night.

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