XXVI OLYMPIC GAMES

July 31, 1996

Todd Woodbridge

Mark Woodforde

MARK WOODFORDE: It gets away from you when you're facing match points down. I think we both felt that the match really was ours, once we reached 40-Love on Todd's serve early in the third set. And I don't know if we relaxed, they played a couple of good points and got lucky with another one. For it to turn around like it did and go match points down, it was like, what are we going to be doing to ourselves when we lose this match. From going to one point of thinking that you won, playing for a gold medal and the other one is you're facing a bronze, it was great to turn it around and win up the winners. But I think we're just probably happy that we stuck it out. We didn't get angry, we did show too much emotion out there. We played our game and that got us through.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Well, it's like another big tennis tournament, it's run like a majors. It's like a tennis tournament. But you can tell by the patriotism out on the court today, we had swimmers and rowers, and all the admin people were in the section cheering, you don't get that at a regular tournament. It's like an Olympics, it's like you're playing for your country. There's nothing riding in monetary value or whatever on the result of that match. It's all on pride and respect for yourself and for the country and the people watching you at home.

MARK WOODFORDE: We don't know, because we haven't won the tournament yet.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Today was supremely fulfilling. We've played a lot of big matches and that would probably -- the way we felt after, and if we had lost the way we would have felt would be -- it's as jubilant as we have, and it would be as low as what we have. It's probably up there with the ten.

MARK WOODFORDE: Yeah, in a way it's a bit of a shame we had to play them in the semifinals, because I think all four of us feel we've been the two best teams in the doubles game for the last two or three years. Year '93 Jacco being a bit injured they came in seeded pretty low. But it was fitting in a way to have whatever it was, 18-16 in the third set, and three hours of pretty good tennis. So, yeah, it was almost like trying to get through this one, and then the winner, hopefully should be going into the medal playoff, gold medal playoff as favorites. It doesn't mean they'll necessarily win the gold medal, but you've got to get there first.

MARK WOODFORDE: We've played Neil Broad before but not Tim Henman in doubles before. I don't think they've played a lot of matches together, either. They've done extremely well to get this far, and obviously there have they have beaten some pretty good teams. Today's match was pretty good for them. They played guys that serve pretty good. And they came through under pressure. It's going to be a match probably similar to today. We hope they don't put as much pressure as Eltingh and Haarhuis did. They serve big, but perhaps not as smart as the two guys today.