U.S. OPEN

September 8, 1995

Todd Woodbridge

Mark Woodforde

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I am really pleased. I felt like I started out a bit slow, but in the second, I played pretty well. Last year I played really shockingly, I thought, and I am really pleased to make amends for that. I learned a lot by my experience here last year and was able to come back and learn from it and achieve one step further that we didn't do last time.

MARK WOODFORDE: Yeah, would have been horrendous to have lost that first set and then, you know, continue the way that we had really started off and -- but you know -- as Todd said, we just learned so much from last year, and we didn't panic at all and it was just -- we have been playing so well. The semifinals we just played, I mean, the best tennis we had the whole tournament so it's hard to go from -- it's like night and day. You just can't all of a sudden not play badly, and so I just felt like that I had just to wait and hold on and Todd, I think, probably throughout the match just played, you know, very steadily. And I was a little bit too much like this (INDICATING UP AND DOWN.) But that is what makes a good team, is to get through days like that.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: It is difficult. Almost all the other matches are played with decent crowds. If you are on the outside court there is atmosphere; it is packed. You come here for a final atmosphere it is dead. They are chatting away. That was one thing we knew to expect this year. They are talking away; there is noise coming on; people walking around and it is different. It is something that you have to learn is going to happen and to cope with.

MARK WOODFORDE: And they are waiting for the ladies' final.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I think -- it wasn't exactly what we thought it was going to be.

MARK WOODFORDE: The other tournaments, major Slams, it is centered around each final. I mean, they do center on the finals here, but, you know, it is just tough. Everything is moving, and it is all happening, and it doesn't seem quite as settled, say, like Wimbledon or we don't know what the French Open is like, but for the Australian Open, it is all very focused on expecting a great match.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: It would be good if there was, yes. I think you have to talk to the TV producers and those things.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Probably.

MARK WOODFORDE: I think the year that I won with McEnroe, the final was played slotted in between the two women's semis; that was because I played with John McEnroe. New York loves John McEnroe and back then we even played best of five. I think that had something to do with it. But John McEnroe is not playing doubles anymore, and you still have some of the best teams, but we have been cutback to best of three which we are unhappy with. You know, you are put in before the women's semis. It is a tough day because they want to come out and they want to see a great singles match with the women which is expected. That is tennis is focused on the singles really, but it is just -- maybe we should play a little bit better and make everyone ooh and ahh a little bit more and maybe they'd sit down and watch us a little bit better.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I don't think so.

MARK WOODFORDE: It would have been a zoo out there.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Not much you can do. It is set before the tournament starts.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I think the Jensens are playing great for getting kids and getting everything excited and everything. Now they got to try and keep winning; that is their only problem. Some of their focus is lost on-court and off-court and it affects them winning their matches.

MARK WOODFORDE: I don't think people really watch them for their standard of play. They watch them to see their sideshow. I think we are different. We are there for the standard rather than the sideshow.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I don't know. I mean, we obviously, we played very well on the court when we can -- when we can get to be playing well, we can -- both seem to play well at the same time and we have got a good sense of the doubles court and we know where balls are going and we know where to cover each other, and I think it is just a lot of instinction with us. We are both good instinct players on court and have learned through a lot of matches, so we know what each other is going to do. So...

TODD WOODBRIDGE: We are trying. We are working on that. It is not as easy as it was 20 years ago to get so many Aussies into the single finals, but we are working on it.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Obviously our youngest one is Philippoussis, so I hope that he learns and gets experience and then he can play those matches like he played against Sampras a little bit better and be, you know, he pushed him to the limit so, if he can keep on improving, he is going to have opportunities and that will come his way.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I think Agassi.

MARK WOODFORDE: I think Pete. I think it's going to be very, very close just the fact that Andre has been playing so well throughout the whole summer and I just get the feeling watching him the last few matches, he is starting to -- I don't know -- he doesn't look surprised, but he is maybe like nitpicking and, you know, calls and things like that and I just think people sort of, you know, he has had some tough matches with his serve and so on, but he seems a bit more relaxed and low key, so I think it is going to be very close, but I think maybe Pete is going to edge it.

MARK WOODFORDE: Yeah.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I agree.

MARK WOODFORDE: I was surprised that he played the five set match with Corretja. I think he is a couple of classes over that guy, but Corretja played well on that night. I think he has just been playing so well and -- where before he was working with Brad, it is like he expected these highs and lows, and now we all know he is a great player and you don't expect the highs and lows. I think he is wondering where is the next low coming. Does that mean he is going to lose the final? Perhaps so.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Yeah, quite a few times. Just never won. A lot -- we have played the last four, five years, but we haven't won.

MARK WOODFORDE: I think we probably both have different views on this. I don't think that we spend enough time on clay playing leading up to the event on European clay. We do play American clay, but it is not the same. And I think that we pay for that going into the French sometimes.

MARK WOODFORDE: Yes.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Let us think about this one.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Yes.

MARK WOODFORDE: Hungary, actually.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: We talked about it, yeah.

MARK WOODFORDE: The thing is now step off the hardcourts and get our feet dirty with the clay as soon as possible, but I mean, it is only a couple weeks away and I am sure that there weren't any Hungarians here playing. They have obviously been on that surface for some months. It is now our chance for all of our team to get on the surface and adjust our games again.

MARK WOOODFORDE: Not personally, no. Are you one of them?

TODD WOODBRIDGE: We have no idea.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: We don't know until we get there and practice for four days and everybody sees what their form is like on the clay. Would that be right?

MARK WOODFORDE: Yeah, I mean, --

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Our team never goes to a Tie with the decisions already made.