US OPEN

September 2, 1998

Mark Woodforde

Q. Todd, did you have any trouble with cramps today?

TODD WOODBRIDGE: No, I felt fine. Like even last night I said when I was in here, I felt I wasn't tired or anything like that. And I didn't get any more last night when I went home and woke up feeling fine. I felt like today like I did before I started yesterday. So we still don't know why, but I felt good and got through today okay. So it was good.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Everything was good, no. So we don't really know why that happened. I was hydrated. My blood was hydrated and everything like that, so, we don't know. We are just looking to try and find other reasons.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Yeah, everything in them was good. Only thing that was a little down was glucose, but they said nothing abnormal for having coming off the court from a match situation, so.... We will keep looking for a reason why something like that happened because it certainly is not fitness level for me either.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: For me, personally, I lost a good friend just a few weeks ago. And to have something like that happen in your life, right now, probably tennis becomes a little bit different for me. It is still very, very important, but it is not the only thing. And for something like that to happen in Jacco's and Haarhuis's life is huge, something that he will never ever forget. And perhaps -- I am sure that he made it for the birth, so I think he will think that is like winning a US Open for him. He would have liked the chance to have won the Grand Slam, it is a shame for him that he didn't, but all and all, what has happened for him is better than winning a tennis tournament.

MARK WOODFORDE: I mean, it is great that we ended up winning the match. They played some good tennis and, you know, I think there is room for us to improve so that is really what we are looking for. I mean, to be probably feeling a little bit different if we played great tennis in the first round and knowing we had to maintain that level for another five, six matches. So we got through. That is the main thing. It is sort of more or less a feeling -- a feel to get into the tournament now. Don't really matter that Jacco and Paul are out of the tournament. It is not like it improves our chances for anything. I think for us it is a match-by-match situation and, you know, I mean, see how the next one goes and just try and keep building up. I feel like that, you know, we need to go back to a couple of basics and just get back into the feel of being in a Grand Slam and not worrying about, you know, any other match going on or whoever is out of the tournament, whoever lost, just worry about ourselves and try to keep improving. I think we are happy that we won.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Yeah, that is always a hard one for us is the first few rounds, so -- and we do things that -- we can -- we did some good things and we did things -- we can go away tomorrow and really work on. Get our returns going a little bit better and we helped each other a lot on the net which was good. That is something we have been trying to work on. So, you know, I think this tournament is a little bit -- it is sort of a crap shoot at the beginning or the whole way being best of three sets, so, what we work on is trying to get a jump start and start well early in every match if we can.

MARK WOODFORDE: I mean we have always had a good sense about where we are on the court and which is why we have been one of the premier teams. I mean, we have tried to reassess where we are at the moment and where we want to be in the next year and a half, say, and we have had some good talks about that with our coach and our trainer about it. So we both are at the same level of understanding and commitment, so, you know, it is just -- we both want the same thing and just trying to go towards that goal and, you know, I don't think we can ask anything more of each other. We have had a long successful partnership and we both want to see it thrive and prosper even more. So it is pretty amazing, I think for us to still be out there and searching for these -- a higher level.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I think it's the one big one we haven't won and to win a medal in Australia would be fantastic. That would be a nice way, you know, that is our goal at this stage is to get to there and play out that year to the Olympics. So to get a medal in Australia, that was one of the highlights of our partnership to date is winning a medal, you know, you can win a lot of things in your own sport and you win them for yourself, but that actually winning it for everybody else as well as yourself, that is a feeling you don't get when you win a Wimbledon or a U.S. Open. That would be, yeah, those two things would be great.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I don't know. I don't want to think about that right now.

MARK WOODFORDE: We don't even think about 2000.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Yeah, it is still a bit of a day to day process trying to -- you kind of think where you are with your form at the moment and no, I haven't really thought about that because I think he is still playing well enough to not have to worry about that and given him the flick. It is not a question that comes into my mind at all.

MARK WOODFORDE: Look, fast serves are a part of the game. They always have and they always will be. I mean, I haven't gone out and tried to seek any, you know, the players and say, you know, was I right, I mean, I am not that type of person.

MARK WOODFORDE: No.

MARK WOODFORDE: I actually thought he was pretty on the mark with what he said, the way I played I probably should stop. So, you know, it is no skin off my nose. That was his response to what I said, that he just served me off the court and that is all he did. I couldn't do anything about it. So all credit to him. He stood up for what he believes and I was standing up for what I believe. So it is not -- I don't see it as a big thing, but it must have been a pretty boring day for it to be written up as big as it was. But a lot of people out on the sidelines were saying, you know, you are not too old and give him hell and stuff like that, so.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: What about the poor young guys you beat today?

MARK WOODFORDE: (Laughs) So, you know, I mean, it was really -- for me it was just coming off and disappointed that I lost and he lives to fight another day and I don't. That is where it ends.