TMS MONTE CARLO

April 19, 2000

Dominik Hrbaty

Q. Getting used to beating the top players? Is it becoming a habit? Is it easy now or still a shock?

DOMINIK HRBATY: No, I don't know, if I play the guys I don't think if it is a Top-10 player or not. If you want to win, get so far in the tournament, you have to beat everybody, so, I don't think if I am playing a guy who is 100 or 1000 or Top-10, maybe because that is why I play more relaxed and I have better results against these guys.

DOMINIK HRBATY: I don't know. I tell you after the tournament. (Laughs).

DOMINIK HRBATY: Okay, so tell you: I have to win one more round; then I will tell you again.

DOMINIK HRBATY: I am still alive. Nothing happened.

DOMINIK HRBATY: I was injured all the summer during the clay court season which is my favorite season, the clay, also the surface. I couldn't play 100% in the summer and then during the hard court season I can do sometimes good results, but it is not more often than like in clay. So it is tough tougher for me than to play indoor, hard courts, so it was just that I was injured. Maybe I played too many tournaments before, before Roland Garros, so this year I will play a little bit less and we will see.

DOMINIK HRBATY: After Wimbledon I get inflammation of the tendon here before the Davis Cup in Russia, then I pulled a muscle after the tournament in Amsterdam, so it was two injuries that I have during the two months.

DOMINIK HRBATY: I told you that I was asking for autographs of these players, Sampras, I got autograph of Sampras, Becker, of Lendl and Edberg and all these guys, big guys, Agassi, I think, and two years before -- that was two years before I played Sampras, and -- but the poster I had was of Becker in my bedroom.

DOMINIK HRBATY: No, it is in the old apartment. But it is there on the wall.

DOMINIK HRBATY: I enjoy to play everywhere on any court anywhere in the world. I love tennis. I love this game and it is my life and I just -- I am just happy if I can play tennis. That is it. It doesn't matter if I played anybody who never played tennis. I am trying with the left hand or something to, you know, that I am happy that I am on the court. When I had a stress fracture a few years ago on my hand I was just practicing with left hand on the wall, so I love tennis and I enjoy it so much. I think it is very nice game so that is why I love it.

DOMINIK HRBATY: You know, when I had this stress fracture it was in Barcelona in 1996 or -- I don't know, 1997, maybe, and I was -- when I start the tournament I had already so much pain in the hand that I couldn't hold a pen and I was playing two matches. One match I won from matchpoints and one match I won like two sets and I don't know how -- now when I realize that, I don't know how I can even hold the racket because I couldn't hold the pen to sign the check after for the prize money. So it was so painful and I played. I mean, it is so strange, but sometimes my coaches, they have to stop me to play tennis because I play that match that I got the stress fracture, so sometimes I get injuries from too much playing of tennis. What I wanted to say was that when I retired the game, I was playing one game with a left hand because I couldn't hold the racket anymore on the right so I was trying with the other hand. Maybe I won one point, but I didn't win the game.

DOMINIK HRBATY: Against Juan Antonio Marin.

DOMINIK HRBATY: I love this kind of game. He is playing straightforward and he is playing like not too -- from my look, he is not playing too hard or too soft. He is playing the kind of game I like; then I can place the ball well and I don't have to really too much things where he is going to play or where he is going to move or what he is going to play, so I am just hitting the ball back and I am just placing the ball and giving him hard time, so I will be happy if I can play him more often.

DOMINIK HRBATY: I don't know if I played the best matches. I always remember the matches that the people don't think -- other people, they don't think that that was one of my best matches. But I like the matches like I played against Gumi, the deciding point in Argentina, Davis Cup, or Kulti in Australian Open in 1997, and I remember these matches, but a lot of people they are saying that you played this now, this is your best match, but I don't know, sometimes if they say I don't like these kind of match, maybe I play well, but I don't like-- I mean, I don't think it is my best.

DOMINIK HRBATY: Not really crowd against me, but I like to play for the crowd, for a lot of people, I always -- you can see my results if I play on the center court, I always play good. I always win a lot of matches and I can beat really good players, so I like to play for the people. I like to show them the best tennis and they can enjoy the tennis, so, I said like in Brazil now that I am kind of the guy -- like there is a word for it - exhibitionist - he likes to show off for the people. If nobody is watching, I play bad. If there is a lot of people watching, I play really good, so I like to show off for the people.

DOMINIK HRBATY: I don't know, it is a tough question because the most popular sports in Slovakia is ice hockey and soccer; then it is also basketball is very popular, so the people know about us, they read the newspapers, we are very popular. But I think itself, the sport can be more popular in Slovakia, the people know us. If you say the name, they know, but can be more popular, I think, because there is not too many -- I always say the politicians, they can make a good name for the country, but they can also make a very bad name. And sportsmen, they can only make a good name because if you win, you make a good name. But if you lose, nothing happened, and you get another tournament. So I think the real popularity for the country is very much in sports.