U.S. OPEN

August 27, 1996

Mark Woodforde

MARK WOODFORDE: Probably I think he served way better this time around. Different circumstances, fourth -- first round, competitive fourth round. I think he just really served well tonight. I saw him play last week against Todd. I've seen quite a bit of him going through from the Olympics. I know how he's been playing. I think he played very, very, very, very well tonight, such a very high standard. I think we all know once he gets his serve going, you know, he just goes for any type of shot from the ground, regardless whether they're going in or out. He's just holding his serve a whole lot easier. Just seemed like that's what was going for him. It happens with every person's game. When you're serving well, you feel great because you're winning your serve so easy, you just go for the returns and some ground shots. I think that was the difference. I mean, I felt like I played okay out there. I definitely have been playing -- tonight was better than what I have been playing the last two weeks. It's a tough draw coming into it.

MARK WOODFORDE: No, I didn't say that he had improved.

MARK WOODFORDE: I didn't say that.

MARK WOODFORDE: Well, I think he's had a very up and down year. I think he's probably maybe disappointed with his year, from the result from the Australian Open to Memphis, nothing really inbetween to New Haven semifinals. I don't think there's been too many other results. One of you guys might be able to correct me on that. I can't really say that he's improved since then.

MARK WOODFORDE: Yeah. But, you know, I've been with him going from the French through to Wimbledon through to the Olympics. I roomed with the guy. Again, I saw him play last week against my doubles partner. I knew I had to -- watching that match was important for me because I had to play him here. I don't think he played anywhere near that standard last week.

MARK WOODFORDE: Last week. Last week, you know, he was sort of really a bit all over the place. I think Todd and myself and a few others had a game to beat him. Tonight, you know, he was just awesome with his serve, awesome with his groundstrokes, very confident, because he was winning the serve quite comfortably. He was hitting deep second serves. Usually you can squeeze some double-faults out of him. Tonight he just didn't do that. He was hitting very, very heavy second serves. I wasn't able to put enough pressure with the return. Felt like if I did, you know, it was sitting up nicely for him to have a hit at that shot.

MARK WOODFORDE: I think he is. It's a great basis for your game if you have a big serve. We all know that the big stars of the tennis game today have huge serves. Chang maybe is the little one of them, and still he gives it a fair whack. He has the backing, the basis there. I think tonight, you know, he did some things well. I think he was just confident. When you're confident, you're moving well. He serve volleyed probably more so than what I've seen him do. These might have been tactics to play against me rather than to try and get into a rhythm with me than stay on the baseline. Perhaps seemed like he came in. Tried chip-charging my second serve. Stopped it, tried it a little later on and it worked. All credit to him. I mean, he wanted to win that match tonight. He improved from last week anyway. I mean, that's what I can say. I know he improved from losing to my doubles partner.

MARK WOODFORDE: Was that forehand return that I hit back?

MARK WOODFORDE: I didn't really -- I think it's rather -- I don't know. When I play guys like that I try not to look at the speed because I know mine pales in comparison. I'm not afraid of playing. Sometimes I get tired of playing guys with a huge serve. When they're playing well, you feel like a target, you're going left, right; left right; game. You hold on to your serve, they breeze through theirs. That happens occasionally. If you hold on, usually they'll have a bad game. You just have to hang in and be mentally prepared for that game, to get the ball over, get the second serves over. Just sort of I was waiting for one of them, and I'm glad I went in the right direction to get that first serve back.

MARK WOODFORDE: Yeah, for sure. It would be non-professional to go into any game against anyone without a game plan. We're lucky enough that I think Todd and I both have a game that can upset -- if we execute well, we can upset a lot of players, especially tall players like Mark Philippoussis. Sometimes their court coverage is poor. He goes certain ways with his groundstrokes. You just have to be, you know, ready for that, make him play the way that he doesn't like to, the wrong shot. Todd did that very well last week. I think Mark tried to go for a lot of shots last week, and they didn't come off. He didn't serve as well. Tonight, I mean, he must have hit some incredible high percentage of first serves, and a great win percentage when he did get it in. That makes it hard. With a young kid, you know, he just goes out there and plays. That's Peter McNamara's job, that's the good thing that he's with him, not that the other coaches haven't done a good job. I think they're all mixing in well. Now Mac has the reins. He has a game that could really upset some of the top players. He was a great claycourt player. He knew how to mix it up, really give all types of players a hard time. I think Scud is going to benefit from that. It's just a matter if Mac can hold on to the reins long enough.

MARK WOODFORDE: I think I was serving well. The first set I served pretty well. I disguised it, mixed it up.

MARK WOODFORDE: I came up with some good shots to hold on to my serve. I think it's just maybe giving me credit that I was playing those points pretty well. Maybe the match changed actually a little bit, now that I think of it. Early in the second set, 2-All, he hit that incredible reflex. That was pure luck. I was actually thinking of hitting him with the ball because it was that easy. I pulled off of it and tried to hit it away. He just sort of put his racquet out there. He was literally looking behind him when he hit it. Great surprise to me and to him that it went over. That was the game he broke me on. The first point at that stage, I'm up a set, still holding on to my serve relatively well. A shot like that, I think that disturbed the balance a little bit. He broke me, even though it was a long, drawn-out game, he still broke me. I think from that point on, that began my troubles with my service game. I tried to put it out of my head. Had game point a couple times next game. I think that maybe changed the momentum of the match. Sort of gave him a lot of heart. I'm sure he was happy as can be that he made it. Maybe it released some of the tension that he had. From then on, he just continued serving well. He started picking my serve up, hitting the ball very, very well from the ground. Disappointing for me to see them all go in at that stage, too.

MARK WOODFORDE: He plays Olhovskiy, I think that will be a dangerous match for him. Andrei is not going to stay on the baseline too much with him. If Scud gives this guy a chance, he's going to be all over him. He puts immense pressure on you all the time. After that I really haven't looked at the draw. If he keeps serving well, we know what Goran can do, Sampras does, Todd Martin, all of those guys. If they start serving well in a tournament, they're able to maintain it, they can go deep, deep into the tournament. It's hard to say how he feels, how fresh he feels. I mean, he hasn't had, like I said earlier, the results that he's probably looking for with that great start to the year. So this might be the tournament, a bit of a turnaround for him.

MARK WOODFORDE: That would be bloody awesome. Probably would have lofted the crown already. That's a good thought. If I was built like a --

MARK WOODFORDE: Well, he's still young. That's the beauty of it. Sometimes he doesn't think about it. When he's playing well, serving well, no need to think of anything else because he's able to bottom away. Heck, I mean, it's a great weapon. I wish that I had something like that, was able to just step up there and give the ball a wallop like it's nothing. That's where the coaches have got to come in and help him, that at some stage there are a lot of other crafty players out there that are going to give him trouble, can mix it up, match him with some power, play with touch, perhaps make him move a little bit. I don't think tonight I made him move. In the Australian Open, he was going, left, right, high, deep, up, low. Tonight I didn't do that. That's a credit to him.

MARK WOODFORDE: That's a tough question. I don't know. It would be frustrating, I think, because sometimes you wonder how in the hell can he miss that when it looks very easy, you've seen him play great matches when everything works, you think no problems, then maybe tomorrow it doesn't work. Fingers crossed, it would be nice for me to say that I've lost to a player who has played well in this tournament and can go through the draw.

MARK WOODFORDE: Yeah, don't wish me upon that yet, pal. I want to keep playing for a few more years.

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