AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 30, 2004

Juan Carlos Ferrero

THE MODERATOR: First question, please.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: How good? I was today not so good. I think I couldn't play my best tennis just because I couldn't arrive the ball so good, you know. I couldn't put the step by step, you know, behind the ball to hit the ball good, you know. And always he plays very fast for me, you know, and always with you a hundred percent. You can beat him if you play so good. So today I was so far from hundred percent and, you know, I couldn't play three or four balls in a row a hundred percent.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Yeah. I saw his games, you know, the day before, you know. I think he's playing good. But, anyways, I was playing so good the whole tournament, and I was hitting the ball perfect, you know. And I think that if I'm hundred percent, I could win the match.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: You know, I start to feel problems in the second day, but I start to feel the problems in my leg when I was playing against Andrei Pavel, you know. I felt problem in one leg. After, in the next match, I start to feel problems in the two legs. So I couldn't recover so good, you know, in these two days. I was taking antiinflammatories, two a day, you know, but anyways was not enough to be okay.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Not always, but sometimes I have some problems in the abductors, you know. When I have big matches like five sets or something like this, I have some problems there. But not like this far, you know. This is the worst that I have.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: I felt like, I don't know, a shot, you know, in my leg, in the left one, and then also in the right one. So when I go too far to take the ball, you know, I felt so much pain. And also to recover to go to the other ball, it's very difficult. So I feel pain like all the time. Because I'm in movement all the time, and it's pretty difficult to not feel the pain.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: You know, maybe the second day against Volandri because I felt problems in my back and also in my arm, you know. I couldn't feel so good on the courts. But anyways, I was winning in three sets, so was not too long. Then I felt the problems. But, you know, I could still playing. Today at 3-3 in the first set, I start to feel a lot of pain in my legs, you know, and I couldn't arrive the ball so good. Was a disaster.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Of course, I happy, but I'm a little bit disappointed, too. You know, it's not easy to arrive to semifinals playing so good tennis, but so bad physically. So I'm a little bit disappointed for this, of course. Anyways, semifinal is a good result, you know, here in Australian Open, the first big tournament. But I think I could do some more.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Yeah. I'm thinking in this, but I think that I will take some rest, yeah, because I have Davis Cup.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: I don't think so because I don't think it's so good to still working in tennis in the next couple of days, you know. I think I will be worse if I do so much, you know, and I will not arrive very good on the next Friday because I have to fly to come back to Spain. I recover from the jet lag again, you know, and also from my legs. Is too fast to be a hundred percent on Friday. So my coach and me, we are thinking that it's better to take some rest and try to be...

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: We don't know. We don't know yet. I have Rotterdam and Marseille. We hope that I will be hundred percent in one of these tournaments.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Yeah, of course, yes, because I didn't have so much time to prepare in December, starting here in Australian Open. Just have 15 days to prepare physically. And, you know, also tennis, after take a rest 15 days, I was in holidays. So, of course, I didn't have so much time to prepare. And maybe it's part of the problem that I have now.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: Yes, I think it's a good team. And Robredo, they are playing so good in doubles, and they can also play in singles because they're a good tennis players, like you could see, you know, results of Nadal or Robredo. So I think we have a great team.

JUAN CARLOS FERRERO: I don't know. Physically I don't know how is going to be Marat. But, anyways, he has two days to recover. And Roger, maybe he has an easy match today. He doesn't have to run a lot because me. I don't know. There is two big players in the final, you know, very aggressive all the time. Maybe Roger has very good forehand and maybe he can do a lot of points with this. But also Marat, he's very motivated because he come back from the injury and he can play very good in the final, as well.