TMS MONTE CARLO

April 19, 2000

Alex Corretja

Q. Were you playing so well because your soccer team won yesterday night?

ALEX CORRETJA: I was strong because I am playing good tennis. Main point is that you are playing well. If you are not, you don't win, that is clear. But it was a great night.

ALEX CORRETJA: Well, it feels great. You can see today again we have really good weather. It is a great place to play and it is one of the nicest tournaments in the world, so it is good to see that you are playing well and you are able to continue. I just won two straight matches against two really good clay court players and playing really good tennis and I feel comfortable on the court and I hope I can continue. It is not going to be easy and tomorrow is going to be a tough match for sure, but I am glad that I am playing well.

ALEX CORRETJA: No.

ALEX CORRETJA: I was somewhere always in my life, so even if I was not playing my best tennis I never lose my mind or I never lost my personality, so maybe on the tennis courts I was not playing finals of a Grand Slams or Super Series or Master Series, but it is still you feel happy with yourself and your life nothing happens. I was always somewhere, as I said.

ALEX CORRETJA: Of course because otherwise I wouldn't be here. It is like a situation when you are out there and you feel like you did it many times, you believe that you can do it again, but you got to work hard and you got to just believe in yourself. I play already five times Finals in this tournaments so of course I have to believe that I can come back and do it again. That is what I did in Indian Wells. I was surprising maybe the whole world because nobody would believe in me on that time, so that is why I am glad to show that I am able to be on the tennis court playing good tennis.

ALEX CORRETJA: Yesterday I played good, but today I played very well. But yesterday Berasategui made me run a lot. He has an excellent forehand and he came back to his best level. That is why it cost me so much to win that match. Today was completely different. My opponent was attacking a lot less and I was able to be myself aggressive, to go up to the net and to do better. For me it was a comfortable match, especially I felt I had the advantage because he was not playing so well.