ATP Tour World Championship

November 25, 1998

Alex Corretja

Q. Were you surprised when Andre came up and shook hands?

ALEX CORRETJA: Yes, a lot. I didn't realize that he had a problem during the match. I think he was playing good tennis. The match was really tough, so I was really surprised when he just came and shake hands with me.

ALEX CORRETJA: Actually, I was the guy that forced him. Yeah, because I was practicing with him. He just fall down with one ball. After two games he told me better to stop because he had some problems. I knew it already that he had some problems on his back or stomach, I don't know. I didn't suspect it was that bad. He didn't look like this on the court. Unfortunately for him and for the tournament, he's a big player and it would be good for everybody that Andre could play. But tennis is like this, and we have to accept it.

ALEX CORRETJA: (Knocking on head). Well, he wasn't injured, he just fall down and get injured. It's obvious that we've been playing through the whole year; really a long season. The guys who are here is because we won more matches than the other ones. So it's normal that maybe you feel pain somewhere on your body. But you have to make the last effort because this is the greatest event of the year. It deserve to be good here. At the same time, it's obvious that maybe they will have to see if we can rest a little bit more because I think this is too much, starting on January 1st, finishing in December.

ALEX CORRETJA: Well, of course, it's going to be a tough match, as well, as every match here in Hannover. Well, the funny thing, it's the first match I ever won indoors was last year against him in Bercy. So I would like to repeat, of course. It will be great for me. I think he's in really good shape, and it's going to be an attractive match. I think he's going to try to come into the net as much as possible. I'm going to try to pass him as much as possible. It's going to be two different styles of tennis.

ALEX CORRETJA: Well, he was a really good player at that time. But, of course, right now he's a better player. He won a couple of tournaments this year. He's going to be tougher. But I think I'm also a better player on this surface.

ALEX CORRETJA: I don't know if you see it like me, I think it was a really good match. I was serving really well. In the second set, I was trying to put a lot of pressure to his second serve. I start to play a couple of winners. I was trying to move him a little bit more. I came into the net a couple of times. I think I was playing just really good tennis, so even if he retired, I think I was in control of the match because I was 2-1 up in the third, up a break. I don't know if it affects himself before, but during that time I didn't see it. It's obvious that it's a pity sometimes when you won like this. But I think at the same time that the match was already really close.

ALEX CORRETJA: Well, I've been serving better. Maybe I have to serve more consistent, because sometimes I serve well and the next day I don't. Hopefully tomorrow I'm going to keep the same level. I think it's great for my game to serve like this. It helps a lot. Then you return that much easier. You don't have that much pressure.

ALEX CORRETJA: Well, it's difficult to say just in one word. The people from the Tour are just working a lot to make a big difference, big changes. The only thing I would like to change is just to have some rest sometimes because I think it's too much. That's why tennis players, they just get tired of tennis and sick of tennis maybe younger than other sports, because you don't have time to rest, you don't have time to enjoy your private life sometimes. I think we should try to reduce a little bit the calendar. I know it's tough and it is like this right now, but sometimes it's kind of difficult.

ALEX CORRETJA: I don't know. I mean, it's normal if you see indoor matches, the ball is going to go faster, and the points are going to be shorter than on clay. We should try to reduce the speed on the indoor courts and maybe put it faster on clay to equalize, everybody will have the same chances to play everywhere. We will have to forget about the hard court players, clay court players, just think about the players, because we are on the same Tour, and have respect for all of them.

ALEX CORRETJA: Well, it's not too slow, but it's not too fast. I think it's a medium surface. I think it's good for everybody, for the guys who wants to serve and volley, or even if you want to stay back, you have the chance to play. It's much better than other indoor events that I've been playing, that I've been playing for the last couple of years, where they were really fast, and they were maybe impractical to play tennis. I think here it's much better. It's better for the show, for the spectators. I think the players enjoy much more.

ALEX CORRETJA: Well, if you grow up on clay, it's normal that you prefer clay. But as you see my results this year, I think I won much more on hard courts than on clay. It's kind of controversial a little bit, but it seems that I improve a lot on every surface. But I would prefer to play on clay because I think I'm better prepared to play on clay than the other players, not the Spanish guys who are maybe the best on clay, but just for the other guys, I think they're not prepared because they don't have a lot of passions, and physically maybe they're not that fit.

ALEX CORRETJA: I was asking him if he was feeling okay. I didn't want to kill anyone on the court, well, not out of the court or on the court. I don't know. I'm really sorry that I hit him. But I thought that the other ball was going good. If you see the post from the net, it's really close from the line. That ball was going from outside line to inside. It was a pity that I hit him, but at the same time I lost one point. I was just trying to ask him if he was feeling okay. I said also to Rudi to maybe replace him because maybe he could have had some, I don't know, some dizzy or something. But fortunately everything was okay. Sorry to his mother.

ALEX CORRETJA: No.