GREAT AMERICAN INSURANCE ATP CHAMPIONSHIP

August 7, 1997

Albert Costa

Q. Do you feel like you are sneaking up on people in this thing, kind of getting through pretty well?

ALBERT COSTA: Now I am playing very well. I played two matches. I am feeling very confident. But, I think every match is very difficult. And especially tiebreaker, I have to be very concentrate to play well.

ALBERT COSTA: The thing I am feeling good here. I like the place and I like all the things. I am feeling confident here and then for my tennis, I am playing good because I have all the time concentrate and I have no lapses and I am playing hard. I think that is the reason.

ALBERT COSTA: Well, it was -- I think Alex, today, he was not playing so good in the beginning of the match. But, I was playing really, really good and I think he was playing a little bit short in the court. And, you know, when you are playing very good, the other one, it is difficult to play well. Alex today was not so, I think, a little bit out of distances.

ALBERT COSTA: No. No, I am practicing all the time with him. We play a lot of times together here on hard court and clay, all kind of surfaces, and I know him really good. I think if he beat me 3 and only 1, I don't know, maybe sometimes he is playing better. Now he is No. 5 in the world.

ALBERT COSTA: Practicing, I don't know, six, seven years.

ALBERT COSTA: All the Spanish, we are practicing together always.

ALBERT COSTA: I think sometimes it is hard because you have a lot of -- he is your friend, you know, and we are travelling together all the time on the Tour and sometimes it is hard, but you have to keep your mind, you have to think it is another one. You have to beat him.

ALBERT COSTA: Normally, sometimes you prefer to play -- especially in the first rounds, you prefer to play with another ones. If you lose in the second round it is not good result, and -- but if you are playing semifinal, it is good to play with a friend because you are playing well. If you are in the semifinals, you are making points and all these things.

ALBERT COSTA: Yeah, I hope I play Bruguera. I think it is going to be a very tough match.

ALBERT COSTA: For me, Alex is a good player here and for me, it is very good result, for me, now I am feeling confident like all the week, especially against Jim Courier I was playing good. And, now I am very confident. I have to be concentrate and that is it, try to do my best.

ALBERT COSTA: I think the tiebreak was very important in the beginning because when -- I was 3-All -- 2-Love for me, and that is for one player it is good because you are playing the tiebreak a little bit nervous and if you begin the tiebreak 3-Love, it is better. Then I was very concentrate in the tiebreaker and I was thinking about I cannot miss my first serve. I have to be very concentrate, I cannot lose my serve.

ALBERT COSTA: A lot of time. All the time when -- not especially with Alex or Sergei, all the Spanish, Carlos Moya, Berasategui, we are friends, we are all friends and we go to dinner together. We are playing cards all the time together. We are always together.

ALBERT COSTA: Maybe two weeks after, later. Two weeks later, yes, but, you know, when you play matches, it is different. You want to win and in the moment you cannot talk. Of course if I want to talk with him, there is no problem. But talk about the match, for me, it is not correct.

ALBERT COSTA: Especially when you win because you know how he is feeling, your opponent. When you lose, it is different. If you win and you go there to talk how is the match, I think that is not good.