TMS - FORO ITALICO

May 14, 2000

Gustavo Kuerten

Q. Guga, what went wrong today for you?

GUSTAVO KUERTEN: Well, I think I didn't start pretty well the match, so I was almost all the time under the courts. Sometimes it's tough to play like this. And I felt like, you know, maybe not my really best day, but it's -- I was able to hang there in the match and I had a couple of chances, I think, in the third set to maybe get the things going better. But then after the seventh or eighth game in the third set, I start to feel a little bit more tired and weakness with my injury, but I lost some important game. Then when I call the trainer, things go better but was little bit too late. So I think it was close; we both played well. I don't think I played an excellent match, but I played a good level. So maybe couple of points, too, was pretty close. I think just let it escape for somehow and don't know really why.

GUSTAVO KUERTEN: No, no. Was okay. Just -- it's not that I was feeling pain, just not too much power anymore to rotate and to generate more affecting my ground strokes. So that was maybe crucial for me. He start to control almost all the rallies, and I think during the week I had tough, tough games. Probably in the Quarters and Semis I played two guys that I had to run a little bit more. So I still feeling that I'm just coming out from my injury and I think it was already greater to be in the final, just maybe still a little bit to improve and

that's -- I'm going to have time to work on for the French Open. That's maybe my most important tournament.

GUSTAVO KUERTEN: Yeah. He has not really weakness in his game. He's pretty solid. He's in his best confidence, too, so it's, I think, a solid player in his best form. It's always tough to play against someone like this. You have to be in your best form, too, and maybe I wasn't today, so that's one thing that could cost me the match.

GUSTAVO KUERTEN: No, I think I just start bad. I don't know, maybe I really wasn't, you know, very concentrated and start missing couple of balls. I think every time I try to go for my shots, I was missing for a little bit or not getting the right position. So this made me play little bit too safe and made me run more and spend more energy then. So I was seeing, trying to hold it own, see if I still had some chance. But I was always, always down and I didn't really feel like, you know, like other matches that I had the feeling, I think now it's going bad and I start to play better. So it's maybe Finals situation, you know, tough match. I think I could work better on this, could be playing better. But I didn't, so... It's enough.

GUSTAVO KUERTEN: No, no, probably I'm playing. You know, it's completely different feeling now. Before I was feeling a lot of pain and now I just feel tired and the more as I play. But tomorrow I have a day off so I can practice little bit, work more specific for my back and be back strong on Tuesday, hope to be like this.

GUSTAVO KUERTEN: Yeah, I like soccer. My best team that I like here is Inter in Milan and Rome, too. So I was not very interested today.