TMS - FORO ITALICO

May 12, 2000

Gustavo Kuerten

Q. It seemed very close today. It was straight sets, but it seemed like there was a very small margin between you. Would you say that was true?

GUSTAVO KUERTEN: Yeah, really was. I think the match was as I expected. He's a good player, we have a similar game. So I was sure that it was going to be decided by one or two points. Maybe a lucky break in the first set, set point. And then I play really well the last two points of the match, so it's getting close to the end and even playing that well sometimes you need a little work to pass through.

GUSTAVO KUERTEN: What's my --

GUSTAVO KUERTEN: Well, I think I got to be only a small part of the next millennium, only a few years. So I hope to start the millennium well and give it a chance for me to continue like this.

GUSTAVO KUERTEN: Well, not really. I think I did more mistakes than my other match, but I also played against a player that really get always an extra ball to give you a chance to make the mistakes. So I played the way I like it. I try my shots. Sometimes it works well; sometimes it doesn't work too good. But I really played well when I needed to, so that was, I think, the key of the match tonight.

GUSTAVO KUERTEN: Yeah, for sure. I mean the expectation just change a lot. I just came here, like you said, to prove myself, how I was, check my body and all this. Now I'm very close to the final and it really changes the way you think about how you approach the next match. But it's also, you know, I get myself very enthusiastic to play a match like this. So I'm just happy to play the weekend here in a tournament that I really like to play.

GUSTAVO KUERTEN: Well, I think it's a match that you can get scared sometimes and you really can have some doubts. But I was feeling the ball well, I was playing good, and really seeing myself with a good chance to win all the time. So I think that's the way I should play all matches, and that's the way I should approach my next match tomorrow.