AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 15, 2003

Wayne Arthurs

MODERATOR: Questions for Wayne Arthurs.

WAYNE ARTHURS: It is the same injury, yeah. But it's more of a fatigue factor more than anything else. The five sets -- the doctor has said five sets in the first round is not going to be good for it. They've proved it right. About the third game, third last game of the first round, it got really tight. Went out this morning and had a little bit of a hit, and it was still very tight. I thought it would sort of ease up during the match. It never really did. Really didn't want to risk doing anything else to it and be out for maybe another six weeks. So I think that was the right option. Wasn't going to gain anything by playing on. He was kicking my ass, as well, at the time. There really wasn't any point in pursuing a lost cause sort of thing.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, very happy. I surprised myself to get through one round even. I was probably even more surprised actually to be playing here. To win a round and to sort of come back after two sets down in that first match was pretty pleasing. Just a lack of conditioning, I suppose, over the weeks that I was out hurt me and the five-set match hurt me, as well.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, it was.

WAYNE ARTHURS: No, it was more of a case of risking further damage to it. The doctors have said if it got to that point where the stiffness and the tightness wasn't going away, then the risk of maybe further injury was heightened by that state of it.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Uh-huh.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, it was a little bit. Davis Cup and also -- because I missed the two first tournaments of the year, obviously if something else happens to it, it's going to be another sort of five or six weeks out again. That takes a lot of the indoor hard court season away. It was a decision based on sort of my career over the first six months of the year basically. I'm not getting any younger, so it's going to take me even longer to recover if something else happened to it.

WAYNE ARTHURS: I'll take it day to day at this stage. I've got possibly doubles on Friday. Nothing else has happened to it; it really just tightened up. I'll get a massage tomorrow and reassess tomorrow night whether I can play doubles on Friday. That's the sort of state it's at. It hasn't got any worse. Hopefully by stopping, it's prevented something that possibly could have got worse.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Oh, yeah. That's three or four weeks away still. Yeah, that's definitely a goal, to be ready for that.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, where the tear actually was is pretty good. Where I'm feeling the tightness is a little bit lower than where the tear is. The actual tear came through the matches very well, and it's just a case of -- they said where the tear is, it can actually -- the referred pain can go lower, which it actually has done, that's where the pain is now, the tightness, and you can actually retear it in a different spot, and that's the spot where it's really tight. Really just a case of just not doing anything worse to it.

WAYNE ARTHURS: I'll just have to get massage over the next few days. I reckon it will be pretty much a hundred percent in a week or so. That's what the doctors are telling me. Hopefully they're right.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Todd Larkham, actually. We got a wildcard. We're not the happiest pair at the moment. He being on a drip at the moment yesterday. We'll wait and see what happens.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Great. Absolutely great. There are obviously a couple young guys who are showing their potential. No better place to do it than start at the Australian Open. There are a couple of older guys. Joe Sirianni had a great win yesterday against Max Mirnyi. That's a great win. Peter Luczak has a great chance as well of winning his second round today. That's a really, really good start for him. He probably had a disappointing end to last year. He sort of went up and got to a little bit of a static point. Probably the preparation he had coming in to here helped him in Sydney with confidence, qualifying there. Yeah, obviously Lleyton and Mark have got a very good chance of taking out the title. Looking good.

WAYNE ARTHURS: I'd say we're pretty confident. I would go in as favorites, that's for sure.

WAYNE ARTHURS: We're just going to have to wait and see what Henman's movements are. Obviously, he said he would be available. Obviously, with Rusedski not being available, our confidence would have gone up from that setback for them. If Henman is not there, I'd say we're very, very confident. If Henman is there, then I say we're quietly confident.

WAYNE ARTHURS: Always. Any sport. You created it; we beat you at it (smiling).

WAYNE ARTHURS: No. He gets my hand-me-downs. Had a group of guys based in London last year. He was one of them. We all had the one coach, Brett Larkham. I was supplying them with sort of my hand-offs when I didn't need them. They're all sort of running around in my clothes after about a month after I don't need them anymore. Hopefully he can get his own at some stage.

WAYNE ARTHURS: I would say compared to last year, they started off faster than they normally do. In the beginning, when they've been resurfaced, they're a little slower. That really hasn't happened this year. I think they're pretty quick compared to last year in the beginning. I think Lleyton generally likes a faster surface. The surface at the US Open is pretty quick. It helps him gain a little bit of speed off his serve and also his speed of shot is helped as well. The surface is pretty well-made for him at the moment, I think. I can see him going a long way in this tournament.

WAYNE ARTHURS: If he gets to the final, he is. He's on the other side of the draw. There's a lot of other guys. Carlos Moya has beaten him the last couple times. I think he's in his quarter. That's who I would be a little bit weary of in Lleyton's quarter. He's come through a tough five-setter. It's always good to get through that. He can maybe -- I can't see Todd really worrying him tomorrow night. He's going to have maybe a little bit of an easy match. But, yeah, Agassi, on his form today, pretty impressive - very impressive actually, beating the Sydney champion, only giving him a game. Agassi-Hewitt final would be a pretty good way for the Aussie Open to go, I think.