US OPEN

September 12, 1999

Todd Martin

TODD MARTIN: Well, I watched the end of Andre's match yesterday. They interviewed Yevgeny when he walked off the court. They asked if it was disappointing. He said no. I certainly wouldn't call this disappointing. I felt very good about the way I played. I lost to a better player. I can't be disappointed with what happened today, or over the last two weeks.

TODD MARTIN: I don't like to get into that comparison business. You know, he's great enough to have won on -- at all four of the Slams, and twice here. He beat me when I played a very good match today.

TODD MARTIN: More than anything else, I thought just the relentless pressure that he put on me, not just with his serve, not just with his feet, not just with his returns, but every game, he seemed to be there. Over five sets, under this type of pressure, that's quite an achievement.

TODD MARTIN: Yeah, I thought I had no chance of losing then. It was my match. Come on (laughter).

TODD MARTIN: I felt like I was two sets to one up, and had worked real hard to be two sets to one up. I knew I had a chance to win; I knew I had a chance to lose. I just knew I was ahead at that moment. I knew I needed to keep playing well on my serve and better on his serve. Unfortunately, neither of those happened.

TODD MARTIN: Not much of one. I think the biggest problem was that I lost my legs a little bit. When that happens, the serve is what goes. You know, I still played some good groundstroke points, moving side-to-side. The work you do in those points takes away on my serve a little bit. Then I started trying to force it a bit. My elbow was in a little bit of pain at the end of the match, but not -- and that didn't affect my serve, you know. I think my serve affected my elbow. I probably tried to force it so much with my arm.

TODD MARTIN: No. You know, you play. I remember -- I think it was 40-15 on his serve, are you saying?

TODD MARTIN: Yeah. I remember the point. He played awfully well from there.

TODD MARTIN: Retrospectively, sure. That was a great opportunity. But, nonetheless, I still had some opportunities. You know, I was disappointed that I couldn't make more of all my opportunities on his serve throughout the course of the match. I think that's really the biggest key.

TODD MARTIN: A lot of pleasure. If you would have asked me 12 days ago after I beat Stefan how I felt about being here, I wasn't too pleased. I said a few things about having to change my attitude about being out there. Six matches later, I feel very good about being at the '99 US Open. I would have loved to have been the champion, but playing the seven matches I did, I feel very good about it.

TODD MARTIN: Is it?

TODD MARTIN: You tell me. I think it is. Whoopee.

TODD MARTIN: Well, the 1-1 in the first round, that had no effect on today. The fact that from last Sunday to this Sunday, this was my fifth match, that's a lot. Added on to what I went through in the middle of this week, I'm sure it had a bit of a cumulative effect, but also, I had to work very hard today and can't underscore what Andre's tennis did to my legs.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I'd like not to get a stomach virus on Tuesday or Monday, whatever it was. Listen, I felt in great shape. My body held up better than I ever could have expected. I think it's a sign that I'm doing some good things in my training. I'd like to keep doing those things.

TODD MARTIN: Yeah.

TODD MARTIN: I was up 30-Love, lost four straight points off of first serves.

TODD MARTIN: You know, midway through the first set, I was thinking to myself, because I felt like I regained my composure, was in a great, good groove. And actually, I had Love-40 on his serve midway through the first set, thought to myself, "Boy, it would be strange if sort of early-match jitters turned out to be a decider." I don't think it was a decider, but it definitely -- definitely had an effect on the result of the match. If you would have told me that I lost my serve in the first game of the match, not again until fairly early in the fourth set, and I won two tiebreaks, I'd have thought I would have won the match by then. I did not expect to go five sets without breaking his serve.

TODD MARTIN: That's typically my game. In the meat of the match where I felt very good about the way I was playing, I had a lot of first serves come in against me. When I did have my opportunities on his second serve, I probably didn't do enough with them. Not only did I miss some, but when I did make the returns, I didn't do enough with the returns. I was up Love-30 countless times. It seemed he came up with a good serve, usually came up with a good serve at Love-30, and then even if I got to a breakpoint or even 15-30, I'd have something to work with, usually have a second serve in that situation. I missed a lot of them; didn't do enough with some of the other ones. It was sort of trying to find a middle ground where I was attacking, but not going for broke. I wasn't able to do that. That's a lot due to the way he played.

TODD MARTIN: I have a goal of sleeping. From there, I'll reevaluate in a couple weeks.

TODD MARTIN: Absolutely, I agree.

TODD MARTIN: I think it took two guys playing at the very, very top of their game today, one guy who's probably the best returner in the game, and one guy who's got a very good serve, in order to make today's tennis as compelling as it was. I don't think it needs to be slowed up a ton. I think some speed needs to be taken out of the court. The ball's great. I just think some speed needs to be taken out of the court so that, especially in the wind that we are having to deal with day-in and day-out here, the quickness of the court affects that. You know, the best chance you've got is the serve. Everybody's serve gets better with the wind if they are able to make it, the ball is scooting through the court, still blowing around.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I'm thrilled that I'm playing better tennis than I ever have. There are many times in '97 that I would have never expected that or even hoped for that. But in the same token, I wish my father could be here to experience it, too. I'm thrilled that my mother and my sister came out for this weekend.

TODD MARTIN: Not very close because I was going to make sure I was under the net by the time he hit it. But my racquet was still up there, so if he had gone for my head, literally, if he had hit my head or been accurate enough, I think he did go for me, but if he had been more accurate, I think I would have hit a winner (laughter).

TODD MARTIN: I think the fact that the court was a little quicker helped me. He served better a couple weeks ago in Washington, and I served much better than I did in Washington. I think the fact that he served better a couple weeks ago allowed me to win the two tiebreakers and have more opportunities throughout the course of the match on his serve. The fact that I served better and I played immeasurably better the whole match than I did in Washington, DC.

TODD MARTIN: It's hard to say which one's going to mean more. You know, it's hard to believe that I'll ever forget that I was in the finals of the US Open, who I played, how I played. Then again, I had one heck of a great experience in my fourth-round match against Greg. I wouldn't expect to forget that either. One finished with euphoria, and one finished with pleasure in the moment, just thoroughly enjoying being in that arena, albeit not being able to win that last point.

TODD MARTIN: Well, I think after a certain number of matches, you get into a situation where whoever lost still had a great tournament. I said the same thing to Cedric yesterday. Andre said, "Great job," even though I lost. I think we both knew that the level of play was very high in one of the most difficult situations to play good tennis in.

TODD MARTIN: Well, it's not difficult. It's enjoyable for me. Sometimes I wish that the meetings that we have aren't the day before a Grand Slam starts. It's a very nice distraction for me to have from hitting tennis balls because for as much as I enjoy playing tennis, it's not as -- it would not be fulfilling if that were the only thing I had.

TODD MARTIN: Administration in tennis? Well, not immediately, no. I'd like to go back to school before I venture into too much else.

TODD MARTIN: No. As well as I did some things today, it will change my understanding of what I'm capable of doing maybe. But, you know, I get asked, probably due to language barrier more than anything else, what do I expect of the upcoming match, what do I expect of myself. There's only one thing I expect: that I'm going to give it my all and work hard in, hopefully, a focused way, doing what I need to do. Listen, if I do that, then I'll hold my head proud and high, regardless of whether I lose to Stefan two weeks ago or to Andre today.