WIMBLEDON

July 5, 2003

Jonas Bjorkman

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Feel good? I mean, I'm astonished to think that I could ever even get close to that. I knew all about it. We'd spoke about it. Jonas, when we got off, he goes, "Do you know that you equalled a record today?" And I said, "Sure do." It's beyond belief to think that at the beginning of my career I could do anything like that. I just... I have no words to say. I just ... I can't believe that I could have achieved that. I need a good partner to do it, but to have achieved it is beyond anything I thought possible.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I'm gonna have a couple, but I'm back on the court at 12 o'clock tomorrow, so it can't be too many, yeah. I've got to monitor, sort of like the drink-driving-type of thing. I can't have too many because I'm back on court in a while. I'm not even looking at tomorrow yet, to be honest with you. I'm going to enjoy tonight.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Yeah, he was in the locker room last night. I was having a massage before going home. He's amazing. He knows everything that's going on. He wished me good luck for today. And we keep joking about the fact that we might need to play one together just to all tie Tom. We're getting close to that right now. It's still a joke. But knowing Mac, he's pretty serious and competitive still, so he'd want a crack at it as well.

JONAS BJORKMAN: Oh, yeah. I think even the next day sort of, I was very motivated to go out, back on court, and, you know, try to win the doubles here with Todd. So, for me, being quarterfinal in singles and winning the doubles is something that I'm very, very pleased to do.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: It's been a good tournament.

JONAS BJORKMAN: I'm thrilled.

JONAS BJORKMAN: That's the Swedish (laughter).

JONAS BJORKMAN: Well, it was tough to go into the position and take over from Woodforde. The good part was we started off really, really good. We had one or two matches -- the first two, I think, we struggled really. But then we lost in the finals Sydney, won Australian Open. So we got off to such a good start that it helped a lot. And, I mean, it's just nice to be part of that Woodies sort of group a little bit, and having a chance to achieve winning Grand Slams.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Our partnership?

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Yeah. I was lucky I had the choice of partners when Mark quit, pretty much. I was No. 1 in the world. I chose -- I wanted to play with Jonas. I didn't choose him, I wanted to play with Jonas. I really felt he was a guy that I could do well with here. This is my -- I don't care if I never win another tournament all year, if I could come here and play well and win here, that's my goal every year. I really felt that he was a guy I could do that with. I guess it was a good vision. In hindsight, was the right decision.

JONAS BJORKMAN: I think the changes we did about allowing the singles guys to use their ranking to play doubles, it's been a really good change for getting the doubles back on track. I think we had way more matches on the show courts everywhere on the ATP circuit, and we've been unlucky here with the weather. I think it was only the second one in two years that we had on Centre Court here. But, obviously, I think that's really, really good. I think the Player Council, with the President here on the left, have done a very good job to do that change, to improve the doubles. And we also have singles and doubles combined at the Masters this year.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: They'll play, a lot of them, yeah. I mean, Federer played in Halle. We beat Roger in Halle. We're beating a lot of those top guys in regular tournaments. It's tougher here, being best-of-five all the way. That's the one thing that's a little more difficult for them at Wimbledon. But the fact it's on grass with shorter points helps. I think you'll see a lot more of them -- if I can just step back, Australia, the French and I think maybe the US Open this year are using the system of entering after the first round of the sign-in which allows guys that have lost to continue to keep playing, so they know their result. I think basically they're just good decisions. They're smarter, and I think that will keep improving. You've also got the Bryan twins, which are an interesting combination to talk about. Those things just have made an big improvement again. The ATP, we worked hard. I sat with you on committees to try and find a way to get it going. I think the entry system has been the best thing we've come up with.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: If you did -- I wouldn't like to see it that way. If you did, it would be up until the quarters and then from the quarters on it should be the way it is.

JONAS BJORKMAN: It is still possible to do well in both. It's just sort of a mental part that if you're mentally prepared for it, that's -- for me, I've always been mentally prepared to play singles and doubles. I love to play both. So I made quarters. I think I would have even had a good chance if I would have come further in singles to still win the doubles. So it is possible. Hopefully, more guys can do it.

JONAS BJORKMAN: I hope he's gonna play a couple more years. That's the only question right now.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I told him at the end of the last year I'd had enough and I wasn't coming back anymore and he said "No, no, no." His wife said, "No, you've got to play more. We like your company out on tour." And, I mean, when you win majors, you can't stop while you still have an opportunity to win them because you're a long time retired. So you got to keep coming.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Just saw him, yep.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Just brought a bottle of champagne to help us celebrate.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: He was talking about my serve in the first set which let me down rather drastically. But he'd been there and seen that before as well.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: Yeah. He needles us a lot with e-mails saying, you know, "What's going on? Why aren't you doing better? How could you have lost to that pair?" And he knows me pretty well that if I get something like that, I get quite annoyed and it's good motivation.

JONAS BJORKMAN: Tough question, tough question. I hope I can continue singles and doubles as long as possible. And at the moment, fitness-wise, I'm feeling very good to do that for, hopefully, three, four years.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I've got to play that long?

JONAS BJORKMAN: Yeah (smiling). If it comes to a situation, then you have to make a decision. But I hopefully don't get to that point.

JONAS BJORKMAN: It definitely shows possibilities, but I can guarantee you I will not be out there when I'm at that age. I will enjoy myself back home.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: There's a few things, but what works well for us is his movement at the net, he's very aggressive, and his returning. I think nobody likes to serve to Jonas on a breakpoint, because there's a good chance it's coming back, and it's coming back with a lot of interest and it's gonna be a great return. And that's a lot of pressure whenever you're down a breakpoint. And that's the things that I hated about playing him, and I know that the other guys don't like it as well.

TODD WOODBRIDGE: I haven't really thought about it yet. Tomorrow's gonna be a busy day if I should keep winning. I have three matches tomorrow. Quite honestly, though, I'm soaking up a Wimbledon win right now.