MONTE CARLO OPEN

April 17, 2000

Nicolas Escude

Q. It is your first match in Monte Carlo. What kind of memory will you keep from that match?

NICOLAS ESCUDE: It is not the first one. I came once already and I lost 6-Love, 6-Love in the qualies, so I had a bad memory of this place. I have tried to come for the past three years but every time I had an injury the week before. So now it is done, it is past.

NICOLAS ESCUDE: Yes, we just set aside the conditions, it is a good memory.

NICOLAS ESCUDE: The weather was absolutely awful. The conditions were not great. The court was heavy with many bad bounces; impossible conditions.

NICOLAS ESCUDE: Yes, there were bad bounces, but the same conditions prevailed for both of us.

NICOLAS ESCUDE: Yes, I played better. I went forward. I played serve and volley and he weakened physically and I was able to come up.

NICOLAS ESCUDE: Yes and no. Any opponent can beat you and you can beat any opponent in a reasonable frame. So any opponent is to be feared. But there is worse than him, I am happy.

NICOLAS ESCUDE: It was strange to play indoors with light which was very special and I couldn't find a little corner to send the ball out of the beam of the light, but still I served well in the important moments and I am pleased with that.

NICOLAS ESCUDE: I am very fit.

NICOLAS ESCUDE: Trying not to lose in the next round. Maybe not win the tournament, but going as far as possible. Maybe losing next round or -- anyway, I will take match after match and I will see where that will take me. I don't want to have projects which could be too ambitious or not enough. I take matches after matches.

NICOLAS ESCUDE: I had only two or three days rest. Then I practiced immediately at home and with Cedric who was there and some Swiss players. I worked the whole week before and then I went to Estoril on Saturday.

NICOLAS ESCUDE: You have to find your reference points, but it is the surface on which I learned to play tennis and I know that surface perfectly well. Now, my style of game means that I play better on hard courts.

NICOLAS ESCUDE: Yes, all the first rounds are always traps; especially against a French player or anyone else. You come out in a tournament. I came here on Saturday, but I only took my racket yesterday because I arrived on Saturday evening. The first match is always a trap. You come to different playing conditions. You are in a new place. It is always a trap first round.

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