WESTERN AND SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS

August 2, 2004

Gaston Gaudio

GASTON GAUDIO: Yeah, was okay. I played great. Yeah, I was like getting used to this surface because I was playing so many tournaments there on clay courts. So last week I couldn't play like I was playing before, but now I'm getting used to this surface so I play good.

GASTON GAUDIO: Yeah, for me is really tough to play on this surface. I prefer to play on clay, but I have to play on all of them. So I don't know. We'll see tomorrow, see if I still playing like this.

GASTON GAUDIO: Well, always when I came here to Cincinnati I played good. I played Andre for the first time in my life. So I like to play here, I like the city, I like to play golf. So whole tournament is great for me.

GASTON GAUDIO: No, it doesn't. But, I mean, it has other things - like playing golf. In Rome you cannot play golf anywhere, you know. Here, you can play golf and relax. It's easy, you know. Like the main cities, you go out just to do some stuff out there. But here you take it easy and you relax. It's good for tennis.

GASTON GAUDIO: Which one? I didn't see one...

GASTON GAUDIO: Oh, yeah. I prefer the other one (smiling). Sorry.

GASTON GAUDIO: My personal life didn't change so much. I mean, still the same friends. Same things, you know, my coach, my trainer. But maybe in the outside, like going somewhere in Buenos Aires or going to a shopping, they recognize me more than before. But I try to enjoy that. I feel okay. It's like not a big deal.

GASTON GAUDIO: What has it what?

GASTON GAUDIO: Yeah, of course. That give me -- that give me so much confidence, no? I am playing like a little bit more relaxed and taking the match a little bit easier and don't get so pissed off, mad, you know, like before (smiling). So, yeah, I'm feeling okay with that.

GASTON GAUDIO: It was great. It was unbelievable. When I arrived there in the airport, it was like - I don't know - like too many people waiting for me and press and all the things that I didn't expect. It was great, yeah. Was unbelievable.

GASTON GAUDIO: No, not yet (smiling). I not even close to them. But I don't care. I don't want to have any comparation between Vilas and me. Like he is the one. And when we are playing tennis - I said this before - it's like we are playing tennis in Argentina because of him. So he's the one.

GASTON GAUDIO: Yeah, he is. I think he is. I don't know. Maybe now, Coria, all the guys, David, they are playing great, too. We'll see in a couple of years if they will remember more to Clerc or Guillermo.

GASTON GAUDIO: Well, yeah, I went on court like a little bit afraid of that, you know. But he's not playing like he was playing before. The time that he beat me in Miami, he was playing unbelievable. Now he's like a little bit... I don't know what happen to him, he was injured or what happened. So now I came different. I came with a lot of confidence, and he's on the opposite side, so...