WESTERN AND SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERS

August 16, 2005

Robby Ginepri

ROBBY GINEPRI: How was my serve playing?

ROBBY GINEPRI: Yeah, I served pretty well the whole match. High percentage of first serves is always good. It helps you get on the ball, get on the next shot. He came out a little slow. I won the toss, elected to receive. But if I usually win the toss, I choose to serve. But just being in the locker room for so long, was a little slow, so didn't want to get broke first game like he did.

ROBBY GINEPRI: I was playing Golden Tee. It's a golf game upstairs. I won, by the way (smiling). Beat that guy over there (pointing).

ROBBY GINEPRI: Yeah, waiting around for so long and having a tough first set, it could have gone either way, and it was nice to get through it. I was playing, you know, pretty sturdy tennis the whole first set and going for my shots when I was there. You know, it rolled over into the tiebreak, which was a good sign for me.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Hopefully, yeah. I haven't even looked at the draw; I usually don't. Just look at who I have to play and deal with that. It's gonna be a tough next round against David.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Oh, I'm Robby Ginepri (smiling). Come out here day in, day out and work my butt off. So whatever happens, happens. I'm giving 110% day in, day out. I know I can beat these guys, it's just a matter of time and confidence and playing up to my capabilities. It's a tough game, you know. Some weeks you're not feeling up to playing, but you got to swallow that and move on and just get over the hump of those bad days. That's what was happening the last year and a half to me, I was just letting those days get at me. But now I'm playing strong.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Not really. Just lack of motivation, I think. I worked so hard to get to 25 in the world and then I kind of thought that was good enough for me and took a step back and just had too much down time, wasn't working as hard to get there. Now I'm starting to work as hard as I was - I think even harder than before - and it's paying off.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Yeah, I wasn't working near as hard as I was to get to 25 in the world. I just slipped to 100, and it was a reality check. So I think -- I know a lot of guys drop in the rankings once or twice, but hopefully it's just one time for me and I'll stay up there for long now.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Well, at that time I kind of got hurt. I had wrist surgery, which kind of delayed a couple months. But it's really not like you're thinking about dropping in the rankings, you just know everything's going so well and you hope to keep it going.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Right. I mean, I'm just trying to win matches right now. I don't really set a goal except to work hard every day. I hope I get Top 15 by the end of the year.

ROBBY GINEPRI: It was pretty much after Wimbledon. I had a pretty bad fall -- I mean spring over in Europe, not winning many clay matches and didn't do too well on the grass like I expected to. So after that I kind of started gearing up again and getting focused for the hard courts coming up.

ROBBY GINEPRI: I think I'm serving a lot better. I think I'm playing a lot more consistent, waiting for the right shots. I feel I'm wiser on the court than I was two, three years ago. I feel like I know the game better.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Not really. It is what it is. If I'm not in, I'm going to have to qualify to make that tournament.

ROBBY GINEPRI: It's a little of both, I think. I'm always ready to play on hard courts. It's my favorite surface. I grew up on it. I think I play my best tennis on the hard courts.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Yeah, it was tough conditions all day today. You're thinking it's going to rain on you while you're playing out there, so you might rush a little bit more. I don't know how into it he was. He had a good run last week, got to the quarters. It depends on a lot of things. Can't answer that for him.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Not really (smiling). Blended in good.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Yeah, it was a great day for me, great week of all. Playing against top players day in, day out that week gave me a lot of confidence. I know I can play that way, you know. I've seen it in practice, I've seen it in matches. It's just playing that way on a consistent base and doing it week in, week out.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Yeah, I wasn't going to the gym as much. I wasn't doing a lot of off-court training. I don't think I was hitting enough balls on the court. I was just kind of slacking off a little bit. But I definitely did a 180 of that situation.

ROBBY GINEPRI: I picked it up, one, because I knew that the work I was doing wasn't cutting it. I wasn't spending enough time on the court working on my game. I wasn't working out in the gym. I wasn't as strong as I wanted to be. It was more of that I kind of know I needed to take the next step because I could see that the work wasn't enough and I was slipping. So work harder or stay where I'm at - it's kind of cut and dried.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Yeah, all the work that I've been doing has been paying off after Wimbledon. It's good to see hard work pays off.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Definitely. I know they like seeing the Americans play. They're out here to watch a lot of the Americans play, and also a couple of the top players. I love playing with the crowd behind me and playing in the U.S.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Yeah, it's always good to have them on your back. They were more on my side than Mariano. But that's expected - hopefully.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Uh-hmm.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Yeah, I'll probably talk to my coach later on, discuss what to do. I don't remember too much about it. I know we both made a lot of balls, and he's a pretty consistent player so I got to be patient and wait for the right shot.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Yeah, it's no fun waiting, waiting around to see when you're going to play, if the rain's going to stop. I'm pretty thrilled that the day's over for me, and just wait for the next match.

ROBBY GINEPRI: I think the competitive sport, just one-on-one combat was the best situation for myself. I played a lot of basketball and baseball, and I just didn't like the team sports. If someone wasn't doing what they should do on the team, it was upsetting me a little too much. I had to pretty much take situations in my own hand.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Everybody's working so much harder, and the field is a lot tougher than it has been in a while with the game. It seems like the people growing up today in the U.S. want to play more basketball, baseball, football. It's what they see on TV. Tennis isn't shown too much on TV, nearly as much as those sports. So maybe the kids see that and they want to look for that profession when they get old; I don't know.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Yeah, that's correct.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Well, I knew no one had worn it, but I didn't expect it to be as big a deal as it has been.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Could say that. Didn't go into Wimbledon thinking that, but...

ROBBY GINEPRI: Wimbledon?

ROBBY GINEPRI: No, they didn't say anything to me about it. Just had to see if it could get approved for the match. That was about it.

ROBBY GINEPRI: Just wearing the shirt.

ROBBY GINEPRI: No, they actually had them.